The Home of Fertility with Liz Walton & Helen Zee

How balancing omega-3 and omega-6 can boost fertility, protect the brain, and calm chronic inflammation

• Liz Walton and Helen Zee

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In this episode of The Home of Fertility, Helen Zee is joined by Leonie Tilley, Applied Health & Human Performance Specialist and Zinzino partner, and Rebecca Kunz, Ayurvedic wellness expert, to unpack the missing link between fatty-acid balance, fertility & postnatal well-being.

Leonie explains why omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids are essential, how modern diets have shifted ratios from the ideal 3:1 to 15:1 or more, and how chronic inflammation silently impacts egg & sperm quality, implantation, and hormone regulation.

Rebecca shares her personal journey through postnatal anxiety and fatigue, revealing how cellular health and brain lipid balance transformed her recovery and energy.

Together they explore DHA and EPA’s role in fetal brain development, postpartum mental health, and whole-family resilience, plus how innovative polyphenol-stabilized omega formulations are changing outcomes worldwide.

A must-listen for anyone trying to conceive, recovering post-birth, or seeking natural ways to restore vitality from the inside out.

About Leonie and Rececca:

As an Independent Zinzino Partner, Leonie is passionate about helping others optimise their health and fertility through cellular restoration and omega 6:3 balance. She supports individuals throughout all stages of life, including those on their fertility journey as the science tells us that if the body is in biochemical harmony, it creates the ideal environment for healing, hormone balance and new life to thrive. 

Leonie’s mission is to guide all individuals back to trust in their body’s natural intelligence by testing for imbalance, providing essential nutrients and optimising cellular health and function using Zinzino's nutrition-based testing approach.

https://www.instagram.com/long_live_you_fitness (please use this one and not my personal insta as I never look at it!!)

https://www.linkedin.com/in/leonie-tilley-706748229

Yoga, meditation and life coach Rebecca Kuntz combines modern cellular health with ancient Ayurvedic wisdom to explore the missing link between brain health and postnatal wellbeing. Drawing on her own experience with postnatal depression, she shares how nourishing the brain through test based, personalised nutrition can restore emotional stability and vitality. Getting the foundations right is key. This helps everything else thrive. When mothers are healthy, strong and happy, so are their children, families and community.


@rebeccajoan.k
@nuk.life

SPEAKER_03:

Welcome to the Home of Fertility, a space for real conversation. Expert insight about fertility, healing, and creating family. I'm Liz Walton.

SPEAKER_04:

And I'm Helen Zay. We are two mums who've walked this path and are passionate about supporting you on your journey. Emotionally, physically, and spiritually.

SPEAKER_03:

We talk about it all. Fertility treatment, holistic support, relationships, mindset, and the emotional highs at least.

SPEAKER_04:

Because sometimes the missing piece lies in someone else's story, in the quiet wisdom of the body, or in a breakthrough that's finally made for you.

SPEAKER_03:

We are so glad you are here. Let's dive in.

SPEAKER_04:

Lots of great information is about to come. And without further ado, I have Leoni Tilley, who is an applied health and human performance specialist and a Zinzino independent partner. She is super passionate about helping people reduce chronic inflammation. And I am all for that. And alongside Leone is Rebecca Kunz, who combines modern cellular health with ancient Ayurvedic wisdom to explore the missing link between brain health and postnatal well-being, and what a very important conversation to be having for the people that we get to support on this journey. Welcome to you both and thank you for joining us. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01:

Thanks, Ellen.

SPEAKER_04:

Wonderful. Leone, I'm going to start off with you, my friend, and talk about what is the importance of fatty acids for human health. Because a lot of us think fatty acids makes us fat and we try and avoid them. And then we also have uh trans fat, saturated fat, monopoly. Let's start to dig in and get an experience of how the human body processes fats and how important it is for our longevity.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, thank you so much. So we are all about omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids. These are just fats, and both are essential to the human body. But years and years ago, we ate from nature, we ate seasonal food that was high in nutrient, we also include fatty fish in our diet. Compared to now, we're eating a lot of farmed food that is commercially processed, and more and more ultra-processed food is sneaking into people's diets. So, what is happening as a result of that is our balance of omega-6 to omega-3 is out of ratio, and that is a concern to the human body. So omega-6 and omega-3 are both essential to the human body, but we need to have the right balance of both to be in a good state of health.

