Looking Back Over the Nutrition-NFP Connection

By Marilyn Shannon

The Couple to Couple League is unique, even among other NFP organizations. No one element makes it one of a kind, but the integration of four factors make it like no other agency.

First, it establishes a strong theological and moral basis for its NFP-only commitment. It is far different from secular organizations that teach a utilitarian “fertility awareness method” that recommends barrier methods along with charting the cycle.

Second, CCL teaches a thorough understanding of all three basic ways of identifying the phases of the fertility cycle — temperature, mucus and cervical changes.  It combines these in a cross-checking method that uses the strengths of each for highest effectiveness. If you are new to NFP, you may be unaware that there are modern NFP methods that promote mucus-only methods. In the past there were temperature-only methods.

Third, it promotes breastfeeding. Not just the cultural, limited kind, but the kind written into our physiology by the Author of Life — the kind that promotes mother-child togetherness, good health for mother and child, family bonding, and the child spacing that God Himself designed from the neediness of His little ones.

Finally, CCL strives to provide self-help options for cycle irregularity and infertility through better nutrition. Nutrition is, of course, part and parcel of the breastfeeding emphasis. The late friend of CCL, Dr. Robert Mendelsohn, author of How to Have a Healthy Child — In Spite of Your Doctor, noted that baby formula was the granddaddy of all junk food. If that is true, the converse is also true: breast-feeding is the “grandmother” — well, the “mother” —  of all good nutrition. So CCL’s interest in nutrition is a natural extension of breastfeeding.

All of these, without exception, we owe to our founders, John and Sheila Kippley.  To Sheila especially we owe CCL’s promotion of ecological breastfeeding. Speaking personally, there have been very few books that have stood out as truly making a difference in my life, but the original edition of Breastfeeding and Natural Child Spacing is one of them. I was fortunate to have read it before the birth of our oldest son, who is now 22; in fact, I read it a couple of years before I realized that CCL even existed.

The interest in nutrition for overcoming cycle irregularities and infertility we owe especially to John Kippley. As he wrote in 1990 in the “Foreword” of the first edition of Fertility, Cycles and Nutrition, “I cannot recall how or when it first dawned on me that there was a connection between nutrition and fertility, but once that dawning occurred, I saw increasing evidence of it as I counseled couples — and especially women — about natural family planning.”

It was John who asked me in 1988 to write a “pamphlet” on the relationship between nutrition and heavy bleeding, poor mucus problems, delayed ovulation and other cycle problems that increased abstinence. I consented because to me, “pamphlet” meant three or four pages, and I felt that I could handle that much. I was a little taken aback when John said that he envisioned a 40 to 50-page pamphlet, but … I was already committed. Actually, the pamphlet grew like Topsy into the first edition of Fertility, Cycles and Nutrition.

NFP, Nutrition, and Me

How did I get involved in nutrition and NFP? My interest in nutrition and health began during my graduate school years, when a student in the human physiology lab that I taught invited me to look over the natural foods co-op where he worked. I found the books at the place fascinating, more so than the food, which I wasn’t sure how to use, especially since I had limited kitchen privileges where I roomed.  My own nutrition at the time could only be described as dismal, and fatigue was my most reliable companion. But when Ron came into the picture — we married after an engagement of only four months — I decided from Day 1 of our marriage not to feed him the way I had been eating. I also knew that Ron’s dad had died of colon cancer, and I had learned through my reading that a holistic diet rich in fresh fruits and vegetables reduces the risk of that type of cancer. My nutrition changed dramatically starting the first evening in our own home, motivated by my desire to have Ron around for a long, long time. Fresh fruits and vegetables, everything but condiments made from scratch, treats but no habit of desserts — it was easy to get started right then, as it was a new life for both of us.

To my surprise, within a week the colitis which had bothered me for several years disappeared. Once I started taking vitamins, my fatigue subsided so much that even my new husband noticed. One morning I simply woke up and got right up without my usual stalling for more sleep.  “Is this the woman I married?” Ron wondered, as I became ambulatory in record time. He and I even started running daily around Indiana University’s outdoor track.

Fast forward nine years to 1986: Ron and I were already a Teaching Couple of four years, had three children, and were experiencing the exhilaration of our very first CCL convention in Golden, Colorado.   A practicing nutritionist had just addressed the entire group of participants.  At the end of the talk, members of the audience could line up at the microphone to ask questions. I was at the back of the room,  walking my slightly crabby seven-month-old son, when John Kippley came up to the microphone.

“Can nutrition improve a short luteal phase?”

My attention was immediately riveted.  What an audacious question! Nutrition couldn’t have anything to do with the luteal phase, the second half of the cycle, I thought.  It’s true, I mused, that when a woman is underweight, the cycle can be improved by weight gain, but the effect is to improve the first half of the cycle. After all, the first half of the cycle is more variable than the second half. The luteal phase just doesn’t change much. So I thought.

