Women are more fertile in the spring, the Jerusalem Post daily reported Monday, citing research with Israeli doctors, which seems to prove an age-old belief.
The four-year study involving 675 patients undergoing fertility treatment showed the quality of embryos conceived with in vitro fertilization was much better in the spring and the chances of development much better.
"There have been all kinds of theories, but they are hard to prove," Dr Nathan Rojansky of Jerusalem's Hadassah hospital was quoted as saying.
"Some claim that people have less sex in the summer because they're hot and sweaty, or that men's sperm counts are lower in the heat of summer.
"So the only way you can really control all these variables is in vitro fertilization, when the women's ova are treated by synthetic hormones, removed at a certain time and fertilized in a glass dish."
The woman's biological clock apparently "tells" the body that the spring is the optimum time for intercourse, Rojansky said.
The results of the study were published in a recent issue of Fertility and Sterility, of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine – JERUSALEM (AFP)
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