Ashwagandha (Winter Cherry) Herb Review

Ashwagandha is sometimes also known as Indian ginseng, Ashvagandha, Winter cherry, Ajagandha, Kanaje Hindi and Samm Al Ferakh and comes from the Solanaceae or nightshade family.

From the image above you can see that it the fruit of it looks like a tomato. The shrub itself can reach as high as 6' or 170cm and is often found in Bangladish, India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

Medically, Ashwagandha is seen as being a "rasayana" herb which is a herb that works non-specifically to increase a person's wellbeing. It is both the root and the berry that is used in herbal medicine.

But where does the name come from? Well in Sanskrit it means "horse's smell" - not a great name and probably wouldn't help it sell in the supermarket! But the name is totally accurate as it does smell like a sweaty horse.

Quite paradoxically it has been used as a sedative as well as to increase sexual vitality and erectile disfunction.

Are you looking to buy Ashwagandha?

Home Herbs
100 Capsules from £7.95
100ml Tincture from £10.95

Click Here

YourHealthFoodStore
Dabur Nature4U Ayurveda Ashwagandha Capsules
Higher Nature Rhodiola And Ashwagandha Powder
Natures Answer Ashwagandha Root Liquid
Natures Plus Herbal Actives Ashwagandha Capsules
Pukka All In One Ashwagandha Shatavari Formula Capsules
Pukka Ashwagandha Gotu Kola Formula
Pukka Ashwagandha Plus
Pukka Ashwagandha Vegetarian Capsules
Pukka Valerian and Ashwagandha Formula Capsules
Solgar Standardized Full Potency Ashwagandha Root Extract
Swiss Herbal Remedies Ashwaganda Tincture

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Himilaya Direct
Ashvagandha (Buy 1 Get 1 Free)

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Learn More about Ashwagandha

Flaxseed Oil Benefits and Information

All About Flaxseed

There are basically two types of flaxseed - brown and golden (yellow). The component that many people buy brown flaxseed for are its omega-3 fatty acids. Although it is important to note that the golden flax is actually low in omega-3 fatty acids.

Flax is also used to create vegetable oil / linseed oil and has been used commercially for hundreds of years.

There have been some studies that taking flaxseed as part of a diet may help some individuals with certain types of breast cancer (see notes at the bottom).

There has also been some talk of talking flaxseed to aid fertility.

Where to buy flaxseed oil and capsules:

1. Chen J, Wang L, Thompson LU (2006). "Flaxseed and its components reduce metastasis after surgical excision of solid human breast tumor in nude mice". Cancer Lett. 234 (2): 168–75. doi:10.1016/j.canlet.2005.03.056. PMID 15913884.
2. Thompson LU, Chen JM, Li T, Strasser-Weippl K, Goss PE (2005). "Dietary flaxseed alters tumor biological markers in postmenopausal breast cancer". Clin. Cancer Res. 11 (10): 3828–35. doi:10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-04-2326. PMID 15897583.

Obesity leads to increased infertility

The American National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences has found that "Men with increased body mass index were significantly more likely to be infertile than normal-weight men".

The lead investigator Markku Sallmen said that "the data suggest that a 20-pound increase in men's weight may increase the chance of infertility by about 10 percent,"

But it's not limited to men. Donna Baird who also worked on the study said that "women who are overweight or obese tend to have a more difficult time becoming pregnant than normal-weight women, but whether men who are overweight or obese also have fertility problems had not been studied."

The study established that 28 percent of the couples had experienced infertility because of such influences as age, cigarette smoking, alcohol intake and solvent or pesticide exposure. The researchers concluded that a man's weight "was an independent risk factor for infertility" regardless of age.

Conception Basics

It would be remiss of us if we didn't cover the very basics of conception and fertility.

For the majority of women there will be times when you are more fertile than others. Knowing when this time is will help you conceive.

The first stage that perhaps many could overcome problems in becoming pregnant would be to work out when these fertile periods and have intercourse then.

