You are likely aware icing your body down after a big game or while fighting an injury may lead to a quicker recovery. Little did you know the same principle applies to human embryos.
According to a study by the Cetre for Reproductive and Genetic Health (CRGH), babies born as a result of In Vitro Fertilization may be healthier when frozen embryos are used instead of fresh embryos. Preliminary findings indicate babies born from frozen embryos appear to be born later and weigh more than babies born from fresh embryos.
Suzanne Cawood, a lead researcher on the study, explained the significance of the study and said premature births can potentially cause many problems for infants.
“This is important because prematurity and low birth weight are both risk factors for poorer health later in life and are linked to higher rates of behavioral and learning difficulties,” Cawood said on bionews.org. “This means that resulting babies may potentially be healthier if frozen embryos are transferred rather than fresh embryos”
For the study, CRCH looked at 492 babies born from IVF, 384 from fresh embryo transfers and 108 from frozen embryo transfers. Results indicated that babies born from frozen embryos weighed an average of 253g more and were born four to five days later than babies coming from fresh embryos.
While the study focused on children born from IVF, the resulting research will come as good news to families going through embryo adoption, a process where couples donate their remaining frozen embryos to an adoptive family. The adoptive family implants the embryos in an attempt to achieve pregnancy and give birth to their adopted child.
To learn more about the CRGH study, visit bionews.org. To learn more about embryo adoption, visit the embryoadoption.org.
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