'Gourmet sex' key to conception

Move over books, special diets and voodoo - couples who are trying for a baby should concentrate on having wild and uninhibited sex, or 'gourmet sex'.

According to Dr Allan Pacey, a senior lecturer in andrology at Sheffield University, the better is the quality of lovemaking; the greater are the chances of conceiving

What one fertility expert calls "gourmet sex" - where both partners take time to ensure the other has a satisfying experience - gives a couple the best chance of producing a baby.

"Couples who are trying to have a baby often mention that the sex becomes a bit of a chore, a bit mechanical and routine. That's the wrong thing to be doing," The Guardian quoted Pacey, as saying.

"The sex should be as wild and thrilling as it was when they first met, when they weren't thinking about babies, to give them the maximum possible chance of having a baby," added Pacey, secretary of the British Fertility Society.

Usually, about 250 million sperm are produced during intercourse. However, men who are fully stimulated because they are enjoying "gourmet sex" ejaculate up to 50 percent more than that, according to research revealed in a Channel 4 documentary.

An extra five minutes of sexual activity before ejaculation can produce an extra 25 million sperm, said Pacey. That, plus the fact the extra sperm released are of a higher standard, means there is a greater chance of the sperm and egg fusing to create a new life.

"The better the sex, the better the chances of conception," Dr Joanna Ellington, an American expert in reproductive physiology, says in the programme, The Great Sperm Race.

As far as females are concerned, Pacey explained that more orgasms equal not just more pleasure but also enhanced fertility.

"When a woman experiences an orgasm, we think the intensity of the muscular contractions she has during the big pressure changes going on in her body helps to pull or suck up the sperm into her cervix and from there into the uterus," the expert explained.