Yet the question intrigued me for a couple of reasons. First, it was a surprise to me that a short luteal phase was a concern to the founder of CCL. Even when the luteal phase — meaning the days of postovulatory elevated temperatures — is less than the usual 12 to 16 days, natural family planning is still usable. The Doring rule can be used instead of the 20/21-day rule to provide an effective end to Phase I.  And the beginning of Phase III is determined the same way whether the luteal phase is short or not.

Moreover, though, the question intrigued me on its own merits. When it comes to scientific research, a rule for success is to “ask the right question.” Could nutrition possibly affect the length of the relatively unchangeable luteal phase for a particular woman? Could anything change it? I was interested in nutrition, and I wanted to find out.

Dr. Abraham’s PMS Research

Not long afterward I discovered Dr. Guy Abraham’s ongoing research on the relationship between nutrition and premenstrual syndrome (PMS). The importance of his work to NFP users can hardly be overstated. Dr. Abraham showed that PMS has more than one cause, but a major one is low progesterone and high estrogen in the luteal phase. This common situation is termed luteal phase defect, or luteal phase deficiency. On the chart it often manifests itself with the short luteal phase that John Kippley was concerned about.

 Using improved diet and supplements of vitamins and minerals, especially vitamin B6 and magnesium, Dr. Abraham was able to reduce the symptoms of PMS, even under double-blind conditions. He showed that the supplements could improve the estrogen-progesterone hormonal profile of the luteal phase. He also published a remarkable study in which 11 of 14 women who had PMS and infertility conceived soon after taking supplements of vitamin B6.

Once Fertility, Cycles and Nutrition referenced this work, CCL began recommending Optivite, the vitamin B6-rich multi-vitamin/multi-mineral supplement that Dr. Abraham formulated and tested, again under double-blind conditions. This was easy for us to do, because Dr. Abraham was willing to speak to any woman’s physician who was unfamiliar with Optivite. He also provided a referenced booklet concerning its safety and effectiveness. We soon received anecdotal reports from women who found that their luteal phase increased two or three days once they started using Optivite. That was expected, since Dr. Abraham’s research showed that his nutritional recommendations could raise progesterone. We also had unexpected reports — that Optivite improved the mucus sign.

Based on Dr. Abraham’s report of infertile women conceiving soon after supplementing vitamin B6, we began recommending Optivite plus Dr. Abraham’s full dietary plan for PMS for infertile women, especially if their chart showed a short luteal phase. While one can never credit a pregnancy to any particular change, we have received many reports over the years of women achieving pregnancy soon after starting Optivite.

Early miscarriage without proper development of the child is also known to be related to short luteal phase in some cases.   Because Optivite can improve the luteal phase, we have recommended it for repeated miscarriage. There is no direct research on this topic that I am aware of, but after reading my recommendation of Optivite as a possible aid to prevent early miscarriage, Dr. Abraham contacted me by phone assuring me that we were on the right track. He, in fact, suggested that I undertake research along these lines. I begged off, explaining that I had six children (more since then).

Dr. Abraham’s work has helped women with PMS, short luteal phases, poor mucus problems, delayed ovulation, infertility, and even menstrual cramps. I see it this way: the second half of the cycle is set into motion by the events of the first half. If Optivite and dietary changes can correct the hormonal profile of the second half, it must be doing so by also correcting the first half of the cycle. Hence improved menstrual periods, mucus patterns and fertility in addition to luteal phase improvements. What a blessing his nutritional research has been to CCL!

Flax Oil — Of Course!

CCL since 1996 has recommended flax oil as an aid for cycle problems, infertility, and male reproductive problems. I rank this nutritional recommendation in second place, right behind Dr. Abraham’s PMS diet and Optivite. Flax oil contains the hard-to-get essential fatty acid alpha-linolenic acid. There is little research on its connection to the fertility cycle, but it is well established that every cell must have this nutrient, and gland cells are particularly in need of it. Flax oil is a food, not a vitamin or mineral, and as such is quite easy to recommend. Women report better mucus patterns with it, “flax oil babies” after infertility, and lighter periods with it. I suggest it for preventing hot flashes, for low basal temperatures, for heavy periods and for menstrual cramps.

PCOS

In the last year I have been excited to see new research linking polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) to insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is a metabolic abnormality which can be improved through dietary restrictions and vitamin and mineral supplements. Until recently, the very long cycles typical of PCOS were hard for couples to deal with, especially since the mucus pattern is frustratingly on-again, off-again.  Even worse, PCOS is a significant factor in infertility. Space prevents me from explaining the particulars, but I have appended two CCL Family Foundations articles on this topic to the new 2001 edition of Fertility, Cycles and Nutrition. This new research will give CCL yet another nutritional tool for helping women help themselves to better reproductive health.

— From Family Foundations, September-October 2001