AMH (anti-Müllerian hormone) reflects the number of small, growing follicles in your ovaries, and a low reading often triggers concern about fertility. The honest starting point: AMH is produced by the follicles themselves, so there is no proven way to dramatically raise it once the underlying egg supply has declined with age. But several factors can artificially suppress your AMH below its true level, and addressing those can bring your numbers back up to where they should be. A few supplements also show modest, measurable effects in clinical studies.
What AMH Actually Measures
AMH is secreted by the granulosa cells surrounding preantral and small antral follicles, the tiny fluid-filled sacs visible on ultrasound. It does not come from your dormant, primordial follicle pool directly. Instead, it reflects how many of those dormant eggs have been “recruited” into active growth at any given time. That distinction matters because your AMH level can fluctuate based on how well those growing follicles are functioning, not just how many eggs remain in storage.
AMH also plays a regulatory role: it slows the activation of dormant follicles and limits how many follicles respond to FSH each cycle. This is why extremely high AMH, as seen in PCOS, can actually interfere with ovulation. Normal ranges shift significantly with age. At 25, a typical reading is around 3.0 ng/mL. By 35, it drops to roughly 1.5 ng/mL, and by 40, around 1.0 ng/mL. Levels below 1.0 ng/mL are generally considered low at any age, and below 0.4 ng/mL is severely low.
Rule Out Artificial Suppression First
Before trying to raise your AMH, make sure something isn’t pushing it artificially low. Hormonal contraceptives are a major culprit. A study of over 27,000 women found that the combined oral contraceptive pill lowered AMH readings by about 24%. The vaginal ring and hormonal implant had similar effects (around 22 to 23% lower). Even the hormonal IUD suppressed AMH by roughly 7%, and the progestin-only pill by about 15%.
If you had your AMH tested while on hormonal birth control, your true level is likely higher than the number on your lab report. Retesting after discontinuing contraception, typically after two to three months, gives a more accurate picture.
Quit Smoking
Active smoking has one of the largest documented effects on AMH. Current smokers in a study of women aged 38 to 50 had AMH levels 44% lower than women with no smoke exposure. That’s a substantial hit. The encouraging finding: past smokers showed no difference from never-smokers, regardless of when they quit or how much they previously smoked. This suggests smoking damages the growing antral follicles rather than permanently destroying the dormant egg reserve, and quitting allows the actively growing follicle pool to recover.
Reduce Exposure to Endocrine Disruptors
Phthalates, chemicals found in soft plastics, personal care products, adhesives, and vinyl, are linked to lower AMH levels. Research tracking women of reproductive age found that higher urinary concentrations of several phthalate metabolites were associated with measurably lower AMH. The effect was consistent enough to remain statistically significant even after correcting for multiple comparisons. Interestingly, bisphenol A (BPA) did not show a significant association with AMH in the same study.
Practical steps to reduce phthalate exposure include choosing fragrance-free personal care products (phthalates are commonly used in synthetic fragrances), avoiding heating food in plastic containers, minimizing contact with soft vinyl products, and switching to glass or stainless steel for food storage. You can’t eliminate exposure entirely since these chemicals are everywhere, but reducing your daily load is straightforward.
Diet and Body Weight
A study examining adherence to a Mediterranean diet found a statistically significant link between low adherence and lower AMH levels. Specifically, low vegetable intake, excessive red meat consumption, and high carbonated beverage intake were each independently associated with insufficient AMH levels. Higher vegetable and produce intake correlated with better AMH numbers. This doesn’t prove the diet raises AMH directly, but it aligns with what we know about how metabolic health affects ovarian function.
Body weight plays a role as well, though the relationship is complex. In women with PCOS, higher BMI and waist-to-hip ratio are associated with lower AMH levels. Higher AMH in PCOS patients correlated with a more favorable insulin profile, suggesting that insulin resistance may suppress AMH production even when follicle counts are high. Maintaining a healthy weight and managing insulin sensitivity through diet and exercise may help support your ovarian function, though the degree to which this translates to AMH changes varies from person to person.
DHEA Supplementation
Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) is the supplement with the most direct evidence for raising AMH, particularly in women with diminished ovarian reserve. The standard protocol used in fertility clinics is 25 mg taken three times daily (75 mg total). Research shows AMH increases in parallel with the length of DHEA supplementation, with the effect being more pronounced in younger women with premature ovarian aging than in older women with age-related decline.
In clinical data, women taking DHEA saw increases in both egg and embryo counts during IVF cycles. One paired analysis of patients before and after DHEA supplementation showed average oocyte retrieval rising from 3.4 to 4.4 per cycle. While that may sound modest, for women who are poor responders, even one or two additional eggs can meaningfully change outcomes. DHEA is a hormone precursor, not a benign vitamin, so it’s worth discussing with a reproductive endocrinologist before starting it, especially if you have PCOS or androgen-sensitive conditions.
CoQ10 for Egg Quality
Coenzyme Q10 supports mitochondrial function in eggs, which becomes increasingly important with age. Clinical trials suggest different dosing depending on your situation. For women with normal ovarian reserve, 200 mg per day for at least 30 to 35 days before an IVF cycle increased CoQ10 levels in follicular fluid. For women with diminished ovarian reserve, 600 mg per day over 60 days was more effective at improving ovarian response to stimulation medications. Some protocols use lower doses (30 mg per day) over three months and still report increased egg retrieval numbers.
The evidence for CoQ10 directly raising AMH on a blood test is less robust than for DHEA. Its primary benefit appears to be improving egg quality and ovarian response rather than changing the AMH number itself. If your concern is fertility rather than the number on the lab report, CoQ10 may still be worthwhile.
Vitamin D: Limited Evidence
Vitamin D is frequently recommended for fertility support, but a meta-analysis pooling data from eight studies found that vitamin D supplementation had no significant effect on AMH levels. Comparing women with vitamin D levels above and below 20 ng/mL also showed no meaningful difference in AMH. This doesn’t mean vitamin D is unimportant for reproductive health overall, but correcting a deficiency is unlikely to move your AMH number.
What You Can Realistically Expect
The interventions with the clearest evidence for raising AMH are quitting smoking, stopping hormonal contraceptives before retesting, and DHEA supplementation. Reducing phthalate exposure and improving diet quality may provide additional support, though the magnitude of change is harder to quantify. CoQ10 likely helps egg quality more than it changes AMH readings.
It’s also worth keeping perspective on what AMH tells you. AMH correlates with the number of growing follicles, but both AMH and antral follicle count have limitations in predicting actual fertility. A lower AMH means fewer eggs are available per cycle, which matters most in IVF settings where retrieving more eggs improves odds. For natural conception, a single healthy egg is enough, and AMH does not measure egg quality. Women with low AMH conceive naturally every day, and women with high AMH sometimes struggle for other reasons entirely.