There's not a lot of research on diet and fertility Mike, and I've never really looked into it. If you want to search Medline (Pubmed) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi, look for Anne Clark- she's had some promising results with exercise, diet and weight loss http://www.fertilityfirst.com.au . Also, they say boxer shorts increase the sperm count (but some conflicting studies)(but it's a harmless thing). Testes and ovaries are very high in omega 3 and an Omega diet should be helpful (no formal research yet)- it certainly helps brain function (brain, adrenal, testis, ovary and marrow are the big omega 3 containing tissues I believe). For PCOS sufferers, paleo and omega diets hold good promise as many fatty acids are inhibitors of 5 alpha reductase (the enzyme that boosts the potency of testosterone. GLA (20:3n6) seems to be the most potent inhibitor followed by 22:6n3, followed by 18:3n3. The western diet is quite low in all three of these fatty acids and is overburdened by a high n6/n3 ratio. Search for Prof Liao for info on this. If I wanted to improve fertility, then an Omega Diet www.teleport.com/~jor is the place to start- paleo diets include m,ost of this, but if you're like me your paleo diet will benefit a lot from what the omage Diet ahs to say . Now I'm on a Paleomega diet! Haven't seen anything that would connect lectins to fertility- except that they can mimic insulin's effects and this would be bad for PCOS sufferers. Ben Balzer Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2000 10:45:22 -0700 From: Mike MacLeod <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Lectins- Hannibal lectin >Another thing about "Hannibal" lectins: In "Cereal grains, the double >edged sword of humanity" Loren Cordain say that there is probably a >certain amount of the lectins needed to do any harm, at least on most >people. That perhaps means it could be possible to consume some "rather >paleo" plant foods in limited amounts. >The last 10000 years has shown that it is quite possible for humans to >eat a non healthy food, and still procreate well, even too well. I am >sure similar things has happened before that also. > >- Hans Hmmm...now why didn't we find plants with lectins that inhibited fertility? I guess those who ate 'em didn't leave descendants to continue the practice. Have they found lectins or other compounds that are fertility promoters? Mike *****************************************************************