MSNBC Vegan diet may lower odds of having twins because of growth hormones in dairy products

[Guest guest]

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> Health

>

>Vegan diet may lower odds of having twins

>Women who eat a vegan diet - a strict vegetarian

>diet that excludes all animal products including

>milk - are one-fifth as likely as other women to

>have twins, a U.S. researcher reported.

>http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12922599/

>

Vegan diet may lower odds of having twins

Researcher suggests link between milk consumption and hormone

Reuters

Updated: 4:38 p.m. PT May 22, 2006

 

" Because multiple gestations are more prone to

complications such as premature delivery,

congenital defects and pregnancy-induced

hypertension in the mother than singleton

pregnancies, the findings of this study suggest

that women contemplating pregnancy might consider

substituting meat and dairy products with other

protein sources, especially in countries that

allow growth hormone administration to cattle, "

said Steinman.

 

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WASHINGTON - Women who eat a vegan diet - a

strict vegetarian diet that excludes all animal

products including milk - are one-fifth as likely

as other women to have twins, a U.S. researcher

reported.

 

The reason may be hormones given to cattle to

boost their milk and meat production, said Dr.

Gary Steinman, an obstetrician specializing in

multiple-birth pregnancies at Long Island Jewish

Medical Center in New Hyde Park, New York.

 

Writing in the Journal of Reproductive Medicine,

Steinman said he compared twin births rates among

women who ate a regular diet, vegetarians who

included dairy products, and vegan women.

 

The vegans had twins at one-fifth the rate of the

milk-drinking women. Insulin-like growth factor

may be responsible, Steinman said.

 

All animals, including people, produce a compound

called insulin-like growth factor or IGF in

response to growth hormone. It is found in milk

and it increases the sensitivity of the ovaries

to follicle stimulating hormone, thus increasing

ovulation.

 

Some studies also suggest that IGF may help

embryos survive in the early stages of

development.

 

Vegan women have about a 13 percent lower level

of IGF in the blood than women who consume dairy.

 

The number of multiple births, including twins,

has increased significantly in the United States

since 1975, about the time assisted reproductive

technologies were introduced.

 

And women are waiting until they are older to

have children, which can increase the rate of

twin births.

 

But Steinman thinks something else may be

contributing to the increase in the rate of twin

births.

 

" The continuing increase in the twinning rate

into the 1990s, however, may also be a

consequence of the introduction of growth-hormone

treatment of cows to enhance their milk and beef

production, " he said.

 

There could be a genetic link to IGF's influence, also, Steinman said.

 

In cattle, regions of the genetic code that

control the rate of twinning have been found

close to the IGF gene.

 

And black women in the U.S. have, on average, the

highest rates of twin births - and they also tend

to have normally higher levels of IGF in their

blood, Steinman said.

 

Asian women have the lowest IGF levels and the

lowest rate of twin births and Caucasian women

fall in-between, he said.

 

" Because multiple gestations are more prone to

complications such as premature delivery,

congenital defects and pregnancy-induced

hypertension in the mother than singleton

pregnancies, the findings of this study suggest

that women contemplating pregnancy might consider

substituting meat and dairy products with other

protein sources, especially in countries that

allow growth hormone administration to cattle, "

said Steinman.

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© 2006 MSNBC.com

 

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12922599/

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