This story was originally titled "Fertility-Friendly Foods" in the May 2008. Subscribe to Canadian Living today and never miss an issue!

If Deena Harris had known years ago how some foods can affect fertility, her life might have been dramatically different.

For one thing, the 30-year-old pharmacist could well be mothering a noisy, happy house teeming with kids. She also may not have lost three babies when they were just 18 weeks in her womb. And she and her husband, Jeff, likely wouldn't have spent their life savings on the hollow promise of fertility treatments that ended in failure.

But Deena didn't know. And so the past four years have been all about the things she couldn't have.

But then she met Dr. Jeremy Groll, a reproductive endocrinologist and fertility specialist at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, where Deena works. After examining Deena, Groll told her two things: one, she was likely insulin resistant (a condition that can impair fertility); and two, a diet of fertility-boosting foods might help her become pregnant.

Within eight weeks of following Groll's diet, Deena had lost 15 excess pounds; a few months later, she conceived. She gave birth to her daughter, Hailey, in October 2006.

"I felt great," she recalls. "By the time I got pregnant, I was in the best shape of my life."

Even if Deena's fairy-tale ending isn't as universal as we'd like it to be, her underlying problem is common enough. Affecting 25 per cent of the population, insulin resistance is a condition in which the body has trouble responding normally to the hormone insulin, making it a risk factor for diabetes. Insulin resistance occurs when the pancreas overproduces insulin in an attempt to metabolize carbohydrates properly. That triggers
a rush of testosterone, which causes anovulation (irregular cycles that make becoming pregnant difficult). When conception does take place, insulin resistance impairs how well the fetus attaches to the uterus. The result: a three times higher than average miscarriage rate and a three per cent annual growth in Canada's reliance on reproductive medicine.

Polycystic ovary syndrome
To make matters worse, many women with insulin resistance also have polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a hormonal disorder that affects five to 10 per cent of women.

In addition to irregular periods, PCOS causes facial hair, acne and benign ovarian cysts. As with insulin resistance, PCOS affects a woman's ability to  become pregnant and to carry the pregnancy to term; up to 70 per cent of sufferers miscarry because of poor placenta attachment. Ninety per cent of women with PCOS are also insulin resistant.

Deena was one of them. Her doctor had diagnosed her with PCOS when she was 21 and successfully treated her unwanted facial hair and irregular cycles – but not her infertility. And so, believing that determination and persistence would eventually turn the tide, Deena and Jeff spent years trying to become pregnant, undergoing round after round of fertility drug injections, artificial insemination and tests. Not surprisingly, all but one of their attempts failed. In 2005, Deena conceived triplets, only to miscarry at 18 weeks. "It was," she says carefully, "a huge emotional roller-coaster."

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