British team examines the influence of multivitamin supplementation on the success of fertility treatment
The majority of women planning for pregnancy wonder whether there is something they can do in their everyday lifes to improve their chances for conception and to provide their future baby with the best preconditions for its healthy development. When talking to their gynecologist about these issues, he or she will usually recommend to make healthy choices, such as quit smoking, limit the consumption of alcohol and caffeine and generally try and stick to a healthy and well-balanced diet. In addition to this, the women will be advised to supplement folic acid, as this has been shown to considerably reduce the risk of neural tube defects such as spina bifida (split spine).
In recent years there has been rising evidence, that also supplementing certain other micronutrients might have a positive effect on women’s fertility. Particularly the big American Nurses‘ Health study has enabled important insight into the influence of nutrition on female fertility. Now a the British team of doctor / scientist Dr Rina Agrawal has shown in a pilot study with 58 women undergoing fertility treatment, that taking a multivitamin supplement rather than folic acid only (which so far has been considered state-of-the-art), can make a major difference.
The results of this study are of major interest not only for scientist and doctors, but also for every woman planning for pregnancy. Women, who consumed an adjuvant multivitamin supplement had significantly higher average pregnancy rates (66,7%) than those, who consumed folic acid only (39,3%). Differences were almost more pronounced when comparing the numbers of ongoing pregnancies: 60 % of the women taking the multivitamin supplement as compared to 25,0 % of women who took folic acid only, experienced a clinically ongoing pregnancy.
In the field of assisted reproductive techniques, in which new methods are often invasive, cost- and time-consuming and usually generate an improvement of only a few percents, these results might prove nothing short of a sensation. This even more so, as taking specific multivitamin supplements is a comparably simple, cheap and low-in-possible-side-effects way of improving success rates.
It is to be assumed that further, bigger studies will follow shortly, presumably altering future recommendations regarding preconceptional lifestyle and nutrition profoundly.
References:
Agrawal, R et al, Prospective randomized trial of multiple micronutrients in subfertile women undergoing ovulation induction: a pilot
study. Reproductive Bio Medicine Online (2011), doi:10.1016/j.rbmo.2011.10.004
Chavarro JE et al, Use of multivitamins, intake of B-vitamins and risk of ovulatory infertility. Fertil Steril 2008; 89(3): 668-676
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Patients with autoimmune thyroiditis benefit of
daily selenium supplementation
When Berzelius discovered the metal-like substance selenium in 1817 he certainly didn’t even dream of it being an essential trace element. Quite on the contrary, selenium was originally considered toxic (which it actually is when taken in high doses). However, experiments with rodents revealed soon that small amounts of selenium are absolutely vital.
Being the major constituent of selenoproteins selenium is part of enzymes involved in protecting tissue from oxidative damage. Other selenoproteins play a major role in thyroid hormone metabolism.
Dr. Lutz Schomburg of the Institute for Experimental Endocrinology of the renowned Charité Institute in Berlin summarizes the current scientific opinion regarding selenium and its role for thyroid health. His review article has been published in the prestigious „Nature“ magazine in October 2011.
In this article he also focuses on a possible benefit of selenium supplementation for patients suffering from autoimmune thyroiditis.
While selenium levels in liver, kidney and muscle are largely dependent on the nutritional supply, selenium levels in the thyroid gland seem to be quite independent of it. Therefore it is not astonishing that supplementing selenium to healthy persons does not cause any significant changes in their thyroid hormone levels.
The situation is entirely different, though, when examining patients with autoimmune thyroiditis:
There is evidence that selenium deficiency may pose a major risk factor for the progression of the disease.
Assessing available data of a number of clinical trials that had studied the effect of selenium supplementation on patients with autoimmune thyroiditis Dr Schomburg concludes that: „... selenium supplementation seems to dampen the self-amplifying nature of the derailed immune system-thyroid interaction“.
This presents another expert opinion supporting the benefit of a daily selenium supplementation for patients with autoimmune thyroiditis living in an area of low selenium content.
Info box:
Selenium – an essential trace element:
The selenium supply in Europe is considered inadequate. A well-balanced diet with a sufficient selenium supply is an important contribution to preventing thyroid and hormonal disorders.
The Japanese do the right thing: They eat lots of rice and sea-fish, thus taking up more than double the selenium amount than the Europeans. These eating habits are thought to contribute to the longer lifespan of Japanese citizens and make them suffer from cancer and cardiovascular disease less frequently.
Grain is an important source of selenium as well. However the selenium content of grain can vary significantly: 100 kg German wheat contain only 2 milligrams of selenium, whereas American wheat contains 50 times as much.
Hence it is difficult for Germans to take up the recommended quantity of 50 to 100 micrograms selenium a day. If you want to eat more selenium, choose sea-fish, poultry, sea food, whole grain products, brown rice, sesame seed, coconut, soy beans and eggs.
Source:
Schomburg L.
Selenium, selenoproteins and the thyroid gland: interactions in health and disease.
Nature Reviews Endocrinology, advance online publication, Published online 18 October 2011 | doi:10.1038/nrendo.2011.174