Originally published October 5 2005
Older women have a greater chance of conceiving twins
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Dr. Richard Beckerman of Maryland offers one possible explanation as to the greater number of twins conceived by older women: Women produce more eggs in their mid-30s than they did when younger.
It's no secret that as women get older, they have a harder time getting pregnant.
But medical experts say it may not be as well known that older women are more likely to have twins than younger women, reported WRC-TV in Washington, D.C.
With more and more women over the age of 35 getting pregnant, women shouldn't be surprised if they end up seeing more sets of twins.
And it's not always due to the effects of fertility drugs -- but Mother Nature, doctors say.
She has her hands full, especially when it comes to her young twins, 3-year-old Jamie and Will.
The twins came as a surprise for Harvey and her husband, who had been planning on a third child.
And I had no idea I was going to have twins, I didn't know it was a possibility," Harvey said, with a laugh.
Twins don't run in Harvey's family, and she didn't use fertility drugs.
But at the age of 38, she was a likely candidate for a twin birth.
According to medical experts, women in their mid-30s are more likely to have fraternal twins than younger women.
Dr. Richard Beckerman, a obstetrician and gynecologist in Potomac, Md., said there's no clear reason why older women are more likely to have twins.
But one theory is that women in their mid-30s produce more eggs, increasing their chances for twins.
"These are not always the healthiest of eggs.
However, again, this is, I think, one of the ways the body does try to increase the likelihood of women, as they get older, to conceive," Beckerman said.
According to the most recent figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of twins born in the United States jumped 38 percent between 1990 and 2002.
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