Top 10 Ways to Increase Your Chances of Having Twins

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Many people wonder what it takes to have twins, triplets or more. While having multiples is a gift and a blessing, there are some common factors that increase the chances of conceiving twins.
Think you want to have twins or more? Here's how.

1. Have a History
Do twins run in your family? If you have a mother, brother, sister, uncle or long lost cousin with multiples, you may wonder if you'll have them too. Sometimes twinning is hereditary, it's true. However, only fraternal (dizygotic twins are influenced by heredity, and then only in some cases. If your mother or maternal grandmother was or had fraternal twins, you might have inherited a gene for hyperovulation, increasing your chances of conceiving twins also.

2. Grow or Gain Weight
A recent study published by the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology correlates the rise in multiple birth rates with rising rates of obesity. Research found that mothers with a BMI (Body Mass Index) of 30 or higer were significantly more likely to have twins. Again, this statistic only holds true for fraternal (dizygotic) twins. The research also showed that women of above-average height were also more likely to have multiples.

3. Grow Up: Wait Until You're Older
Older mothers are more likely to conceive twins than their younger counterparts. It's thought that the body accelerates ovulation as the biological clock starts ticking faster. Seventeen percent of mothers over age 45 have multiples. Wait five more years and the odds rise to one in nine! However, the risks also increase; older mothers have a higher rate of miscarriage and are more likely to experience problems such as gestational diabetes during their pregnancy; in addition, their babies are at higher risk for chromosomal abnormalities.

4. Have More Twins
Once you have had a multiple pregnancy, you are significantly more likely to conceive -- and deliver -- twins again! Some estimates suggest that mothers of twins are four times more likely to have twins again than a woman who has never been pregnant, or who only had a singleton.

5. Diet: Yams & Dairy
No one is quite sure why, but the Yoruba tribe in West Africa has the highest rate of twinning in the world. A study concluded that the mother's diet was the cause, being high in cassava, a type of yam or sweet potato. The peelings of this vegetable are thought to contain a chemical that causes hyperovulation. In addition, a 2006 study found that women who consume dairy are five times as likely to have twins.

6. Seek Fertility Assistance
Reproductive technology has dramatically increased the multiple birth rate. Drugs that stimualate ovulation can lead to a multiple pregnancy, but multiples can also result from invitro fertilization. It's not just that multiple embryos are implanted in the mother, but there is also an unexplained increase in the number of monozygotic twins among IVF patients. No ethical doctor would provide treatment if it wasn't warranted, so fertility assistance should only be sought out when necessary.

7. Have A Big Family
The more kids you have, the more likely you are to conceive twins in a subsequent pregnancy. No one knows the magic limit that triggers a multiple pregnancy, so you'll just have to keep trying until it happens.

8. Conceive While Breastfeeding
Most people think that you can't get pregnant while breastfeeding, that the process of lactating keeps a woman from ovulating. However, plenty of mothers of twins can disprove that theory. Some research has supported the theory that the chance of twins or multiples is increased if a woman conceives while breastfeeding.

9. Get Pregnant On the Pill
Birth control pills are usually thought to be 99.9 percent effective at preventing pregnancy. However, that .01 percent often results in a double whammy -- multiples. Sometimes pregnancy occurs when the pill isn't taken consistently; in other cases, the hormonal mix of a particular drug type simply doesn't provide enough coverage to completely prevent ovulation. In either case, playing around with hormones can lead to hyperovulation, increasing the chances of multiples.

10. Just Get Lucky!
Many parents of multiples don't meet any of the classic criteria, yet find themselves doubly blessed. Monozygotic twins are particularly mysterious; no one is exactly certain what causes an egg to split after conception, producing identical twins. The bottom line is that there truly isn't a whole lot an individual can do to influence their chances of having twins; sometimes you just get lucky!


Pamela Prindle Fierro, About.com

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The Nutrients You Need

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A recent government report found that Americans aren't getting enough calcium, fiber, magnesium, potassium, or vitamins A, C, and E. "You're not going to have a major health event as a result," says Alanna Moshfegh, an author of the USDA report What We Eat in America, "but the recommended amounts will help you maintain your health and decrease your risk of chronic diseases." Here are the figures (as they pertain to women) and a little help interpreting them.

