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In this episode of Health 360, we commemorate World IVF Day and celebrate the birth of the world’s first test tube baby. We also explore how IVF has evolved over the decades, transforming the landscape of fertility treatment.
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00:00You've tuned in to Health360. This week on the show we are commemorating the World IVF Day,
00:08which of course is to commemorate the birth of the first test tube baby,
00:12born through the in vitro fertilization process way back in the year 1978.
00:19How has IVF changed in the last 50 odd years or so almost?
00:24It's a journey we will be taking you through with us up ahead on the show.
00:30From the first test tube baby to artificial intelligence being used now for IVF, for fertilization.
00:37We also have a special conversation lined up with actor, model, philanthropist Lisa Ray.
00:43I'm Sneha Mordani, this is Health360.
01:00The journey of IVF has seen remarkable advancements over the last 50 odd years,
01:19transforming from a groundbreaking experimental procedure to a now widely accessible and effective treatment for infertility.
01:27Initially, IVF was primarily used for women with blocked fallopian tubes,
01:33but now its application has expanded to address various causes of infertility,
01:38including male factor infertility and unexplained infertility.
01:43This report will tell you all about IVF's long and very interesting journey.
01:49The marvels of medical science have turned once-impossible dreams into reality,
02:00and among its most extraordinary achievements is in vitro fertilization.
02:07A beacon of hope for those facing infertility,
02:10IVF represents the perfect harmony of science and nature,
02:14where life begins outside the womb through delicate precision.
02:20Well, it all began in the year 1978 when the first test tube baby was born.
02:26She goes by the name of Louise Brown and started with the work that was being done
02:31by British scientists Dr. Roberts Edwards and Dr. Patrick Steptoe.
02:36The work, like I said, led to the birth of the first test tube baby in the year 1978.
02:43This breakthrough revolutionized reproductive medicine.
02:48And today, IVF has advanced with techniques like ICSI, genetic screening and embryo freezing,
02:55offering renewed hope and the gift of life to families around the world.
03:00IVF has truly come a long way, evolving dramatically since its beginnings in the year 1978.
03:06Initially marked by low success rates and limited techniques,
03:11it has now transformed into highly advanced and reliable fertility treatment.
03:17Innovations like ICSI, which is intracytoplasmic sperm injection,
03:29pre-implantation genetic testing, or PGT,
03:32and cryopreservation have improved success rates and allowed for greater flexibility.
03:38IVF is now more precise, accessible, and inclusive,
03:44supporting a diverse range of patients, including single parents and same-sex couples.
03:49Now, still, if we see IVF in the European world costs somewhere between 10,000 to 15,000 euros or pounds,
04:00as compared to in India, where an IVF cycle is undertaken somewhere between 1.5 to 2.5 lakhs,
04:08which is way more affordable.
04:10With the advent of finer technologies, better culture conditions in the lab and better results,
04:18now quicker results are obtained, which reduces the cost of the IVF cycle.
04:25Now, younger girls also come to us for egg preservation,
04:29especially if they have any medical disorders or they're going through cancer therapies
04:34or they want to voluntarily delay their fertility.
04:37So, this is a facility that by their choice, they can freeze their eggs.
04:44Medical science has taken giant strides.
04:47The newest technology in the field of IVF is 3-person IVF technique.
04:52British scientists have achieved a groundbreaking medical feat
04:55with the birth of 8 healthy babies using 3-person IVF.
05:023-person IVF technique is basically when we're using 3 people to have a pregnancy.
05:07Now, there could be a lot of ethical issues.
05:09So, it's not there in most of the countries now.
05:12Only in UK, about 8 births have been achieved with this kind of a technique.
05:16So, what we do is we take the egg from the mother, father's sperm and we take a donor egg.
05:22And from that donor egg, we only take the mitochondrial part and put it inside the egg of the mother.
05:28So, this basically means that we are circumventing the mitochondrial abnormality and we are giving a healthy baby.
05:37This technique has the potential to protect kids from genetic diseases.
05:44IVF can also be used to eliminate genetic diseases from the families.
05:49And this procedure is called pre-implantation genetic testing for monogenic disorders or in short, PGT-M.
05:58And IVF is a booming industry in India with a market size of $864.6 million as of 2024.
