Factors behind the growing infertility epidemic affecting millions of Americans

Saturday, August 03, 2013 by: Dr. Megan Heimer J.D, N.D.
Tags: infertility, causes, epidemic

(NaturalNews) It seems as though everyone knows someone who struggles with infertility. It can be extremely devastating for any woman trying to conceive, when she looks at the little blue stick month after month only to see the same tell-tale negative sign. In the United States, a woman is considered to have infertility problems if she is unable to get pregnant after 12 months of trying to conceive without contraception.

According to government statistics, 6.7 million women and two million married couples are infertile. 35 percent of men are estimated to be sub-fertile and two percent of men are totally infertile. In 1968, there were only 600,000 office visits for infertility compared to the millions who fill up OB/GYN waiting rooms today.

Unfortunately, conventional medicine has little to offer in the area of infertility other than diagnostic tests, fertility drugs, and IVF (in vitro fertilization) that is mostly geared towards the female. They chalk the increase in infertility numbers up to better diagnostics, better trained or specialized physicians, and media publicity from new treatments. Because of a failure to acknowledge this growing epidemic, little government-funded research has been done into the actual causes of infertility - maybe because the findings might be controversial and go against what the drug industry promotes, or maybe because conventional medicine focuses on disease symptomology and not underlying causes.

The natural health community attributes 40 percent of infertility problems to men, 40 percent to women, and about 20 percent to unknown origin. A list of reasons for infertility in men include: an increase in body temperature from tight clothing and hot baths, cholesterol and auto-immune disease medications, amino acid, vitamin C, B, E, or zinc deficiencies, a lack of DHEA, stress, cortisol or pH imbalance, age and time of year, occupational hazards, radiation from cell phones, malnutrition, heavy metals, alcohol, infections, smoking, cottonseed oil, and genetically modified cotton and other foods, steroids, phyto-estrogens from soy, chemotherapy, STDs.

Factors known to cause infertility in women include: a pH imbalance, stress, lack of calcium needed for fertilization, pelvic inflammatory disease, an STD, HPV vaccine, allergy, cholesterol, and over-the-counter NSAID medications, hormone imbalance, emotional issues, white sugar, thyroid imbalance, malnutrition, some synthetic vitamin supplements, alcohol use, smoking, genetically modified foods which lack the nutrients necessary for fertility (because they are infertile themselves), high fructose corn syrup, phyto-estrogens from soy, vaginitis, caffeine, and a lack of fat soluble vitamins A, D, E, or K.

Very few, if any, of the above things on these lists are addressed when people sit down with a doctor to discuss infertility problems - but maybe it should. There are many natural remedies for improving fertility but the most effective route is to first remove the things that could be impeding conception, avoid genetically modified foods for at least six months before trying to conceive, and consume a healthy diet rich in nutrients. If the reasons for infertility are addressed, that little blue stick might just yield a positive.

Sources:

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr051.pdf

http://www.cdc.gov

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/fertile.htm

Lecture on Conception, Childbirth, Childhood. Naturopathic Institute of Therapies and Education

Smith, Jeffrey. "Genetic Roulette: Documented Health Risks of Genetically Modified Foods."

About the author:
Megan has a Bachelor''''s Degree in Political Science, a Juris Doctor, and is a Naturopath, Natural Health Educator, writer, parental rights advocate, and stay at home Mama. She blogs at www.LivingWhole.org, a site dedicated to teaching, encouraging, and empowering others to live, love, eat, serve, and raise their babes in unhindered, natural, and wholesome ways. Follow Megan on Facebook.