SPEAKER_04:

Beautiful. Thank you for that. But what is the importance of balancing the omega-3 and six? Can you give us a little bit more of an indication of how that can affect our future health when it is when it is out of balance?

SPEAKER_02:

Absolutely. So we need inflammation. We need the body to be able to prompt inflammation for our healing. For example, when we're sick or even when we stub our toe, um, walking around a piece of furniture. Omega-6 comes in and creates inflammation in the body. Omega-3, on the other hand, is the breaks on inflammation. So without omega, enough omega-3 in the diet, your body does not have the ability to switch off inflammatory processes. This is really important for brain and heart health, our organ health, and our cell membranes, which are made up of these fats. So when we become out of balance, our cell membranes become rigid. And that means it's very difficult for nutrients to get into cell easily and toxins to get out of the cell readily. So that creates a state of inflammation and also affects cell signaling, etc. So in our modern-day diet, through testing, we've found that 97% of people tested globally are out of balance. Scientists recommend that we need to have a ratio of no higher than 3 omega-6 to 1 omega-3. Yet the global average is closer to 15 to 1. What that means is people are living in a chronically inflamed state and they may not even know about it. But in our world, we are getting so much omega-6, but not many people are including wild-caught fatty fish in their diet. So they're lacking in omega-3. So we've got this global deficiency in omega-3 affecting cellular health.

SPEAKER_04:

That is alarming. And uh it makes a lot of sense. Even wherever you go, even if there's a buffet table, or you just find that people are eating less fish and go more for the omega-6 type fats, which is your red meats predominantly. Yeah, omega-6 is found highest in in animal sources. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02:

And apart from that, our omega-3 sardines, mackerel, salmon, generally we're eating farmed fish. So they're not eating deep sea algae as a source of omega-3. And therefore, the fish that we are eating is also very depleted in the nutrient that we think we are getting.

SPEAKER_04:

Wow. Yeah. Supply chain of food.

SPEAKER_02:

Supply chain of food, absolutely. It's a huge concern. And it is uh creating real problems in all of the chronic disease that we are seeing prominently within society. So the root cause of every non-communicable chronic disease is inflammation. So Xin Zeno scientists in 2012 did their research on how we could put a stop to all of this chronic inflammatory disease.

SPEAKER_04:

Okay. And I, for one, take Zinzino, and so I've been doing that for about six weeks now. And I can say that I am starting to see the improvements within myself as well. So yeah, parts of my body that have uh that are more inflamed, and I know that because of levels of uh excessive fitness activity that I do and other things um and just life as it is. And yes, it has been making a difference. But yeah, today we're here to talk about the importance of the balance and the importance of fatty acids in preconception, pregnancy, postpartum, and we'll also bring in Rebecca's expertise and also personal experience of uh postnatal anxiety, postnatal depression, and also how important it is for balancing fatty acids through the body and through cellular health. So we'll start off with, we'll continue with you, Leoni, the importance of getting the balance right and the importance of fatty acids in preconception, pregnancy, and um post and breastfeeding.

SPEAKER_02:

Absolutely. So obviously, if the body is in a state of inflammation and cell membranes are rigid when we're out of balance in omega-6 and omega-3, obviously egg and sperm quality is affected. So we want to be able to increase the chance of uh sperm motility and quality as well as egg quality. We want to support endometrial blood flow and receptivity. We want to decrease the risk of um preterm birth, basically just returning the body to an optimal state of health and decreasing inflammatory processes. So super powerful preconception. We would recommend everybody come back into balance before considering uh trying for a baby. And that process can take perhaps even six months to get back into a state of balance. But remembering that omega-6 and omega-3 balance is super important for the brain and heart. So absolutely critical for the fetus health and the mother's health in pregnancy. So there is one particular fatty acid called DHA, which is really focused upon for pregnancy, particularly in the third trimester, DHA becomes super, super important for both the mother. So having enough of that particular omega-3 in their diet supports fetal brain development. So that is critical. And then also on the other side of it, obviously, when Bubs is born, they still need those essential nutrients in their body to grow and develop. And they're only able to get that from the breastfeeding mother. So hugely important from every stage in the fertility journey as well as every stage of life. So no matter if you are on a pregnancy journey or not, um super important, just think brain and heart health and supporting that. I mean, they're the most critical things in our body, right? So if they are in a state of inflammation, building blocks. Yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_04:

