Written by doctors at the Harvard School of Public Health, this book set newspapers and magazines like Newsweek abuzz. Based on the idea that tweaking your diet might help you get pregnant naturally, it dangles tantalising premises. "Could having the occasional small bowl of ice cream lead to a midnight craving for pickles?" asked the inside book flap, referring to the common tell-tale sign of pregnancy.

Other intriguing advice follow, many of which conform to conventional wisdom. Avoid trans fat; eat more vegetable protein, like beans and nuts, as opposed to animal protein from, say, red meat; give sugary sodas a wide berth. Overweight women could lose around 7.5 per cent of their current weight to increease fertility chances.

The research is drawn from the Nurses' Health Study, a survey of more than 120,000 married, female nurses' eating and exercising habits started in the 1976, and then modified in 1989 with another 116,000 younger recipients.

As a New York Times' article pointed out, the research findings are drawn from observing a relatively small number of women who were trying to get pregnant over an eight-year period. Another drawback to the research method lies in how the participants answer questionnaires on their eating habits once every two years--a time interval during which many things could have fallen through the gap.

Much of what is spelt out in this fertility manual will sound familiar to anyone on top of a healthy lifestyle. Unfortunately, much of it is also couched in an overly-detailed academic (translation: snooze-worthy) drone. (It does, amusingly, give you tips on how to avoid flatulence, when switching to a diet higher in beans.)

The authors wisely stress that their recommendations do not guarantee the patter of little feet in the near future for all couples--but will help prevent infertility and set stage for a healthy pregnancy.

In other words, thos read is best for parent-wannabes, who are open to trying everything at least once, and want to go into it fortified with knowledge.

--Clara Chow