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THE quality of vaginal mucus is the best guide to when to have sex for couples trying to conceive.

A study of 782 women over 7288 menstrual cycles by David Dunson’s team at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, shows mucus condition is a better predictor of the likelihood of conception than the timing of intercourse alone.

In the window before ovulation, on days with the best mucus conditions – when secretions are abundant, transparent, watery or reddish – the probability of conception ranged from 0.17 to more than 0.3. On days with…

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