Supplement May Help Women Get Pregnant
But Expert Says Product Is More About Marketing Than Medicine
May 15, 2002 -- Laura Murphy had been trying to have a baby for more than a year when her gynecologist delivered the devastating news. Based on hormonal tests, the 38-year-old accounting manager was told that it was unlikely she would ever conceive and even less likely she could carry a baby to term if she did get pregnant.
A second doctor was less pessimistic, but the fertility treatments he recommended were "invasive and scary sounding," she tells WebMD. It was around this time that she saw the ad in the paper recruiting subjects for a small study of a nutritional supplement formulated to enhance fertility.
"We decided to give it a shot," she says. "I ended up getting pregnant after about three months, during a vacation in Mexico, and my beautiful little boy was born last November."
Murphy says she has little doubt that the supplement made the difference for her. But a fertility specialist contacted by WebMD remains highly skeptical, saying that the study Murphy participated in was far too small and poorly designed to be convincing.
In that study, four out of 14 women taking the supplement FertilityBlend became pregnant within three months, while none of the 15 women given placebo conceived. The supplement is marketed by the Daily Wellness Company of Mountain View, Calif., which also markets a fertility supplement formulated for men. It is sold in some drug stores, nutrition centers, and on the Internet.
Before entering the study, the 29 women had tried unsuccessfully to conceive for six to 36 months. None received any other fertility drugs or treatments during the three-month study period, and the women were not told whether they were receiving the nutritional supplement or a placebo. The study was conducted by researchers from Stanford University School of Medicine and published in the latest issue of the Journal of Women's Health and Gender-Based Medicine.
The supplement includes nutrients routinely found in prenatal vitamins such as folic acid; vitamins B-6, B-12, C, and E; iron; magnesium; selenium; and zinc. Other components include the herb chasteberry, which is widely used in Chinese medicine to encourage ovulation; green tea extract, believed to be an antioxidant; and the amino acid L-arginine, which was shown in a recent study to enhance conception in fertility patients undergoing in vitro fertilization procedures. That study involved far higher doses of the amino acid than is present in the supplement.
Supplement May Help Women Get Pregnant
But Expert Says Product Is More About Marketing Than Medicine
May 15, 2002 -- Laura Murphy had been trying to have a baby for more than a year when her gynecologist delivered the devastating news. Based on hormonal tests, the 38-year-old accounting manager was told that it was unlikely she would ever conceive and even less likely she could carry a baby to term if she did get pregnant.
A second doctor was less pessimistic, but the fertility treatments he recommended were "invasive and scary sounding," she tells WebMD. It was around this time that she saw the ad in the paper recruiting subjects for a small study of a nutritional supplement formulated to enhance fertility.
"We decided to give it a shot," she says. "I ended up getting pregnant after about three months, during a vacation in Mexico, and my beautiful little boy was born last November."
Murphy says she has little doubt that the supplement made the difference for her. But a fertility specialist contacted by WebMD remains highly skeptical, saying that the study Murphy participated in was far too small and poorly designed to be convincing.
In that study, four out of 14 women taking the supplement FertilityBlend became pregnant within three months, while none of the 15 women given placebo conceived. The supplement is marketed by the Daily Wellness Company of Mountain View, Calif., which also markets a fertility supplement formulated for men. It is sold in some drug stores, nutrition centers, and on the Internet.
Before entering the study, the 29 women had tried unsuccessfully to conceive for six to 36 months. None received any other fertility drugs or treatments during the three-month study period, and the women were not told whether they were receiving the nutritional supplement or a placebo. The study was conducted by researchers from Stanford University School of Medicine and published in the latest issue of the Journal of Women's Health and Gender-Based Medicine.
The supplement includes nutrients routinely found in prenatal vitamins such as folic acid; vitamins B-6, B-12, C, and E; iron; magnesium; selenium; and zinc. Other components include the herb chasteberry, which is widely used in Chinese medicine to encourage ovulation; green tea extract, believed to be an antioxidant; and the amino acid L-arginine, which was shown in a recent study to enhance conception in fertility patients undergoing in vitro fertilization procedures. That study involved far higher doses of the amino acid than is present in the supplement.
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