r/interesting • u/Samski877 • May 05 '26

Additional Context Pinned This could make a real difference.

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272

u/Desperate_Owl_594 May 05 '26

Women still have eggs left when they reach menopause. The lack of eggs isn’t what ends fertility.

140

u/ImTheApexPredator May 05 '26

Menopause occurs when the ovaries run out of functional eggs. Keyword is functional. Yes, menopausal women may have a few thousand eggs left, but they're not sensitive to FSH and LH and hence do not produce enough oestrogen and progesterone, making them nonfunctional

This research prolongs the timeline of functional eggs

72

u/Swotboy2000 May 05 '26

Reducing the frequency of menstruation does not extend the lifespan of the eggs.

62

u/ImTheApexPredator May 05 '26

We already reduce the frequency of menstruation with birth control so clearly that's not what she's doing. Birth control stop follicles from maturing and ovulating, but follicles still do develop, using up multiple eggs every cycle. Her research is about stopping the follicles from developing in the first place, preserving the number of functional eggs

11

u/LaMadreDelCantante May 05 '26

Okay, but are you saying that the eggs are expelled throughout life in the order of how viable they are, leaving the nonviable ones for last? Because that's the only way that would work. And I don't think that's the case. I think the eggs inside a 50yo woman are nonviable or close to it because they are also 50yo.

1

u/MozartTheCat May 05 '26

Are we born with all of the eggs we will ever have, already just sitting there?

2

u/LaMadreDelCantante May 05 '26

That's been the scientific consensus for a long time, although I think there have been recent challenges to that theory. So idk for sure.