If becoming pregnant is difficult there are things that you and your partner can do to increase your chances of being parents in a natural fashion.
Statistics show that upwards of 20% of the couples that try to have children are not able. It is sad, but that is how it has become. Much suggests that our diet, environment, and lifestyle play an important factor. We smoke and drink, inhale polluted air, eat unhealthily, and are more or less under the constant influence of stress. All of these factors contribute to undermining the biological processes which are responsible for normal fertilization.
Today more than ever it is necessary to be thankful for the ability to bring children into this world, especially considering that our environment is not ideal. One should not give up too early due to lack of success because there are simple and effective methods one can use to increase the chances of effective fertilization.
First and most importantly, one should try to find out what the reason for the lack of pregnancy. If it is because of a “mechanical defect,” which could be, for example, that the man has had the mumps and as a result cannot have children or that the woman has blocked fallopian tubes, there is often nothing that can be done.
Nevertheless, there are good chances to achieve a positive result if the problem is due to, for example, a low sperm count. The body needs certain foodstuffs to be able to produce normal and well functioning sperm cells. These foodstuffs include minerals such as selenium and zinc. Scientific studies done in Scotland have actually shown that men with lowered fertility who received tablets of organic selenium had a far higher chance of causing a pregnancy. This is due to that the selenium supplement improves the motility of the sperm so that it can easier fertilize the egg.
The combination the low selenium levels in the average diet in the U.K. and that many men smoke (which causes lowered selenium levels in the body because selenium is an antioxidant and is therefore used to combat the oxidizing effects of smoking), causes severe selenium deficiency. This can in part explain the poor sperm quality seen in the population and is an easy thing to correct with a supplement. Zinc also plays a role, so it is only advantageous to combine these two minerals.
Odd sperm cells
Another problem that affects men is the phenomenon known as teratospermia, which is the production of deformed sperm cells. This characteristic deformity is caused by the oxidation by free radicals of the sperm cells’ genetic material (DNA). These deformed sperm cells cannot “swim” normally, greatly lowering the chances of fertilization.
This oxidation damage can be largely prevented with a supplement of pycnogenol, an extract made from French pine (Pinus maritime). The active pycnocyanides in pycnogenol-extract function as antioxidants and protect the sperm cells from being damaged. Studies in this area have been done in this area, and it has been observed that men who have received this extract can improve their chances of causing pregnancy.
The pycnogenol-extract is also relevant in relation to the very common problem for women, endometriosis. Endometriosis is an inflammation of the smooth muscle cells in the wall of the uterus. It is believed that endometriosis is the reason behind 30-40% of all infertility and that the pycnogenol-extract possibly can help. Japanese researchers at the Kieju Medical Centre in Nanao City and at Kanazawa University have achieved positive results in lessening inflammation of the uterus with the extract.
A good place to start
The examples above concerning selenium and pycnogenol are very concrete and are based on observed results, but good diet and nutrition is an important starting point. If you know that you live unhealthily and do not receive enough important nutrients or that you drink, smoke, and live a stressful life, it is actually a waste of money to undergo expensive fertility treatments at a clinic. It is better to start where you can do something yourself and, if that is not sufficient, to go onwards to fertility treatments which require more that you can achieve alone.