06:06Well, according to iMark data, the industry is expected to experience a growth rate of 15.4% between 2025 and 2033, potentially reaching $3.4 billion by the year 2033.
06:21Technology, technological advancements, increased acceptance of AI-assisted fertility measures and accessibility are key to the market growth in our country.
06:31India's IVF market has seen a rapid surge in AI integration, supported by a 2,000 crore government-funded initiative called the India AI Mission.
06:45IVF centers have explored AI and automation in reproductive health, which could be a game-changer for IVF procedures.
06:52Now, what we have in AI is, we have so many numerous sperms in the data set.
07:02Millions of sperms will be there and we will compare.
07:04The AI will pick up.
07:06Okay, this morphology looks like this healthy sperm.
07:09So, it will pick up and which will even miss the human eye.
07:12The human eye will miss it.
07:13So, patients who have been diagnosed with having no sperms at all, up to 44 sperms have been picked up by this AI method.
07:21Because the human eye was going to miss it.
07:24So, that is how the flow charts are created, algorithms are created, checking what a normal healthy sperm looks like.
07:32And multiple pictures will be fed into it and the AI software will recognize, okay, these are the healthy sperms.
07:38These are the ones I can pick up.
07:39They will highlight that and then the embryologist can go and pick it up.
07:42Outside of India, the first AI-assisted IVF baby has been born.
07:50The world's first infant was born using a fully automated and digitally controlled ICSI process.
07:58It is under very tight regulatory control.
08:03There are ethical concerns.
08:05There are also safety regulations which need to be followed.
08:09But yes, it is one technology which can help people who are affected by mitochondrial diseases.
08:18Nearly four in every ten reproductive age adults in India have cited financial limitations as a barrier to having children,
08:31according to a recent worldwide fertility crisis report by the United Nations Population Fund,
08:37a global agency working on reproductive and maternal health.
08:41Access to IVF is still a problem area and so is the challenge associated with the fraudulent practices.
09:11News now from the world of fertilization and the strides that have been made in the field.
09:15We are also telling you about the growing challenge of infertility.
09:19Take a look.
09:23Infertility is often met with stigma and silence.
09:26The startling trend shows six out of ten women turning to phase dealers, black magic and occult practices instead of seeking medical help.
09:37Lured by promises of quick fixes or pressured by family beliefs, many avoid fertility clinics altogether.
09:44Studies conducted in Lucknow City revealed that a significant portion of women facing infertility initially seek help from many other people rather than medical professionals.
09:56The studies involved 200 women found that nearly 60% of them took help but not medical help.
10:04Delaying proper medical treatment.
10:07Experts warned that this delay in scientific treatment could severely reduce chances of conception and worsen underlying health issues.
10:16So people are not aware that infertility is a treatable medical condition.
10:23They feel it cannot be treated.
10:25So they basically keep blaming themselves or the God or their karmas for the same.
10:30In our Indian societies where we are living in generally joint families, all the trend is changing now.
10:36So the elders have a belief that you know you have to follow the old age practices, try herbal home remedies, go to Babas.
10:44So because of which again there is a delay for the patients reaching to the infertility clinics.
10:49A major advance in reproductive medicine is helping doctors identify genetic disorders before pregnancy begins.
10:58Pre-implantation genetic testing or PGT enables embryo screening during IVF to detect serious inherited conditions.
11:06It's actually a game changer for high risk couples, reducing the need for termination and improving outcomes in complex pregnancies.
11:14Maternal fetal medicine specialists say early genetic intervention is now a cornerstone for modern prenatal care.
11:24Pre-implantation genetic testing or what is called PGT for short is a complete game changer for couples undergoing IVF.
11:34It's a technique that allows us to screen embryos for genetic abnormalities before putting the embryos back into the uterus.
11:42By doing so we can significantly reduce the risk of birth defects and also miscarriages.
11:49Is your sweet tooth affecting your fertility? How can something sweet make life sound when you're trying to conceive?
11:57Well the answer may lie in how your body reacts to sugar. Excess sugar triggers insulin spikes which can confuse hormones responsible for egg maturation.
