The family now pass the summer months in a small mountainside village outside Malaga and spend the rest of the year in upstate New York where Merchant grew up.Despite the constant demands of motherhood, the 42-year-old singer is, by her own admission, as relaxed as she's ever been. In 2003 she married Daniel de la Calle, a documentary film-maker from southern Spain. That same year she gave birth to their daughter, Lucia, now a boisterous two-year-old with her mother's treacle-brown eyes. It's certainly not the kind of reception you expect from Natalie Merchant, the 10,000 Maniacs singer-turned-solo artist, who is known for her reluctance to play the publicity game But much has changed for Merchant in recent years.
It's extremely rare, in these PR-mediated times, that you get to spend a whole day with an interviewee, let alone visit their home, meet their partner, loll in their garden and play with their children. Effects include excess body hair, obesity, acne and having no or few periods.Sufferers often have problems conceiving and a higher rate ofmiscarriage.Experts from the Yale University School of Medicine studied 48 women diagnosed with PCOS. Those given simvastatin showed lower levels of testosterone.. The survey found that 63 per cent of all the women had delayed motherhood for an average of four years.
Financial and career concerns were the most often cited reasons for putting off having a family.The researchers concluded: "Remarkably, a good education and understanding of the risks of ageing on fertility does not appear to translate into an urgency to conceive."Statins could ease infertilityAn over-the-counter cholesterol-lowering drug could help to reduce symptoms of one of the leading causes of female infertility.Experts have found that simvastatin, which is widely used to lower cholesterol, can also help in the treatment of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).About one in 20 women in Britain suffer from PCOS, which is caused by excess levels of the male hormone testosterone. Fertility decreases from the age of 35.Researchers from the University of Iowa interviewed 464 female patients attending an infertility clinic and 688 women who did not have any problems with conception. While some of the causes lie with lifestyle factors such as smoking and drinking, specialists stress that the biggest factor in infertility is the age of the woman.The average age of British women at the time of giving birth to their first child has risen from 22 in 1971 to almost 28 in 2002, and is continuing to go up. Stories about 'medical breakthroughs' where women of 60 have given birth as a result of fertility treatment have contributed to the problem."One in seven couples in the UK experience fertility problems, and experts predict that rates will soar over the next decade. Dr Richard Kennedy, of the British Fertility Society, said: "There is an incredible amount of false and unreasonable expectation about fertility treatment and what it can do.He told the annual conference of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine: "Doctors are partly to blame because of the way in which IVF is talked about. Two-thirds of women interviewed by researchers admitted they had put off starting a family for an average of four years. One of Britain's leading fertility experts said some doctors and clinics had contributed to the myth that IVF and other procedures could overcome any problems.