Thank you, Leone. And Rebecca, I'd like to ask you, because I uh uh reading your notes prior to and researching prior to doing this uh interview with you, you focus on postnatal depression and cellular health and you know baby blues. And so I would love for you to share with us your experience, your research for yourself personally, because I know that you've also been on a personal journey of a returning back from post um postnatal anxiety um from when you had um your child. And please uh inform us at the importance of what you got to experience and through your research as well.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, thank you, Helen. Um, well, I suppose, yeah, as you said, it's more from a very personal story, and in a way, it's reverse engineering. It's not that I then just went, I need to look into this. It's and it's only actually recently um also a brain doctor has joined the Xin Zeno scientific team, and he is he had actually done research on um soldiers who had committed suicide, and then from there, you know, I'd already know I've been now taking Xin Zeno for three years. My children are teenagers, they're 15 and 13 now, and up until three years ago, I had suffered. Um just thought it was normal because I had had, you know, of course, gone to doctors, gone to specialists, and everyone just said everything looks normal and fit and healthy. But deep down I knew something wasn't right, I couldn't function, you know. I was like a zombie and I was fatigued. Um so yeah, looking then or experiencing it. Someone said, Look, try this, and I was desperate, you know. I thought, well, nothing has really helped, you know. Again, I the yoga has helped help for a bit. My meditation or the Oyavidi, all that helped, but then I could still not do endurance things, you know. In my heart, I wanted to. I I'm an enthusiastic person and interested in life, and and then also as in like you know, having children, you want to be the best version of yourself as well. So when a friend said, Look, you want to look into this? I thought, yeah, that's yeah, definitely. And then my test came back. Again, according to doctors, I was healthy, all my bloods were fine, but my test came back 13 to 1 so and highly inflamed. My EPA levels were minus 76.6%, which means I was 76% in deficiency. So imagine the EPA, the DHA, that's so important also for the muscles, for the brain. So imagine my body wasn't. I look at it as if I wasn't, you know, I was only functioning on 25%. So already within the first three months, um, you know, um, you know, this the red blood cells renew every 120 days. So already in the first three, four months, I could feel a massive difference in my energy levels, in my brain. And so then, you know, the last three years of the layers, you know, I'm already in my 40s. So imagine that her building up, you know, that has been building up my whole life. I was already a child, I could feel I had allergies and fatigue. Um and then I was also vegetarian for 12 years, so I thought maybe it was because of that, and then two pregnancies, and before that I had two pregnancies, you know, that also were ended in miscarriages. So I think the body was just depleted, and luckily I could get pregnant, and I had helped you know, my my children are healthy and fit, but I think they just sucked the last bits out of me. So already um experience had been experiencing a bit of anxiety and depression, it just got way worse, it just escalated uh you know during and after pregnancy. And so, yeah, it's um this has just really haven't helped so much.

SPEAKER_04:

It it takes me through to wanting to ask you with looking through the lens of cellular health and not just emotional health alone for women who are experiencing postnatal anxiety and postnatal um uh melancholy and what was termed being depression once upon a time. And how can what would you like to share on that, my friend?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I always like analogies, you know, there's a you know, there's a science you can go through all that, but just for that ever so everyone ex understands that I like the analogy, you know, imagine the wiring or the you know the the cell membranes or the neurons in your brain need to communicate. And if if it's not fluid, if you know it's like a chain uh of your bike, you can have the best bike, but if the chain's not oiled, it just creaks, and it's the same with our brain. Or imagine a faulty wiring, you know, in our old house. It's it's flickering and the and the lights are flickering, and if if our membranes in the brain aren't um oiled enough, you know, um it's the brain is about 60% fat. But if it's not getting that fat, if the wiring is not working, and so that's why it's also very important for the um yeah, the cell membranes to be fluid and that that also to be um for the wiring to to work.