Calcium
Recommendation: 1,000 milligrams a day.
Benefits: Bone health.
Sources: Dairy products; fish with bones; dark, leafy greens.
Fiber
Recommendation: 25 grams a day.
Benefits: Protects against coronary heart disease and reduces the risk of diabetes.
Sources: Fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, whole grains.
Magnesium
Recommendation: 310 to 320 milligrams a day.
Benefits: Helps maintain normal muscle and nerve function and develop and maintain bones.
Sources: Nuts, seeds, bran, halibut and other fish.
Potassium
Recommendation: 4,700 milligrams a day.
Benefits: Helps maintain healthy blood pressure and reduce the effects of salt; may reduce the risk of recurrent kidney stones and possibly decrease bone loss.
Sources: Potatoes, tomato paste and puree, white beans, yogurt, soybeans, bananas.
Vitamin A
Recommendation: 2,310 international units a day.
Benefits: Important for vision, red blood cell production, embryonic development, and immune function.
Sources: Organ meats; orange vegetables; green, leafy vegetables.
Vitamin C
Recommendation: 75 milligrams a day.
Benefits: Acts as a disease-fighting antioxidant; may help to maintain a healthy immune system.
Sources: Fruits and vegetables, including citrus fruits, red and green peppers, kiwis, and guavas.
Vitamin E
Recommendation: 15 milligrams a day.
Benefits: Acts as a disease-fighting antioxidant; may support eye health.
Sources: Some ready-to-eat cereals, some oils, almonds, peanut butter.

yahoo


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World Population to Reach 9.1 Billion in 2050, UN Projects

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The world's population will reach 6.5 billion by July and, despite lower expected fertility rates, is likely to reach 9.1 billion by 2050, with most of the increase taking place in developing countries, the United Nations Population Division says in its revised report for 2004.

In 2002 the Division had estimated a population in 2050 of 8.9 billion and last week, in a report sent to the 47-member UN Commission on Population and Development, had calculated the figure at 9 billion, reaching the 7 billion mark by 2012.

"World Population Change 1950-2050, the 2004 Revision" is the first of three volumes by the Division on global population trends. "The world has added nearly 500 million people since 1999 – just six years," Hania Zlotnik, the new head of the Division, told a press briefing. "The good news is that new estimates show that it will take a little longer to add the next half billion, reaching the 7 billion mark probably by 2013."

A summary of the report says, "Future population growth is highly dependent on the path that future fertility takes."

Median fertility is expected decline from 2.6 children per woman today to slightly over 2 children per woman in 2050. If fertility were to remain about half a child above that level, world population would reach 10.6 billion by 2050, while fertility half a child below the median would lead to a population of 7.7 billion by mid-century.

"At the world level, continued population growth until 2050 is inevitable, even if the decline of fertility accelerates," according to the report.

Almost all of the increase will take place in the less developed countries, whose populations is expected to reach 7.8 billion in 2050 from 5.3 billion now, while the population of the more developed countries will remain around 1.2 billion, it says.

Between 2005 and 2050, eight countries – India, Pakistan, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Bangladesh, Uganda, the United States, Ethiopia and China – are likely to contribute half of the world's population increase, while the population would at least triple in Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Chad, Congo, the DRC, Timor-Leste, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger and Uganda.
Fertility in the 44 developed countries remains generally low, with any increases being small, the report says.

In the 60 countries worst affected by HIV/AIDS, the impact of the disease is seen in increased morbidity and mortality and slower population growth, the report says.
"We must take more urgent action to promote access to reproductive health, including family planning, and fight HIV/AIDS to save millions from AIDS and maternal death, as well as to reduce poverty in developing countries," UN Population Fund (UNFPA) Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid said after reading the figures.

"As the world reviews the Beijing women's conference next week, we must promote women's rights to protect their welfare and health, especially reproductive health. Too many of our sisters in developing countries are lost to their families and societies due to maternal death. We must do better to empower women to help eliminate poverty and promote prosperity."

UN News Center
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Too much TV linked to higher asthma risk

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Children who watch television for more than two hours a day have twice the risk of developing asthma, British researchers reported last February

Asthma affects more than 300 million people worldwide and is the most common children's chronic illness. Symptoms include wheezing, shortness of breath, coughing and chest tightness.

A study published in the journal Thorax may help link asthma, estimated to account for one in 250 deaths globally each year, to obesity and lack of exercise, experts said.

"There has been a recent suggestion that breathing patterns associated with sedentary behavior could lead to developmental changes in the lungs and wheezing illnesses in children," Andrea Sherriff of the University of Glasgow and colleagues wrote.

Sherriff and colleagues studied more than 3,000 children from birth until nearly the age of 12.

The parents were questioned annually on wheezing symptoms among their children and whether a doctor had diagnosed asthma as they grew up. The researchers also analyzed how much television the children watched.

They did not consider video games or personal computers, which were not as common in the mid 1990s when the children were growing up, the researchers added.

The study found that 6 percent of children at around age 12 who had no symptoms of the disease growing up had asthma.

But children who watched television for more than two hours daily were almost twice as likely to have been diagnosed with the condition as those who watched less.

"The findings add to a wealth of evidence linking a lack of exercise and being overweight with an increased risk of asthma," Elaine Vickers of Asthma UK, who was not involved in the study, said in a statement.

"But this study is the first to directly link sedentary behavior at a very young age to a higher risk of asthma later in childhood."

In some countries as many as 30 percent of children develop the inflammatory disease, according to the World Health Association.


Yahoo,Reuters

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