I recently returned from a conference in Canada on Infertility and Chinese Medicine. The latest research presented there was nothing short of amazing in the area of male infertility. There were three studies in particular that caused me to rethink the impact of acupuncture and herbs on male factor infertility.
More and more IVF clinics are inclined to implant developing eggs at the day 5 over day 3. What are the reasons? And what is the basis on which one to chose?
Pro:
On a most basic level 25% of 3 day embryos are normal vs. 65% of 5 day, which are now a blastocytes, are normal. Most clinics want to have the highest success rates possible. People chose to come to a clinic based on its success rates. So there is a survival mechanism to one element. That is one of the reasons they have an age limitation to whom they will work with. At some point it is against the odds that you will conceive.
If you think that your diet is giving you all that you need in the arena of nutrition, think again. Even if you eat your 9 fruits and vegetables per day as suggested by the American Cancer Group, and you drink clean filtered water and hormone free meats you still aren't quite making the grade.
Our lands have been over processed for decades. Which translates to reduce vitamin and mineral content going into the foods grown in them. The average depth of top soil in 1950's was 6 feet. Today it is 6 inches. 6 inches. Talk about the angry inch! I think my tomatoes are screaming mad. In 1948 when you bought spinach it contained on average 158 milligrams of iron, today that same amount will give you around 27 milligrams.
The Enviromental Working Group (EWG) has shown that many known carcinogens and toxins found in cosmetics are now being found in the body. The average nubmer of chemicals found in the body and not found in the enviroment prior to 1950 is in the mid 600 range. In cord blood of newborns it is around 240. On the top of the list of concern are the following toxins. Look for them in the products you are using or thinking about using.
The cosmetic industry admits that their products do contain some know carginogens but asserts that they are present in such negligible amount as to not be of harm. But long term exposure from many different micro sources could add up to a toxic burden that harms the bodies ability to function correctly. If you think of someone who has exposure over several decades from there food, the packaging of their foods, the water, and the 3-9 body products they use every day, not to mention alcohol, birth control, hormone therapy or even the chronic use of apsrin like substance. What we end up with is a total body burden that is greater that the system can handle. From there we could see a number of problems including increased allergies, PMS, to cancers.
At an April 2006 cancer conference, evidence was presented that the
risk of breast cancer was reduced by 50% when vitamin D in the blood was 52
nanograms per milliliter, which equals to no less than 1000 international units (IU)
of vitamin D every day whether in the diet or in supplements. The average person
only gets 310 IU a day. (Evidence of Need for Increasing Dietary Vitamin D in Food.
Abstract 4008 - AACR Conference.) It is believe that part of the protective role Vitamin D plays is through its ablility to inhibit the growth of breast cancer cells as well as blocking excessive blood vessel formation around the tumor.
Currently doctors relay on a triple level testing for breast health- breast examination, mammography with or without ultrasounography and biopsy. There are a number of questionable factors in mammography. First is the issue of false positives. According to a New England Journal of Medicine study, published in 1998 on 4,319 women the rate of false positives for a woman 50 years old or older was 24% after five screenings and 47% after ten screenings for younger women the risks are 30% and 56%.
Secondly, there is has been a few different studies which show that while mammograms have been able to detect breast cancers when the tumors were smaller, they have had no effect on the survival rates. In fact, even the National Cancer Institute admits that monthly breast self examination following a brief training combined with annual clinical breast examination by a trained health care professional is at least as effective as mammography.
Have you ever wondered why you have allergies and you siblings or friends don't? Think about allergies as a indicator button to your bodies total burden of toxins. No symptoms indicate the system is running fine. Increased symptoms indicates an overloaded system that is backed up causing runny nose, watery eyes, headaches and disturbed sleep.
Try reducing your body exposure to toxins at that time. Like limit the amount of alcohol your drink, particularly beer which has a larger allergy impact. If you take NSAIDS limit or better yet eliminate them. Eat less processed foods, lower your intake of wheat, sugar, dairy and corn products. They are the top allergenic foods. And as always, increase your intake of purified water.
If you have been diagnosed with PCOS ask your health care practitioner to check your levels of iodine. This can be done by a simple and inexpensive iodine challenge test. Iodine deficiency has been associated with not only low thyroid but also cystic growths in reproductive tissues such as the breast and the ovaries. This translates to diseases such as PCOS and fibrocystic breast disease.
