There is a common believe that women who have twins are more fertile. Some studies have also supported this theory. But this is not true, concluded a study by an international team of 14 scientists.
Giving birth to twins doesn't mean the mothers are super fertile, they are just lucky, they researchers suggested. They came to the conclusion after conducting a detailed analysis of over 100,000 births from pre-industrial Europe (Finland, Sweden, Norway, Germany and Switzerland). The findings were published in the scientific journal Nature Communications.
Multiple pregnancy occurs when more than one egg is fertilized, or one fertilized egg splits into 2 or more embryos. Twins (a mother having 2 babies in the uterus) account for majority of multiple births (more than 90 per cent).
The popular believe is that twinning comes with higher fertility, meaning women who are more fertile are more likely to release more than one egg in a month. But the new results showed that mothers with twins (twinners) are not unusually fertile.
Are mothers who give birth more often are more likely to have twins? No.
The new study found that mothers who were more likely to have twins actually gave birth less often. This is another finding that contradicts results of previous studies.
However, the researchers noted that there is still a lot that they do not understand about twinning, and that understanding the relationship between twinning and fertility is "not only a question of academic interest but also a matter of public health."