12:07Potentially disrupting the ovulation cycle. High insulin levels can increase testosterone raising the risk of PCOS a leading cause of infertility.
12:17Doctors recommend cutting back on processed sugar, choosing whole grains, fiber rich foods and opting for natural sweet sources like fruit for example.
12:26Well the takeaway, you don't need to quit sugar completely, just be smarter about it because your fertility may also depend on it.
12:34High sugar level increases insulin level. This insulin level can cause hormonal imbalance.
12:40In women, because of this hormonal imbalance, it can worsen condition like PCOS thereby causing an ovulation and irregular period.
12:49In men, it decreases testosterone level thereby decreasing sperm production and it can even lead to libido.
12:56Long term high sugar level can cause even inflammation and oxidative stress.
13:01So because of high oxidative stress, it damages egg and sperm DNA. If egg and sperm DNA is damaged, it will impair embryo development,
13:10it will impair implantation thereby compromising even IVF outcome.
13:14And joining us today is a very special guest, an actor, model, cancer survivor, philanthropist, Lisa Ray.
13:21She's always inspired so many of us, you know, talking very, very candidly about her diagnosis of cancer that she was diagnosed in the year 2009 with.
13:31She's announced a diagnosis from the red carpet way back in the year 2009 at a time when not many people would do that.
13:38Today at 52, she says she's doing what it takes to build power and not chase youth importantly and that's where I'm going to begin this conversation with.
13:48Thank you so much for your time, Lisa.
13:50My question, you know, you've been talking this about a lot and it really is something that caught our attention that, you know, at 53, you are not chasing youth, but building power.
14:02That's an important message that really needs to go out.
14:06Age truly is your numbers, what your videos indicate that, you know, chasing youth beyond a point, maybe is just a sham, isn't it?
14:15Lisa.
14:18So I love to say that, you know what, I was young once, it was fine, but honestly, this phase of my life is the best so far.
14:26And I think that we need to put that story and that narrative out there a lot more because there's such a premium on youth in the society that we live in today.
14:34I think that it's not always been like that. Often women, as they got older, were considered the wisdom keepers of their community and society.
14:43And somewhere along the way, I do believe that perhaps big beauty and beauty corporations grabbed hold of the narrative.
14:51And they're making us feel that somehow women as they get older are broken or they're not as relevant, they're not as important and they're not beautiful.
15:01And I think, again, the point is everybody's going to get older, you, me, everyone, whether you're three years old, whether you're 33, 53 or 83, we're all aging.
15:14So why not change the narrative into acceptance and be able to accept who we are, when we are?
15:22Because believe me, aging, and I want to say in particular turning 50 has been a huge turning point in my life in terms of how empowered, how beautiful and how content I feel.
15:35You know, and that's what I want to ask you. There's a big debate, as we know, around, you know, defying age, aging products, therapies, procedures are like so like hotcakes and everyone is, you know, it's finding its takers pretty much in everyone.
15:50Which side of this debate are you on really as far as aging is concerned?
15:57What I want to say is don't fall for the narrative in society.
16:01You know, a lot of it is created to encourage women to buy more things, you know, buy more creams, buy more products, buy more treatments, you know, try to be on trend.
16:12And stepping into midlife has actually relieved me of that.
16:16I don't feel the need to be on trend or to chase trends.
16:19I'm very, very secure with who I am today.
16:22And that's the gift of middle age.
16:25And that's what we need to start talking about more and more and encourage women to actually step into their power as opposed to giving away their power to trends and, you know, the beauty myth.
16:38You know, Lisa, menopause is a reality for all women.
16:42You hit menopause at the age of 37.
16:45I understand, like you told me earlier as well, it was disease induced because of your cancer.
16:50But you've spoken about how Eastern medicine, in Eastern medicine, menopause is maybe, you know, not seen as an ending like perhaps we see it here.
16:59It's a second spring.
17:01What is your message to women who say or are made to feel rather that menopause really is the end of their life?
17:07And I know this is a very, very common thought in, you know, in the minds of just so many women.
17:13For women in India, often we are taught that it's a decline.
17:17It's a natural decline.
17:18So I think that a lot of women are not encouraged and supported to say that actually this is a great period of my life.
17:24Look at this.
17:25You know, often women are free of a lot of their, you know, taking care of their children.
