White Guinea yam (Dioscorea rotundata) ‘Ehuru’ consumed in Ibarapa Local Government Area of Oyo State, South West region of Nigeria has been claimed to be responsible for the high incidence of multiple births in the area. This study assessed the effects of various locally prepared yam diets consumed in the study area on the reproductive hormones of experimental animals. Freshly harvested yams, purchased from local farmers, were compounded into the various yam diets. Six groups of diets which included the control which was normal rat chow (RC), a mixture of pounded yam, soup and stew (PYSS), boiled yam with stew (BYS), fried yam with stew (FYS), boiled yam with palm oil (BYPo) and boiled yam with chow (BYC) were prepared and fed to the six groups of rats respectively. The soup in PYSS was prepared with the tender leaves of Hibiscus abelmuschus (okro) known locally as ‘Ilasa’ and BYC was a mixture of equal proportion of boiled yam and rat chow. Each group had 4 female and 2 male rats, fed 20g of the diet per day/rat for 11 weeks. Water was given ad libitum. The female rats were separated on observation of pregnancy, and the feeding continued until they littered. Both the male and female rats were sacrificed after the weaning of the litters. Samples were collected from each rat by cardiac puncture using sterile syringes. Result of the hormonal profiles showed Luteinizing hormone (LH) ranging from 2.60 ± 0.12mlu/ml for RC to 6.67 ± 0.38mlu/ml for PYSS. Follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) ranged from 12.57 ± 0.19mlu/ml for RC to 16.67 ± 0.87mlu/ml for PYSS. Prolactin levels ranged from 5.00 ± 0.31ng/ml for RC to 7.10 ± 0.61ng/ml for FYS. PYSS caused a significant elevation (P<0.05) in FSH, LH, Prolactin and estradiol in the female rats.