Here are some of the requirements for you to get pregnant:

1. You must be ovulating or just about to - take an ovulation test kit;
2. The man must be fertile and ejaculate sufficient sperm - use a male fertility test;
3. The area of the opening to the womb must not be hostile to sperm
4. The egg must be fertilised and then implant itself in the womb. When you believe this to have happened then take a pregnancy test.

Male Fertility Testing Kit

In addition to carrying out the Fertility Score Male Fertility Test below there is plenty you can do to help you and your partner have a better chance of conceiving. Give yourself a health check because aspects of your current lifestyle may be affecting your fertility...

• Smoking: can significantly lower your sperm count and damage the sperm that is produced. Try and cut down or give up altogether.
  
• Alcohol: the maximum number of units per week for a man is 21, but it is advisable to drink less if possible as alcohol is known to kill off the sperm-generating cells in the testes.
  
• Diet and Fitness: increase your intake of fresh fruit and vegetables and reduce your intake of salt and fatty foods. Recommended minerals and vitamins to help with male fertility are: Zinc which is vital for viable sperm count, motility and a high percentage of live sperm in the semen. (Remember that Zinc is lost through ejaculation so include this in your daily diet.) Vitamin C also helps increase sperm motility; Vitamin E boosts general fertility; Omega-3 found in fish oil or flaxseed oil encourages healthy sperm and reproductive tissue. Vitamin B12 is essential for the process of cell division.
  
• STDs: such as Chlamydia can effect the production of sperm. You may have become infected some years ago from a previous partner without suffering any noticeable symptoms so it is worth checking at this stage that you are free from any infection that might prevent or impede conception...

Find out your Fertility Test:

FertilityScore is an easy to use screening test, offering affordable, highly accurate home sperm testing.

Clinical Studies using FertilityScore have indicated a 93% positive predictive power for semen samples containing 20 million or more motile sperm per ml. A 90% negative predictive power was found for samples containing 10 million motile sperm or less per ml. Thus FertilityScore is a highly effective screening test for male fertility potential.

Buy the Male Fertility Test Kit from:
Express Chemist - £23.99

Implementation Of NICE Fertility Guidance,

Infertility Network UK (I N UK) has been asked by the Department of Health to work with Primary Care Trusts in England to encourage implementation of the NICE guideline on the assessment and treatment of people with fertility problems.

The National Infertility Awareness Campaign (NIAC) is an umbrella body formed in 1993 with support, which it continues to enjoy, from a wide range of organisations involved in the field of infertility, including infertility charities, patient support groups, healthcare professionals and the pharmaceutical industry. NIAC campaigns for fair and equal access for those with an established clinical need to a full range of services for the investigation and treatment of infertility on the NHS.

Read more

Cut-price Fertility Treatment when Donating Eggs

Lyndsay Moss of the Scotsman reports that women are to be offered cut-price fertility treatment if they donate eggs for stem cell research.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has granted permission for researchers in Durham and Newcastle to offer IVF treatment at half price in exchange for half of their eggs.
Read the full article.

Fertility Treatment Not Efective For All

The Lancet recently reported that a treatment commonly used as the first step of treatment for couples having problems conceiving may only be 30% effective.

Intrauterine insemination with controlled overian hyperstimulation may be more successful than without the hyperstimulation, intracervical insuemination or timed intercourse - however it costly and increases the chances of multiple births.

Read Medical News Today for more information.

Why More Young Women are Seeking Fertility Advice

The Wall Street Journal recently examined the social trends which result in more younger women in the US to seek fertility advice.

According to a recent "National Survery of Family Growth" found that the percentage of college graduates aged 22-29 who recieved fertility treatments doubled to 23% from 1995 to 2002.

It says that a greater proportion are seeking fertility advice earlier, despite the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists defining infertility as the inability to concieve after 12 months of trying.

Also the internet with its level of information and allowing to communicate more easily has encouraged women to seek non-clinical and non-prescription approaches to the problem of infertility.