Trying for Twins? Here’s How to Have Them

I know I've said it before, but I've always wanted twins. That's why I'm thinking about moving. To Brazil. There's a little farming town there that has an unusually high concentration of twins—right now there are 38 sets of twins among the 80 families that live in a one-and-a-half square-mile area.

Some of the locals think it has to do with the drinking water, but geneticists disagree even though they haven't been able to come up with a more scientific solution (but they suspect it has to do with genetic isolation and inbreeding). Still, there's been a recent decline in twin births since the town switched from drinking spring water to drinking underground well water. So maybe it is something in the water after all. But since I can't afford the plane ticket, I did some research and found there are some other things I can do to increase my chances of having twins:

1. Eat Yams. The Yoruba Tribe in West Africa has the highest rate of twinning in the world. A study found that the mother's diet was the reason. Many of the women there eat a kind of yam that contains a chemical that causes hyperovulation.

2. Drink milk. A 2006 study found that women who consume a lot of dairy in their daily diet are five times likelier to have twins as non-dairy eaters.

3. Breastfeed. Many people are under the impression that you can't even get pregnant while breastfeeding, but there is research to support the theory that women who conceive while breastfeeding have a greater chance of having twins.

4. Gain weight. Women who are heavier (have a body mass index of 30 or higher) are more likely to have twins.

5. Wait a few more years. Older women also have more twins—17 percent of moms over 45 have multiples (without undergoing IVF).

Have you ever tried to make yourself conceive twins somehow—herbs, acupuncture, eating yams, drinking milk? Did it work? If you have twins, what do you think the reason was?