SPEAKER_04:

Thank you. Thank you. Is that um yeah, it makes full sense to me. These are all the the building blocks needed. Uh the human body hasn't changed in our evolution to say that if we do this and this now, we're gonna be superhuman. We still have to rely on the building blocks and everything that we eat. And I know very similar to yourself and myself, Leone, being in fitness, being being able to work with um uh nutritional guidelines as well. Everything that we eat gets taken back, gets taken down to the molecular essence of what the body is going to use. So we might have bread, and then we might have alcohol, and then we might have a pasta, all in one meal. Ultimately, a lot of that gets turned into our carbohydrate molecules. We might have meat and chicken and fish and lentils and protein-based, and ultimately that all gets taken down to amino acids. But I also know the thing with fat fat molecules stay as fat molecules. They are the source and the building blocks that you get in the food. They actually don't get broken down into anything further other than the source that they are. I remember learning that way back when, when I was at university doing human biology. And so when we get to know and understand the the uh the chemistry, um the biochemistry of fat and how that works in the body and the different types of fat, as I mentioned earlier: trans fat, saturated fat, mono, poly, etc. And we are now here talking about the omega fats and omega-3 and omega-6s. They all have certain roles to play in the biology and the biochemistry of the body. And I feel that that's that's the essence of what we're tapping in here today.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and as you say, the building blocks and the DHA, um, you know, the omega-3, a long a long-chain omega-3, um, is actually one of the main building blocks for, you know, the as you say, in the brain as well. Um, and the fat omega-3 is very important. The thing is, what's different with cinzena, and I think Leone will will talk about it maybe a little bit more as well, is on its own, okay, in nature, it's not on its own. And what many people do, they just take it on its own, but it actually, yeah, there is that fat, but when it oxidizes, like it oxidizes, it goes ranted and it doesn't actually take a while to get to the cells. So most of the omega-3s don't get to the cells. Whereas within Xeno, we have combined it with a polyphenol, which stabilizes it and it gets all the way to the cells, and that's what's really important. Otherwise, you're just stressing the body more. So, yeah, that building block is very important, but it has to actually get to where it needs to be. And so the ETA is, yeah, the ETA, so the EPA level actually with say, for example, with my levels of work, that was low. The DHA, not so, but uh needs the brain actually needs the the ETA helps the DHA to get to where it needs to be. So everything works together, and often that is missed. So need like in nature, nothing is ever on its own. Um but often we forget that we think we're more clever, but we're not. We have to go back to nature.

SPEAKER_04:

We're not, yeah. We're hardwired, biologically hardwired. Uh, where we talk about DHA, and I know in the fertility space we speak of DHEA, which is a primary, like we call that, like the mother hormone, which then will be used, and parts of that will be used to in the biological and the chemical pathways to produce progesterone, to produce cortisol. So would either of you want to speak to that and the importance, if there is any, with DHA, which is a building block, DHEA, which is very important in cellular synthesis, and also important in creating hormones, uh, and how that, when that's out of balance, that we might be affected as well in our in our reproductive ability optimization.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, absolutely. So I think we just need to think, bring it back to a basic level for people to understand that if your omega-6 and omega-3 balance is not at the ratio of three to one or less, your cells are inflamed. So every bodily process, be it, you know, from an endocrine system point of view, your hormones, everything is going to be affected. We're talking about the health of every single cell in the body. We're made up of trillions of cells. So if those cells individually are not able to function optimally, the cascade effect is, of course, all of this, all of the other flow-on effects that we see. So of course, every bodily um process is going to be affected. So the whole key with Zinzeno's philosophy is their test to retest program. So via dry blood sample, we send our tests all the way over to Oslo to our independent laboratory, who um fully analyze and give us an 11-fatty acid profile for everybody who takes the test. As Rebecca touched on, the company created a unique polyphenol omega-3 formulation, which is revolutionizing the omega-3 industry. And through their test and retest program, we've proven that unfortunately commercial fish oils without the presence of a polyphenol are actually having an inflammatory effect, which is the opposite of what we thought. And we've actually tested people who have taken high-quality omega-3 supplements over many years, and they were horrified to discover that they too are out of balance and not under three to one. So we know that we can get 95% of our customers who take a unique polyphenyl omega-3 formulation. We know that we can get 95% of consumers back to 3 to 1 or less within 120 days. So it's very powerful in changing people's health. And my personal experience in taking the product was in 10 days I noticed some eyesight changed. And that was a total game changer for me. If you think about your eyes as an extension of your brain health, um, I too was very low in EPA and DHA essential omega-3s, as is the world. But yes, we're just super passionate about helping people to understand the importance of these fatty acids, and then the importance of having a polyphenol, which in Xinos product is a very high-quality extravergent olive oil, which not only acts to protect the omega-3 molecules in the formulation, but it's also anti-inflammatory in itself, having a powerful effect on restoring cell membrane health. Beautiful.

