Could fertility supplements boost your chances for a baby? The jury’s still out.
If you’re trying to get pregnant, you’ve probably wondered if taking one of the many fertility supplements on the market could help. Unfortunately, there’s no easy answer to that question.
One difficulty is that there are so many variables. Not all women need the same fertility help . . . and not all fertility supplements are the same. There are two basic categories of supplements: those that contain single ingredients (such as vitamin C, zinc, or the herb chasteberry), and combination products like Conception XR, FertilityBlend, ProXeed Plus, FertilAid, and Fertili-T, that blend their own mixtures of vitamins and minerals, and sometimes other compounds (usually herbs).
To date, most of the research on supplements that might improve fertility has focused on the first group: individual ingredients. For instance, the antioxidants vitamin C, vitamin E, and selenium have been found to prevent free radical damage to the DNA of eggs, sperm, and reproductive organs, says Lynn M. Westphal, M.D., associate professor in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Stanford University School of Medicine in California and a researcher who’s led two studies of FertilityBlend for Women. General recommendations are that men should get at least 90 milligrams (mg) of vitamin C daily, and women need 75 mg; both should get 15 milligrams of vitamin E and 55 micrograms of selenium every day as well. But if you’re trying to optimize your chances for pregnancy, your doctor or a qualified naturopath may suggest a much higher dose. In most cases you don’t need to worry about taking too much; the tolerable upper limit for vitamin C is 2,000 mg a day for men and women; 1,000 mg for vitamin E; and 400 micrograms for selenium.
Blue Pills, Pink Pills
If antioxidants have demonstrated some of the best evidence as potential fertility enhancers—who doesn’t want healthy DNA as a building block for a baby, after all?—not far behind is zinc, which may improve sperm quality. Backing up considerable research already, a 2007 study of over 1,000 Chinese men, conducted by researchers at the Shanghai Institute of Planned Parenthood Research, found that men who had enough zinc in their bodies were likelier to have normal sperm levels and sperm that looked and moved normally. Men should be sure to get at least the recommended 11 milligrams a day of the mineral; women need 8 milligrams. The amino acids L-carnitine and L-arginine, which may improve sperm motility and overall circulation, respectively, can help a man’s odds of becoming a dad by increasing the motion, shape, and number of sperm, as a 2004 study of 325 men showed.
{loadposition frboost} There are women-only options, too. The herb chasteberry, or vitex, is a favorite for women trying to conceive, and Dr. Westphal believes there’s good reason for that. “I think it’s the most powerful ingredient [in FertilityBlend for Women],” she says, noting that her research found improvements in progesterone levels and in regulating menstrual cycles in the women who took it. After three months on FertilityBlend, 26 percent of the women in Dr. Westphal’s 2006 study were pregnant, compared with 10 percent of those who got a placebo. If you do decide to try a supplement containing chasteberry, be sure to talk to your doctor first. This herb shouldn’t be taken in combination with hormones or other drugs (including fertility drugs), and it should definitely not be taken during pregnancy.
To date, the data on another supplement, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), is too limited to recommend it as a safe, effective option for boosting a woman’s ovarian reserve and function, says Dr. Westphal.
If you and/or your partner opt to take a supplement, you’ll never really know whether that was tipping point to conceiving. “People are getting a lot of other things in their diet, and they’re taking other supplements. So to actually separate all of these things out tends to be pretty difficult,” explains Dr. Westphal.
We do know, though, that certain nutrients are especially important before pregnancy. Folic acid has long been touted as important before pregnancy to reduce the chance of neural tube (spinal) injuries. Now new research finds that women who took a folic acid supplement for at least a year before they conceived reduced their risk of a premature birth by 50 to 70 percent. (For those reasons, folic acid tends to show up in a lot of combination supplements.) Similarly, omega-3 fatty acids may make for healthier cell membranes in women and men hoping to become mothers and fathers. (What’s more certain is that once a woman is pregnant, omega-3s are important for the fetus’ brain development.)
Winning Combinations?
Even though we don’t know as much about fertility supplements featuring a variety of ingredients, it’s safe to say that most manufacturers base their own blends on the research done on single supplements, trying to create a product that brings together everything that could be helpful into one pill. Whether combining supplements is better isn’t clear yet, but there’s little reason to think any of these products are harmful—at least not to anything other than your wallet, since prices for a 30-day supply range from about $25 to $179.
Some doctors think your money might be better spent at the grocery store, ensuring that you get the nutrients you need from food. “A supplement is used to correct a deficiency in an imperfect diet,” explains Robert A. Greene, M.D., author of Perfect Hormone Balance for Fertility: The Ultimate Guide to Getting Pregnant (Three Rivers Press, 2008) and medical director of the Sher Institutes for Reproductive Medicine in northern California. “If you eat a lot of organic foods and brightly colored foods, you could minimize the need for supplements.”
If the truth is that you’re a lot more likely to take a pill every day than get enough servings of fruits and vegetables in your diet, consider a high-quality prenatal vitamin, Dr. Greene suggests, since many contain similar ingredients in comparable doses. (Dr. Westphal says an exception may be women with irregular menstrual cycles, who could benefit from a supplement containing chasteberry.)
On the other hand, if you find supplements appealing because they’re natural and a reasonably inexpensive way to help you start or add to your family, then by all means try them. But remember that other lifestyle changes—such as getting down to a healthy weight, stopping smoking, reducing stress, and eating a balanced diet—are likely to have an even bigger impact on your conception odds. So don’t forget to make the important lifestyle changes, and then if you want to take a fertility supplement as a little extra insurance...pop away!
A version of this article originally appeared in the Summer 2008 issue of Conceive Magazine.
Related Topics: Boost Your Fertility; Fertility Health; Fertility Nutrition; Fertility Threats; Fertility Tips
