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Mothers of twins may
live longer
A study published in the
journal Proceedings of
the Royal Society B
focused on the population
of women in 1800s Utah
and found that women
who gave birth to twins
were very strong and
healthy to begin with, so
were likely to live long
lives. As LiveScience
writer Stephanie Pappas explains
i t , " Tw i n s c o u l d b e a n
evolutionary adaption in which
healthy moms take the chance to
pass on double their genes at
once." However, because the data
only includes women who
conceived twins naturally -- IVF
was obviously not used in the
denitive.
Also, women who eat a lot of dairy
are more prone to conceiving twins
Another study done by Steinman
and published in the Journal of
Reproductive Medicine found that
women who eat more dairy products
may increase their chances of
conceiving twins. Steinman tested
this by comparing twin rates from
vegan mothers and non-vegan
mothers. Those who consumed
dairy were ve times more likely
to have twins. This is because
c o w s , l i ke h u m a n s , a l s o
produce IGF in response to
growth hormone and release it
into their blood. Then it gets
released into their milk, which
women consume.
Tall women are more likely
to have twins
Gary Steinman, MD, PhD,
an attending physician at
Long Island Jewish (LIJ)
Medical Center, discovered
that taller women have
more insulin-like growth
factor (IGF), a protein that
is released from the liver in
response to a growth
hormone that stimulates
growth in the shaft of
longer bones. Having higher
levels of IGF results in
increased sensitivity of the
ovaries, thus increasing a
woman's chance of ovulating.
According to Steinman, the
more IGF a woman has, the
greater chance she has of
becoming pregnant with twins,
because IGF "govern[s] the rate
of spontaneous twinning."
It's possible that
twins can have
different dads
In 2009, Mia Washington gave birth
to twins who have different fathers --
which is said to be a one-in-a-
million occurrence. Dr. Hilda
Hutcherson, Clinical Professor of
Obstetrics and Gynecology at
Columbia University, explained to
"Today" how it happened: Normally,
a woman releases one egg each
m o n t h .
Fo r
Washington, there were
two. At the same time,
t h e m o m h a d
intercourse with two
different men in the
span of ve days.
Because sperm can
remain alive in the
reproductive tract for
that long, each man's
sperm fertilized one of
eggs. Voila! Two babies,
two dads.