SPEAKER_04:

Thank you. Thank you. And to finish off our conversation today, is there anything else that either of you would like to share to the conversation?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I think I'd like to say, I was just thinking, you know, even though I'm talking about postpartum depression and you know, the anxiety, it's ac you know, and we also talk about postnatal blues. You know, it's talked about I feel so often in society, like, oh, you know, like a cute thing, you know, that's normal, don't worry. But it's actually not normal, it's a deficiency. And that postnatal blues are maybe just not as not as deep as you know the postpartum depression is then one level further but it doesn't stop. Um but it can be prevented. And of course, prevention everywhere with anything in your life, prevention is better than the cure. So start you know, if starting preconception is just you know would be of course ideal, but there's still hope as well if you you know already if your children are older, um, if you're experiencing depression, even if you're not pregnant or if even if you're you know a male, like it just really helps the brain help. And in my Ayurvedic studies, um my uh one of my teachers, my the Ayurvedic doctors, you know, said if it's not good for you in pregnancy, it's not good for you at any time. But it's the same thing. I feel like if it's good for you in pregnancy, nourishing um your body, then it's good for you at all times as well. And yeah, that goes with great practices, but you know, especially here, of course, we're talking about the uh the H A and the EPA. And nourishing the mum. I was telling Leone when I was chatting to Leone, we I think we both agree um if we nourish the mother during the pregnancy, even afterwards, nourishing the mother is nourishing the the heart of the home, you know, and that then flows into the family, that flows into the community. If you can imagine it like a tree, if the tree is not nourished, if it doesn't get its fertilization, you know, it goes down to the roots. The roots need to be nourished, the earth needs to be nourished, and then what comes out of the tree is say the fruit. And if we look at the fruit as the children, you know, the the fruit is only as healthy as the mother is. So yeah, I think it's just really important to look after the mums.

SPEAKER_04:

Thank you. It's a beautiful finish.

SPEAKER_02:

And we also obviously want to um decrease the science tells us that coming into balance in omega-6 and omega-3 reduces the chance of miscarriage and also increases implantation success. So Beck and I are really excited to assist people in their fertility journey at the fertility summit. And um we welcome people to test their omega-6 to omega-3 balance to see if they are in a state of inflammation or if they are in the safe zone of three to one or less.

SPEAKER_01:

And this is for the mums and the dads, of course. It's for everyone. So that's it's really important as well.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, it's a wonderful offering uh to be able to give people because the testing is complementary, I believe.

SPEAKER_02:

Uh so we'll be testing um and we've got a super event special on the day. We'll be testing and offering an oil on the day so people can actually test with us and start their journey to come back into balance.

SPEAKER_04:

I'm looking forward to saying hello on the day and also knowing that people are going to be benefiting from this.

SPEAKER_02:

Amazing. Thank you so much, Helen. Exciting. Thanks for the opportunity.

SPEAKER_04:

Both of you, thank you. Thanks for joining us at the Homer Fertility. We hope today's episode brought you clarity, comfort, and connection.

SPEAKER_03:

If this podcast resonated, please share it. Leave a review or subscribe. This helps us support more people that are on this path.

SPEAKER_04:

And if you'd like to connect or share your story, find us on Instagram and Facebook at Australian Fertility Summit.

SPEAKER_03:

Remember, the missing piece might be waiting in a story, your body's wisdom, or something new just made for you. Take care.