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Herbal supplements, reflexology and other complementary and alternative therapies can reduce the effectiveness of infertility treatment in women, a study suggests.


A study of 818 Danish women undergoing In-Vitro Fertilisation treatment found that those using complementary and alternative therapies (CAT) had a 20% lower pregnancy success rate over 12 months.

Psychologist Dr Jacky Boivin, from Cardiff University in Wales, who led the research, said: “Our findings do not allow us to make a direct causal link between CAT use and pregnancy rate.

“It may be that complementary therapies diminish the effectiveness of medical interventions, as has been shown in previous research. Or it may simply be that persistent treatment failure encourages women to seek out CATs because they are more willing to try anything to get pregnant.”

Dr Boivin presented her findings today at the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Lyon, France.

It was the first large scale prospective evaluation of CAT use in an infertile population.

The research also showed that women who used complementary therapies were more negatively affected by their fertility problems than non-users.

“We found that women who went on to use complementary therapies – for example reflexology and nutritional supplements – during their treatments were more distressed and emotionally affected by their fertility problems,” said Dr Boivin.

“This difference in stress may mean that women used CATs for stress reduction, and if this were the case it would be important in future research to establish whether CATs achieve this goal more effectively than conventional psychological therapies.”

The researchers now want to study the same group over a five-year period to see how many become pregnant in the longer term.

“It is important to do this because we are concerned that, with persistent treatment failure, women might become more and more susceptible to deceptive advertising about ineffective CATs or other unproven treatments.”

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