Fertility is tied to your health and nutrition in suprising ways. I'm sure you know that you need to be eating well to have peak fertility. But are there some nutrients that have a more powerful impact on fertility than others?

Ancient cultures emphasized certain foods for women trying to conceive, and today science proves that there are nutrients in these same foods that are vital to female fertility. The fat soluble vitamins are taking center stage in fertility enhancement, and vitamin A is a star in the show.

Vitamin A has wide-ranging effects on female fertility. One exciting way it boosts fertility is by promoting better cervical fluid. Getting adequate vitamin A in your diet helps to assure you that your cervical fluid will be a sperm-nourishing, fertile consistency. It also increases the amount of fertile fluid.

As you know, the cervical fluid is what helps sperm travel up to meet your egg during the time you are trying to conceive. Because vitamin A deficiency can lead to little fertile fluid, getting enough vitamin A is vital to your reproductive health.

Vitamin A also helps ensure that your follicles develop properly. The follicles each hold an egg, and one follicle releases an egg every month. The follicle then produces hormones that aid the egg in implanting in your uterus. Without enough vitamin A, the follicle does not mature properly.

Traditional cultures did not know exactly how vitamin A-rich foods ensured the fertility of their women, but they did instinctively pick foods high in pure, natural vitamin A to feed to women who wanted to conceive.

Dr. Weston A. Price, for whom the Weston A. Price Foundation is named, studied cultures all over the world and found those with fertile women and vigorous, healthy babies gave special foods to couples trying to conceive. These foods included fish roe, organ meats, deep yellow butter, and shellfish - all rich sources of vitamin A!

Today vitamin A can be gained from these sources as well as through a daily cod liver oil supplement. Plant sources of vitamin A are not as well absorbed and converted as the body needs them to be. If you have heard that vitamin A leads to birth defects, a careful study of the medical literature will reveal that these are caused by synthetic vitamin A - stay away from it.

Ensuring that you get all the fat-soluble vitamins that you need (and enough healthy fats to absorb them!) will speed your journey on the road to maximum fertility. Vitamin A is especially vital for all parts of your reproductive cycle. Be sure that you are including vitamin A rich foods in your diet every week. Consider a supplement for every day - especially if you don't have enough cervical fluid or you're not sure you're ovulating!