New Fashion Fertility Risk

A leading practitioner of alternative medicine, Dr Wei-Xiong Chen, says that yongers who exposed their midriffs in cold weather could permanently affect their chances of having children by blocking the energy channels which run through the stomach.

He commented: "When the stomach area is exposed to cold air it can block the blood and energy flow in that area. It's dangerous." Dr Wei-Xiong stated that poor circulation caused by the cold could thin the womb lining could lead to painful periods and infertility.

However, traditional practitioners were unconvinced. Alison Murdoch, professor of reproductive medicine at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, said: "Culturally, people across the world wear clothing that exposes their midriffs all the time. There is no research in traditional medicine to support this. Having families later and obesity are much more important in leading to infertility than this.

"Young girls running between clubs in tiny clothes are probably doing more damage to themselves through other lifestyle choices, like drinking."

What are your thoughts, is this just another scary story in the press or should we take more interest in alternative medicine?

Americans prefer to leave child gender to chance

A report by the Fertility and Sterility Journal has shown that American parents to be would rather not decide on the gender of their babies.

"We found that only eight percent of people would use pre-implantation sex selection for non-medical reasons," said Tarun Jain, assistant professor of reproductive endocrinology and infertility at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and senior author of the study report.

The survey found that for people who wanted more than one child 77% would want an equal number of each or didn't mind what gender they were.

I'm not sure if they knew that to select the gender of the child would cost $2500?

Tax Breaks to Boost the Birth Rate - A Discussion

The Political Editor of the Scotland on Sunday newspapper, Eddie Barnes, raises a very important point: Should mothers be given tax breaks to raise the birth-rate?

He calls for the funding in the light of the report by Lord Turner as head of the Independent Pensions Commission who commented about the looming population crisis. The birth rate in Scotland is currently 1.4 per women where as in England its 1.75. Furthermore, 41% of Scottish graduate women between the ages of 45 and 49 are still childless, comapred to around 30% south of the Border.

This seems to be an issue that needs to be addressed and although adoption policies may need to be reviewed, any incentives to raise birth rates should be looked at.

What are your thoughts?

New Rules on Human Egg Donation

It has been reported that women who are not undergoing fertility treatment may be allowed to donate eggs purely for medical research. At the moment only women who are receiving IVF or gynaecological treatment may donate due to the health risks associated. But now the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority is asking scientists to recruit donors.

The process of donation itself can cause fertility problems and require the donors to take hormones to increase egg production which carries the risk of hyperstimulation syndrome which can lead to kidney damage.

The result of this, if approved, would be to allow women to take a risk with their health for no direct benefit for themselves. But if we like to think we live in an alturistic society if people are willing to take this risk for others then why not?

What Valentines is all about

Apparently when it first started in the 4th Century BC in the hills of Italy. The festival was called Lupercalia and was all about "purification and fertility". St. Valentines Day isn't only hard for the singles amongst us, but also for those that are trying to conceive.

The process of Lupercalia is a bit more like a swingers party where you draw key's out of a hat. Then, young men would draw the names of teenage girls from a box which became the forerunners of Valentine cards. For the rest of the year the man and the women will be sexual partners.

The church outlawed the festival in 496AD to prevent the sexual nature of it, but kept the lottery part where people where given names of Saints that they had to emulate that year.

How Valentines got it's name was from St. Valentine who thought that an edict from Emperor Claudius II that prevented soldiers from marrying was unjust so he performed the services in secret. From this young lovers would swap handwritten messages of affection which mentioned St. Valentine.

High Heels and Fertility

New reports relating to fertility and the wearing of high-heels are doing the rounds. According to fitness "expert" Dax Moy "if people value their health in any way at all, avoid these killer heels at all costs - they're not worth the risk". This is because when women wear high-heels they are rebalancing their bodies and moving their internal organs, causing a condition known as visceroptosis.

When high-heels are worn the extra pressure on the front of the foot is compensated by an excessive forward tilting of the the pelvis. If this continues for any length of time it could cause menstrual dysfunction, increases period pains and affects the ability to conceive.

The advice is therefore, when you're going out on the town, think past that night, think about how often you wear high-heels and if you would like children in the future.

Anthea Turner Accepts Fertility Blow

It is reported that Anthea Turner has come to terms with the probability that she may never have children. She explains that it was the death of two close friends (including Caron Keating) to breast cancer that lead her to realise she should be concentrating on what she has, and not what she hasn't. She says she's got "a great husband, three lovely step-children and a great life".

If you don't have a perfect life or step-children it truely must be a devastating thought not to be able to have children. From past relationships the majority of partners have had issues related to their ability to concieve. The first had polycystic ovary syndrome, another suffered from anorexia with the resulting effects on fertility, and the latest may have a genetic condition which makes the womb inhospitable for the development of a fetus.

From the desk of digital spy.

Finnish Government Approves Fertility Bill

On 9th Feburary 2006 the Finnish Government approved a bill to allow fertility treatment for single sex couples and single women. Strangely the element of the bill to allow fertility treatment for heterosexual couples was regected.

The next part of the bill is to set an age at which the child can be told the identity of the egg or sperm donor.

The whole affair was as heated as English debates, I just wish that the whole issue was looked at a bit more carefully.

German Women having children later or not at all

A new European Union study estimates that 30% of German women will remain childess. Germany is quite unique in most contries with low fertility young women will have their first child late, and then stop there. German women tend to do the extremes - have no children or two or three.

There's also an intersting view of various parts of Europe and the reduction in fertility rates, The Economist states. Countries in the North and West started to see fertility rates the earliest - in the 1960's and have recently seen it either stabilise or rise. However, countries in the South or East saw fertility rates fall much faster. But German has both characteristics. It's fertility rate fell below 2 in 1971 and has stayed below that level ever since and is still only just above 1.3.

But why? Michael Teitelbaum is a demographer at the Sloan Foundation in New York comments that the reasons are social. They have poor child care, longer levels of higher education, inflexible employment laws, high youth unemployment etc.

Lately we have seen countries in the Mediterranean have seen young women move away from Catholicism which encouraged larger families, and in eastern Europe the collapse in living-standards and pro-birth policies contributed to a decline. These can be seen as temporary factors.

Many people in Europe, it is said, intend to have two children. However, if they start seeing people having fewer they may see it as a norm to have few or no children.

Personally, I'm 30 and have no children. I prove the findings that social considerations often affect the desire (or the ability) to have children.

Fertility Board launches - its basically just a discussion board for people that want to discuss getting pregnant and infertility. We think its a great idea, there's already a lot of information out there and providing a resource where people can share their own experiences will be worth-while. Just as this board seeks to update people with the latest news and links to advice resources, a site where people can be candid about their own experiences is a worth while thing.

There is one thing, please don't visit TheCelebrityCafe.com as when we did it tried to encourage us to download software we don't think is always needed and could have side-effects if you don't know what you're doing.