Kirsty Allsopp says for women 'fertility falls off a cliff'

TV presenter Kirstie Allsopp has urged women to put off higher education and a career in favour of having children because their "fertility falls off a cliff". In a recent interview with Jeremy Paxman on BBC Newsnight, Ms Allsopp, who met her husband when she was 32 and then had two children, said: "Nature is not with you and I. Nature is not a feminist." She also encouraged women to be "more honest" with one another about their biological clock, saying the topic was still "taboo". So what is the truth about the female fertility window? Guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which was updated in 2013, is pretty encouraging. It says that "over 80% of couples in the general population will conceive within one year if the woman is aged under 40 years", if they have regular sexual intercourse and do not use contraception. NICE guidelines go on to state that "of those who do not conceive in the first year, about half will do so in the second year". That leaves around 10% of women - the percentage said to be affected by infertility in the UK. We know, of course, that female fertility declines with age, but is there really a dramatic drop-off at a certain point? No rule Mr Yacoub Khalaf, head of assisted reproduction at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital in London, says it is not quite as simple as that. "It is tempting to want a black and white answer, but biology doesn't work that way. "Some women find it difficult to conceive in their late 20s, while others don't have a problem into their 40s." So there is no rule, but science tells us that a woman's body does gradually change and there is nothing that can be done to alter that process. Mr Khalaf explains that from the age of 35, the rate of depletion of the follicles in the ovaries speeds up, and from the age of 40 they start to deplete even faster. These follicles are important because they house the eggs which will develop and mature before finally being released during ovulation. Hence, the quality and quantity of a women's eggs also begins declining sharply from around the age of 35 onwards. Read more ... Article: 7th June 2014 www.bbc.co.uk For more on testing your fertility visit www.prideangel.com/shop