Vitamin D deficiency and the success of in vitro fertilization procedures
A new study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM) concludes that women who are deficient in vitamin D are 2 times less likely to become pregnant through in vitro fertilization (IVF) in comparison with those in which no such deficiency is found.
Vitamin D is a steroid hormone that is formed in the skin under the influence of sunlight, and also enters the body through some food products. This substance, useful for humans, is necessary for maintaining the good condition of bone tissue, but recently scientists have begun to study its influence on female fertility.
Recent research has shown that vitamin D deficiency reduces fertility in rodents, however the significance of this deficiency in human reproduction has not yet been studied.
To investigate this question, Italian scientists conducted a large-scale study in which they compared the frequency of successful conception in women using the in vitro fertilization method, who were divided into 2 groups – with normal levels of vitamin D and a group with a deficiency of this vitamin.
The subjects of the study were all women who underwent an in vitro procedure in one of the Italian infertility treatment centers in 2012. In the group of women with vitamin D deficiency – deficiency is defined at blood vitamin D levels below 20 nanograms per milliliter, 154 participants fell and 181 women fell into the group with a normal level of vitamin D /over 20 nanograms per milliliter/.< /p>
According to modern concepts, a blood level of vitamin D above 30 nanograms per milliliter is considered normal.
The study showed that women with sufficient levels of vitamin D had almost 2 times greater chances of becoming pregnant, that is, from the available data, it was found that 2 times more women with normal levels of this vitamin achieved pregnancy after carrying out in vitro fertilization procedure.
According to the authors of the study, this fact is explained by the fact that in women with normal levels of vitamin D, the number of formed quality eggs increases, and the chances of successful implantation of the embryo in the uterus also increase.
“Our scientific work is the largest study to date examining the effect of vitamin D on the fertility of women undergoing IVF,” said one of the authors of the study, Dr. Alessio Paffoni. “We found that women with sufficient vitamin D levels were more likely to become pregnant after IVF compared to women with this deficiency. “
Dr Paffoni continues:
“From our study, it can be concluded that low vitamin D levels lead to infertility, although these findings are currently tentative and require randomized controlled trials. Because dietary supplements containing vitamin D are cheap and readily available, evidence to support our theory will lead to significant advances in the treatment of infertility at minimal financial cost.”
Recently, more and more studies have been published establishing the negative impact of vitamin D deficiency on the human body. Also, a recent study found a link between the lack of this prehormone in the human body and dementia, and another study found a correlation between vitamin D deficiency and the risk of developing schizophrenia.
