Twins, the emergence of 2 offspring from the same fertilization, is really a relatively infrequent paradox, and in essence, twins are usually considered as unique.
Worldwide, the birth count of twins varies by place and country. Latin America and Southeast Asia possess the Least rates, with roughly 9 sets of twins per 1,000 births.
In Europe, the figure is about 16 twins for every 1,000 births, and in the United States, it is about 33 for every 1,000 births.
And in central Africa, that number raises to around 18 to 30 sets of twins 1,000 births.
However, the Yoruba people of southwest Nigeria boast the highest number of twin births in the world, with about 50 sets of twins for every 1,000 live births.
And in Yorubaland, one town in particular appears to prevail for the best number of multiple births .
Igbo Ora, a sleepy agrarian town 80 kilometers from Lagos, is easily the twin capital of the world: questionable estimates from the town say it claims a stunning 158 sets of twins for every 1,000 live births.
At the entrance to the town, visitors are welcomed with a large base, which proudly celebrates its position as “the land of twins.”
While there is no empiric reason for the high incidence of twin births in the town, around Yorubaland, fertility experts say a possible reason behind the high incidence of multiple births in the area could lie in the consumption of a unique type of yam containing a natural phytoestrogen, and that is thought to stimulate a woman’s ovaries to release eggs from each side.
The locals and residents of Igbo Ora, however, say the secret of their multiple births lie in their staple, which consists of the leaf of an okra plant and yam.
In a 2013 interview, a community leader said, “We eat a lot of the okra leaf or Ilasa soup. We also eat a lot of yam and these diets influence multiple births.”
Hardly could one get to a family at Igbo Ora, Oyo State, without seeing a set of twins. The believe that a kind of okra leaves, locally known as ewe ilasa, is capable of making women who use it give birth to twins.
At the mere mentioning of Taiwo or Kehinde in the public place could trigger a simultaneous response from more than four people. In other words, the names, being what twins are called (the previous for the one that came first and the latter for the one who followed) in Yoruba land, remarkably have multiple claimer in this land.
