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Home › Articles › Considering Pregnancy › Fertility Truths and Myths

Fertility Truths and Myths

Dispelling Fertility Myths and Half Truths

By Teri Brown

Pages:  1  2  3  4  

According to Dr. Miller, removing the stress, or learning to better cope with it, has a positive impact on fertility. "Is stress typically the sole cause of infertility?" he says. "No. But it is an irrefutable contributor to fertility problems in many cases."

At any rate, decreasing stress can only be a good thing for parents wanting to conceive and carry a healthy baby.

3. Taking sugar or anything "white" out of your diet can improve ovulation. (Fact – sort of)
"White foods, like potatoes, rice and white bread, are loaded with carbohydrates and have a high glycemic index," Dr. Miller says. "This means that they cause a significant rise in blood sugar after they have been eaten, in turn, leading to spikes in the levels of circulating insulin. Insulin helps the body absorb sugar for fuel but also influences hormone production. In the ovary, insulin increases production of testosterone and other androgens (male-type hormones) that are released into the bloodstream."

It is important to remember that not all women will experience these effects when they eat white food, so therefore, cutting out these types of foods will only affect a few women. Individuals who are most prone to benefit from such changes in diet are those who are overweight or obese, have a family history of diabetes or have been diagnosed with polycystic ovaries. And keep in mind that most doctors believe the positive impact is due more to the weight loss that comes from such a change in diet than to cutting out those specific foods.

4. IV is associated with the greatest risk for multiple pregnancies. (Fiction)

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Fertility Truths and Myths by Anonymous on 02/09/2010 03:04PM

It's interesting that those who smoke are the ones who deny any problems. The wife of my husband's brother smokes. She smoked through her four or five (I'm nto sure how many children she has) pregnancies. I heard from my MIL that one of her children had to go back to the hospital in his first month of life due to respiratory problems. None of her children are exactly the brightest bulbs in the chandilier. As it is one of her daughters is currently a teen mother. Not only that, but she is in jail now. She was living with somebody (I don't think it was the baby's father) and phoned the police with theft report. It was found out that SHE was the one who stole the items. She is now in jail for both stealing and making a false report. However, in terms of intelligence, I wouldn't call the mother too bright. So, it may not be smoking per say, but perhaps that if the parent(s) aren't too bright, they may not raise up bright children. My husband and I actually half seriously talked about fostering the baby while the mother is in jail and discussed the whole "nature/nurture" debate. (Our two year old is qute brilliant. She speaks long sentences, comprehends things just by listening to others' conversations, talks about what is going on as though she is narrating the situation [it's a good thing, except in church], is very articulate, can count, is learning her letters, knows many shapes, colors, etc. We don't smoke. We eat whole, real foods. I'm vegan, but she and my husband occasionally eat animals and animal products and when they do, it's from local, organic farms.) This is just one exaple of people I know who smoke deny any problems (including my husband's sister who also smoked during her pregnancies and smokes around her kids. Even my husband has said that she is also not too bright. Yet, with my husband and his sister, their other sister and one of their brothers, it would be an interesting case of nature/nurture observation.)

Fertility Truths and Myths by Anonymous on 08/18/2009 03:44PM

look i know thats totall crap everyone in my family smokes and none of us seem to have a problem getting or staying pregnant. my sister had 5 kids in 5 years all beautiful healthy boys and she smokes to packs a day. We see anti smoking propganda everywhere but the fact is everyones body works differently so u cant say smoking with "definently" ffect fertlity

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