I believe the concensus among researchers at the moment on this topic is
that it is 'energy balance' -- the amount coming in vs. the amount going out
-- that determines whether fecundity is affected by dietary supplements.  In
order to do a controlled study, you'd have to make sure that nothing else in
the women's lives changed except whether or not they were getting a
nutritional supplement.  If memory serves me, the research in the Gambia on
nutritional supplementation showed that when mothers got extra food, they
then used that energy to do more work in the fields and in the household.
So they ended up with the same (negative) energy balance, little impact on
their milk supply, weight, or return to fecundity following a birth, but
they did more work and felt better in general.

Kathy Dettwyler

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