NEW YORK, 22 May 2006 -

The consumption of dairy products has been shown to increase a woman's chance of giving birth to twins by five times, for the first time suggesting that diet during pregnancy can affect the likelihood of having twins.

American obstetrician, Gary Steinman, of the Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, New York, compared the births of women who ate a regular diet, a vegetarian diet and a vegan diet, the last of which proscribes the consumption of dairy.

He found that the vegan women had twins at only one-fifth the rate of women who commonly do not exclude milk from their diets.

"This study shows for the first time that the chance of having twins is affected by both heredity and environment, or in other words, by both nature and nurture," said Steinman.

The findings are attributed to the increase in insulin-like growth factor (IGF) in the blood from the consumption of dairy products. IGF is a protein that is released from the liver of animals in response to growth hormone. It circulates in the blood and makes its way into the animal's milk. When a woman drinks milk she therefore gains an increase in IGF. The concentration of IGF in the blood is about 13 per cent lower in vegan women than in women who consume dairy.

IGF increases the sensitivity of the ovaries to follicle stimulating hormone, thereby increasing ovulation. Some studies also suggest that IGF may help embryos survive in the early stages of development.

Steinman warns that "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."

The study is published in the May 2006 issue of the Journal of Reproductive Medicine.

Source: http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/279



I never knew this!

I will start adding even more milk to my diet, who knows!!

That is ironic since my friend is a twin and she is lactose intolerant.

thats a load of bull, both me and my twin sister are Lactose intolerant, and stay directly away frm dairy, yet she has 9 month old twin girls, and Kabe was a twin :S sorry not believing that lol, maybe they have partnership with a few cows somewhere

I want twins, so for now long milk is the n#1 on my diet

I think it also depends on genetics as well though. If you have twins in the family, then you're already genetically more likely to have twins. I'm thinking the milk thing is possibly for people who don't have twins in their families.

I dont think that the article was saying that if you dont drink milk you can't have twins but that it increases your chances of having twins if you do drink milk. Kinda like if you smoke your chances of lung cancer increases but if you dont smoke you can still get lung cancer. (Probably not to that degree though)