Shettles a fraud?
I found a study about Shettles. The study appears in the latest issue of Fertility and Sterility, the respected journal of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM). The conclusion agrees with some previous studies showing that X and Y sperm cells have the same morphology (size, shape, and structure). In his book, Dr. Shettles claims the size difference between the two types of sperm -- X and Y, with the X's responsible for the conception of a girl and the Y's causing the conception of a boy -- is the key to swaying the odds in favor of conceiving the gender of your choice. Because the Y chromosome is smaller than the X chromosome, Shettles theorized, the Y-bearing sperm should be smaller and faster. The greater mass of the X sperm, on the other hand, should make it slower but hardier and better able to overcome obstacles to fertilization. Data from the study shows that, not only are X and Y sperm indistinguishable from one another, even abnormal sperm cells with the wrong number of chromosomes -- too many or too few chromosomes -- cannot be identified by having a different shape or size.
Shettles describes how he observed two distinct populations of sperm: smaller, pointier sperm that he assumed were Y sperm, and bulkier, rounder sperm that he assumed were X sperm. However, Shettles never proved that the different-appearing sperm cells he saw actually corresponded to X and Y sperm. We now know for a fact that it is impossible to identify a living X from a Y sperm just by looking at it with a microscope, no matter how powerful the microscope is. (If it were, we'd have a reliable method of gender selection without resorting to PGD.)
The truth is that at the time Dr. Shettles conducted his interesting sperm experiments -- more than 4 decades ago -- there didn't exist an accurate method of detecting X and Y sperm in a semen sample. What has been shown by recent research is that sperm shape indicates maturity, not whether the sperm is carrying an X or Y chromosome. Sperm cells which have undergone "capacitation", which occurs after ejaculation and enables a sperm cell to fertilize an egg, are pointy. Sperm cells which have not undergone this process are round and enlarged, and cannot fertilize an egg.
So then I found this:
Now, one thing that Dr. Shettles also said was that the pH of the women's tract is also very important. A more acidic environment favors girls, since it will kill the weaker y-sperms first, leaving a greater quantity of x-sperms available to fertilize the egg. On the other hand, a more alkaline environment favors boys. Shettles recommends a douche of water and vinegar (acid) immediately before intercourse to favor a girl; a douche of water and baking soda (alkaline) will help for a boy. Position of intercourse and depth of penetration are important, partly because of pH. The closer to the entrance to the vagina, the more acidic the women's tract is. Women's orgasms can also be important. It also has to do with pH. When a woman has an orgasm, the body releases some kind of substance that makes the environment more alkaline, favoring boys. He recommends no orgasms when trying for girls
So, what do you think? It seems fairly straightforward. If that is the case, it completely changes everything!! Timing wouldn't matter at all!! But, maybe where he gets his "proof" actually comes from the alkaline/acidic thing. Maybe that is what the real thing is all about. Personally, I'm going to just do supplements and the douche now.
Have any of you done the douche thing and gotten the result that you wanted?
Man this stuff is all so confusing!
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