Yoruba Yams

I’ve come up with quite a good list of factors, and some interesting insights. For example, most people thinking about having twins think mainly about inducing multiple ovulation. However, I have noticed that miscarriages of a multiple (also called “vanishing twin”) are much more common than singleton miscarriages. Evidently, there is more at work here than the usual chromosomal defects, immune disorders, and unknown causes that are implicated in miscarriages. Surprisingly enough, some sources say that 1 in 8 pregnancies begins as a multiple pregnancy. That’s a lot of vanishing twins. It seems to me that someone wishing for twins should concentrate on making sure both babies “stick,” since multiple ovulation is not nearly as uncommon as it might seem. In fact, Taking Charge of Your Fertility, the book that taught me to chart my cycle, suggests adding an extra day of possible fertility every cycle to allow for double ovulation within the 24 hours after ovulation.

Later I will discuss general fertility factors, since I believe they will also be helpful.

However, I’ve come up with several controllable factors that are mentioned as directly contributory in twinning rates

The first is yams. The Noruba Tribe in Nigeria has a dramatically high twinning rate, which some researchers attribute to their high consumption of this tuber. I researched this, since there’s the continual debate about the difference between a sweet potato and a yam. Turns out that our sweet potatoes just resembled yams to people of African extraction. Actually, they are not really related to true yams. I’ve found an online store in the UK that ships garri, which is sort of a “potato pearls” version of african yams. The preparation process is apparently quite complex, involving several days of fermentation to remove natural toxins. I have heard from different sources that the reasons these work to cause hyperovulation is 1) they contain phytoestrogens, which help the body to produce more estrogen and ovulate more, and 2) they contain progesterone, which helps the eggs to stick once they’ve implanted. Not sure which of these is actually true. Probably both.