Hard to Conceive

Zoe Brenner, a Bethesda acupuncturist who has worked with Harvard and the NIH on acupuncture projects, says large acupuncture studies don't get done because there's no big drug company money behind it as there is for, say, fertility drugs. Ditto for herbs. She thinks that shouldn't matter.

"Just because we don't have a study showing the efficacy doesn't mean it's not working," said Brenner.

• DIETARY CHANGES

The Eastern View Every diagnosis in traditional Chinese medicine is linked with foods that are said to be curative and others said to be detrimental. For instance, a person with "kidney yang deficiency" would be told to eat lightly sautéed vegetables instead of raw ones so that the patient doesn't waste the limited "heat" in his system by asking the body to heat raw food to body temperature.

Lewis says it's been shown that when an egg is three months from being ready to emerge through ovulation, it begins receiving nutrients from the body. In her view, some foods can help the egg along, while others can hinder it. Generally detrimental to the egg's formation, she says, are caffeine, alcohol, milk, sugar and refined or processed foods.

The bulk of one's diet, she says, should come instead from organic plant sources, as well as brown rice and breads made from sprouted wheat, and meats and fish free from antibiotics and hormones. Also, Lewis recommends various dietary supplements, depending on what underlying physiological patterns she detects in you. For me, she suggested fish oil, wheatgrass shots, a high-octane bee pollen called royal jelly, the antioxidant pycnogenol and a daily shot of wheatgrass juice.

The Western View Most fertility doctors don't think diet makes much of a difference. Chang concedes it's true that having too much or too little body fat can inhibit ovulation, and malnourishment can impede conception. Likewise, women with polycystic ovarian syndrome, an endocrine disorder, are usually put on a low-carb diet to manage their metabolism, which in turn stabilizes hormones. But should a woman of normal weight who already eats relatively healthfully (like me) make any changes? Chang says no, probably not.

What the Studies Show Fern Reiss, author of "The Infertility Diet: Get Pregnant and Prevent Miscarriage" (1999, Peanut Butter and Jelly Press), cites a 1994 Harvard Medical School study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology showing that milk consumption is associated with age-related fertility decline in women with a very common lactose intolerance. However, the authors of the observational study admitted they couldn't control for other factors that influence fertility, such as marriage customs, divorce rates, contraceptive use and individual wealth.

Reiss also notes a few small studies showing that foods rich in zinc (such as pumpkin seeds) aid in sperm health, and that yams support reproductive hormones in women, even increasing the incidence of multiple births in one small, observational study that was not controlled and has yet to be replicated. Reiss -- who credits her 1996 pregnancy to a diet she formulated, based on her research -- refers to 500 studies on food and fertility in her book.

• RELAXATION

The Mind/Body View Physical or psychological stress makes the heart race and blood pressure build as the body shunts blood from the internal organs to the eyes and musculoskeletal system to prepare to fight or fly from a perceived danger. Mary Jane White, a Houston-based psychotherapist trained by infertility and stress-reduction guru Alice Domar at the Harvard Mind/Body Medical Institute, says many people live their lives in this state, causing the endocrine and reproductive systems to end up with very little circulation. To reduce stress and restore physical balance and a sense of calm, White -- who works with Lewis in running the retreats -- recommends yoga, daily meditation and plenty of self-nurturing (three spa treatments are built into the cost of the retreat). In addition, Lewis suggests a half-hour of daily qi gong.