17:30Their husbands are doing their own thing.
17:32This is my time to invest in myself and to figure out who I am and what I want.
17:36And a part of that has to do with your health, right?
17:39We want to be healthy way into our 80s and our 90s.
17:44And the opportunity is there.
17:46So now in the West, a lot of people talk about weighted vests for women where you actually wear a vest and it has weight so that when you're walking, you're actually doing weight bearing exercises.
17:57Today, there's no excuse.
17:59There is a lot of options for women.
18:02Lisa, I'm going to thank you for joining in.
18:04And like I said at the outset, your videos that you regularly put out, you know, showing how it's important to work out, lift weights, strength training, endurance training, also important for women.
18:14And most importantly, the focus that you've put on this conversation around aging and embracing aging is just so important.
18:21Thank you for your time.
18:23In this segment of Health Free 60, we would like to talk about something that often gets overlooked in conversations around health.
18:30Sleep.
18:31Undeniably, it's one of the most crucial pillars of good health right up there with diet and exercise.
18:38But here's the alarming part.
18:39Nearly 60% of Indians are getting less than six hours of sleep a night.
18:44And it's not just about feeling tired the next day.
18:47Poor sleep has been linked to everything from weakened immunity and chronic stress to reduced productivity and even long term health disorders.
18:57Quality sleep isn't a luxury.
18:59As a matter of fact, it's a biological need.
19:01And yet most of us don't even think about how we sleep or what we sleep on.
19:06To help us understand this better and decode India's growing sleep crisis, we're joined by someone who has quite literally made sleep his life's mission.
19:17Matthew Chandi, chairperson and managing director of Duroflex and also widely known as the industry's leading sleep evangelist is now joining us.
19:26Thank you so much for your time.
19:28Matthew, we've all heard that India is one of the most sleep deprived nations.
19:33But what, according to you, is really driving this epidemic?
19:38Why is it a red alert situation today more than ever before?
19:45Yes, Nea.
19:46So India is a really young nation where our average age is just 28.
19:50But we're also a very ambitious nation and we dream really big.
19:54So every sportsman wants to be the next King Kohli.
19:57Every actress wants to be the next Dalia Bhatt.
19:59And I think every budding entrepreneur wants to be the next Nikhil Kamath or the next Sachin Bansal.
20:04And, you know, when we dream this big and we dream on the global stage, then something does get compromised.
20:10And unfortunately, that is sleep.
20:12So recent studies have shown that less than 60% of Indians sleep for more than six hours a day and more than 25% of Indians sleep for less than four hours a day.
20:27And these are really shocking statistics.
20:29I believe that sleep is the foundation of great health.
20:34And if you're not sleeping well, we're making bad decisions.
20:37We will have injuries.
20:39We will have burnout.
20:41We will have broken dreams.
20:42And India won't be able to realize its dream of becoming a 10 trillion nation by 2032.
20:48So I think it's really important that ambitious young Indians take sleep far more seriously.
20:55It's important for their productivity and important for their health.
21:00You know, we often think of sleep as just stress, but science tells us it's far more actually, especially when it comes to rapid eye movement sleep.
21:08Can you help us understand what's really happening when we sleep and how crucial REM really is for our mental health, our memory and even our creativity?
21:18Sure.
21:19So when we have REM sleep or dream sleep, we get three really huge benefits.
21:28The first one is emotional detox.
21:30We're able to relive memories of the day, but we're able to relive them without any trauma judgment.
21:37And this is because two important chemicals, which is adrenaline and serotonin are shut off.
21:42So we're able to replay memories, but we relive them passively.
21:47And because there's no trauma judgment, all of the trauma associated with them go away.
21:54So it's great for emotional detox.
21:56The second thing is if you're learning new skills, like learning to play the piano or learning a new sport like pickleball,
22:02we're able to replay them while we sleep, while we dream.
22:07And these skills get consolidated in memory.
22:10So if you want to play better pickleball, it's good to have great dream sleep.
22:14And the third and maybe the most fascinating thing is that dream sleep is great for creativity.
22:20Because of the lack of adrenaline and serotonin, we're able to make loose and weak connections to memories and events while we sleep.
