Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Healthy eating can help perk up fertility

IT IS estimated that one in seven couples have trouble conceiving despite regularly having unprotected sex.

But the number of couples who are classed as infertile in the UK remains relatively low.

There are a number of conditions, which can cause infertility, although in just under a third of cases the cause is unknown.

However there are a number of factors which, while not causing infertility, can affect men and women’s chances of conceiving.
Being overweight, or obese, for example, reduces both male and female fertility. In women, it can affect ovulation.
Being underweight can also impact on fertility, particularly for women, who will not ovulate if they are severely underweight.

Smoking not only affects a person’s general and long-term health, it can also affect fertility and stress can reduce sexual desire, reducing the frequency of sexual intercourse. Severe stress may also affect female ovulation and can limit sperm production.

Nutrition – what people are eating – also has an impact on fertility. Many of us will be aware of the importance of folic acid for women trying to conceive, or that zinc is good for healthy sperm, but the role of nutrition in fertility goes beyond this.

While there are no specific foods or beverages that will definitely make anyone more fertile, a person’s overall nutrition has a subtle, but powerful effect on all of the body’s systems, including the reproductive system.

Kay Clarke, a nutritional therapist at the Natural Health and Fertility Clinic, in Cardiff, said: “Nutrition is very important for the reproductive organs not least because they are often at the bottom of the list in terms of the body’s needs.
“Nutritionally people seem to be unaware of the basics.
“The nutritional status of a person is an individual thing, which we need to assess but there are some general points, including eating five to nine portions of fresh fruit and vegetables a day.
“They are full of vitamin C which helps in the production of eggs and sperm. The oils – omega three, six and nine – are also important because they have an anti-inflammatory reaction on the body and help to balance reproductive hormones.
“But if you are eating a lot of saturated fats, such as butter, cheese, and fatty meats these foods have an inflammatory effect in the body and therefore the action of the good oils is diminished.
“It is important that you get a balance of good oils over the bad fats. Couples who are trying to conceive should limit saturated fats to just part of one meal a day.”

SOURCE: walesonline.co.uk

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

SET TO BECOME BRITAIN’S OLDEST MOTHER!

Elizabeth Adeney is 66 years old. She will celebrate her 67th birthday one month after the birth of her first child this June. The British Ms. Adeney is the oldest mom in Great Britain, and maybe in the world.

The British business woman says she wants a child to inherit her wealth. Adeney is the managing director of a plastics and textiles company in Mildenhall, Suffolk. She says she is fitter than many of the younger women who work for her…some days she feels like she is 39 and other days 56. According to friends, “she is in perfect health,” and “has had a pretty good pregnancy,” and has worked a regular work week throughout her pregnancy.


It is believed after numerous failed fertility treatments, Ms. Adeney underwent IVF treatment in the Ukraine using donor eggs and sperm. British clinics will not accept applicants for in vitro treatments over the age of 50.

An IVF expert, Dr. Severino Antinori, refused to comment on Adeney. Older mothers have an increased risk of complications and even death. Rumors are that health officials were shocked to learn of the pregnancy and Elizabeth Adeney’s advanced age. While the cutoff age for treatment is 50 in Great Britain, fertility treatment for those over 40 is not recommended.

Ms. Adeney has a supporter in her own physician, Dr. Patricia Rashbrook, who had a son through in vitro at the age of 63. Elizabeth will beat Rashbrook’s age by four years, and when her child has her 20th birthday, Adeney will be turning 87 shortly after.

This single mum is fully capable of supporting her child. She has a $910,000 (USD) home, a full-time live-in nanny and a deep desire for a child. Said to be one “feisty” woman, she was a debutante and an airline hostess. Elizabeth married Robert Adeney but the union was short lived.
The title of “oldest mom” is controversial too.

Some say Adeney will be the oldest mother in the world, not just Britain, because Rajo Devi Lohan, a woman claiming she was 70 years old in July 2008, gave birth to twins in India. Problem is, reports say, Lohan cannot produce her birth certificate. Her age is in dispute with some officials, but not with others.

Spainard Carmen Bousada gave birth to twins in December 2007, and was considered the world’s oldest mother at that time at age 66. Bousada is a pensioner and never married. She lied about her age - said she was 55 years old - to receive the IVF from an American clinic in Los Angeles. Bousada paid $60,000 for the treatments. She gave birth in Barcelona.

Less than three weeks before the twins first birthday, she told the press she had been diagnosed with a serious illness, which is thought to be cancer. In an interview, Carmen says she does not expect to die anytime soon, but
if something should happen to her, the children will be cared for by her nephew and the twin’s godfather.

Elizabeth Adeney says she knows she is in the news but she doesn’t care.

'I’m a private person and while I appreciate there may be some publicity I will just ignore it. This has been a very personal decision.'