FERTILITY

Sex can be many things - an expression of intimacy, a bond between lovers, a powerful force of nature - but ultimately it represents our drive as a species to procreate. It is such a sensitive system that perhaps we don’t realise how much it can be affected by everyday activities: the type of food we eat; smoking or drinking alcohol excessively; medication. All can be quite harmful not only to our sex drive but also to our fertility.

I was delighted to come across a paper recently published by Dr Neil Ward phD, in the Journal of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine in which he describes how 367 couples participated in the Preconception Care study (1995) run by the charity ‘Foresight’. All these couples had trouble conceiving before undertaking the programme. What is so outstanding about this research is that 89% of the women subsequently became pregnant and gave birth to healthy, well developed babies. None were malformed and none were transferred to special baby care units.

Instead of following the usual IVF route the couples involved in the programme undertook a regime of naturally based techniques: Top of the list was eating a wholefood organic diet without any additives, including drinking of plenty of filtered water; Eliminating social poisons such as smoking, alcohol and ‘street’ drugs; Use of natural fertility planning without the use of the contraceptive pill (which lowers vital nutrients in the body such as zinc, manganese, vitamins A and B-Complex); Addressing genitourinary infections, which believe it or not 81% of women surveyed in a London Clinic had been tested positive for. These can be symptomless infections and can be activated by hormonal stimulation of pregnancy; Improving digestive function, elimination of allergies, parasitic infestations and toxic metals; and finally, improving minerals in the body.
You can read more about this in ‘Preparation for Pregnancy’ by SG Bradley and N Bennet. Through this study, Foresight have found that it is possible to have uncomplicated pregnancies resulting in strong, healthy and perfectly formed babies.

The factors stated above are very much incorporated in the SEED fertility programme, I run in my clinic. Last month when I returned from my holiday I received an email from my client Michelle, who had been unable to conceive and decided to opt for the natural route instead of IVF. Within six months of starting my SEED programme she became pregnant. In her email she wrote to say that she had just given birth to a beautiful baby girl.

It is so encouraging to see results backed by research to show the effectiveness of natural medicine! It begs the question, are we spending excessive amounts of money putting couples through unnecessary IVF treatments when as a first stage, a natural programme could be the answer in enhancing a couple’s overall health as well as their baby’s?

Rumana Zahn is a Naturopath and Medical Herbalist and runs clinics in Newcastle (within a GPs practice), Darlington and Seaham Hall’s Serenity Spa. She is a leader within the field of Natural Medicine and writes and speaks extensively on the subject. She can be contacted on 01325 722803 or www.rumanahealth.com

Rumana is a member of the British Register of Complementary Practitioners.

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