22:30This fuels our imagination, this fuels out of the box thinking, and we're able to really come up with new things.
22:37So some of our favorite books, films, stories, songs, and even the best scientific discoveries were all made through an insight from the dream sleep.
22:49The famous Beatles song, for example, Let It Be.
22:52It was inspired by a dream that Paul McCartney had of his mother, who came to him in a dream and comforted him and told him to just let it be.
23:00I could tell you a number of other examples, but I just want to leave you with the thought that in a world which is glamorizing and always encouraging us to hustle,
23:10if we want to stay imaginative, we want to stay creative, and we want to solve some of the biggest problems facing us, then we must prioritize dream sleep.
23:19You know, you've called yourself a sleep evangelist. Tell us what drew you to this mission personally, and while we're at it, how much of a difference can the right mattress or pillow really make to our quality of sleep?
23:37So this is way back in 2016. I was slouched on my desk reading a fairly complex spreadsheet. And two of my colleagues came up to me, gave me a book, which has now become a Bible.
23:52This was Why We Sleep by Matt Walker. And I had a number of aha moments while I was reading this book.
23:58The first one was the fact that if we don't sleep enough and we're exercising very hard, we risk injury. And I was really suffering through a really stiff back.
24:11The second big insight was that if we haven't slept enough and we are sleep deprived at work, we're likely to be making bad decisions, losing our temper and fracturing relationships.
24:22And this was a period where I was having some very difficult relationships with some of my colleagues at work.
24:28And the third big one was also the realization that I was just not able to come to work with sufficient energy.
24:36And this was at a time when we were really scaling the business and it required all my focus and energy.
24:42So reading this book, reading Matt Walker's words, where he really highlighted all the detrimental effects of sleep deprivation, gave me the insight that I really needed to focus on rest, balance and much better sleep.
24:56And having learned that, having benefited extremely from much better sleep.
25:03And actually the business has really benefited and has scaled incredibly after this insight.
25:10I made it my mission to share the gospel of good sleep with everyone.
25:15You know, not all bodies sleep the same and I understand Reflex has been doing a lot of R&D around personalizing sleep solutions.
25:25Can you walk us through how technology is helping solve problems like snoring or back pain, for example, and what the future of sleep innovation might really look like?
25:34Yes, Neha, you know, having learned that sleep is so important to such a foundational element of our health and well-being.
25:46We decided to invest a considerable amount of time, effort and energy and money into innovation to bring out the best sleep and comfort solutions.
25:56One of the first things we did was to work closely with the medical fraternity to design a new range of mattresses called orthopedic mattresses.
26:05These have a five zone support.
26:07They're certified by the National Health Academy and they give great spinal support, which is absolutely essential for a great deep long nights of sleep.
26:18We also realized that people were using their mobile phones and laptops so much that the neck started to suffer.
26:27So we redesigned a range of pillows to provide the best cervical support.
26:32We brought in a lot of material innovation where we brought in temperature control, we brought in zero motion transfer.
26:40We also designed a range of mattresses called Pneuma where we use electronics and data science where our customer is able to personalize the feel and comfort of the mattress to suit him or her.
26:51In fact, the husband and wife can use two different comforts and feels on the same mattress.
26:57And finally, in this new age of AI and data science, we brought in sleep tracking, artificial intelligence and smart mattresses because that is the future that we all live in.
27:10So we're really glad that we can bring these innovations into our products to build sleep sanctuaries and help India to sleep deeper, to sleep better and to sleep smarter.
27:21All right. Thank you so much for your insight.
27:25Sleep, as we know, is that one thing we all need and get the first thing we really sacrifice.
27:30But as we've learned today, getting it right is not just about ours.
27:34It's really about how, where and on what we sleep.
27:38I'm going to thank you again for joining in.
27:40Well, that brings us to the end of this edition of Health 360.
27:43You can watch this report and many more stories around health, wellness and fitness up on our website.
27:49It's indiatoday.in.
27:51You can download the app.
27:52Also, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Rx and Facebook carry all our reports.
27:57Our hashtag is health360 plus.
28:00Thank you so much for watching.
28:02Take very good care of yourself.
28:03Bye from the entire team.
28:19Bye.
28:20Bye.
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