Fertility and sperm

Created November 2012
* Conception is much more successful if BOTH female and male * have an adequate amount of vitamin D (> 30 ng) * Testosterone levels are proportional to vitamin D levels, up to about 50 ng * Birth rates doubled with Vitamin D - 300,000 IU for infertile men – RCT Nov 2017 * Infertility is higher in groups with low vitamin D - such as people with dark skins *            (More Fertility/Sperm info below) {include}

items in Fertility or Sperm in VitaminDWiki

See also:

Overview Women and Vitamin D

Overview Pregnancy and vitamin D     Fertility and Vitamin D – several articles

Endometriosis

Ensure a healthy pregnancy and baby - take Vitamin D before conception

IVF OR "IN VITRO FERTILIZATION" etc. in 18 VitaminDWiki titles

Vitamin D greatly improves Fertility

18+ VitaminDWiki pages have IVF or IN VITRO FERTILIZATION etc. in the title

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Items in both of the categories Intervention AND Fertility/Sperm

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Fertility items

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17+ VitaminDWiki Fertility pages have MALE or MEN or BOYS in the title

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Fertility is increased by Vitamin D supplementation – meta-analysis Feb 2023

Influence of Vitamin D supplementation on reproductive outcomes of infertile patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Reprod Biol Endocrinol. 2023; 21: 17doi: 10.1186/s12958-023-01068-8

Xiangqian Meng,1 Jiayao Zhang,2 Qi Wan,1 Jihua Huang,3 Tingting Han,3 Ting Qu,corresponding author#3 and Lin-lin Yucorresponding author#4

Background

Low vitamin D status has been associated with an increased risk for infertility. Recent evidence regarding the efficacy of vitamin D supplementation in improving reproductive outcomes is inconsistent. Therefore, this systematic review was conducted to investigate whether vitamin D supplementation could improve the reproductive outcomes of infertile patients and evaluate how the parameters of vitamin D supplementation affected the clinical pregnancy rate.

Methods

We searched seven electronic databases (CNKI, Cqvip, Wanfang, PubMed, Medline, Embase, and Cochrane Library) up to March 2022. Randomized and cohort studies were collected to assess the reproductive outcomes difference between the intervention (vitamin D) vs. the control (placebo or none). Mantel-Haenszel random effects models were used. Effects were reported as odds ratio (OR) and their 95% confidence interval (CI). PROSPERO database registration number: CRD42022304018.

Results

Twelve eligible studies (n = 2352) were included: 9 randomized controlled trials (RCTs, n = 1677) and 3 cohort studies (n = 675). Pooled results indicated that infertile women treated with vitamin D had a significantly increased clinical pregnancy rate compared with the control group (OR: 1.70, 95% CI: 1.24–2.34; I2 = 63%, P = 0.001). However, the implantation, biochemical pregnancy, miscarriage, and multiple pregnancy rates had no significant difference (OR: 1.86, 95% CI: 1.00–3.47; I2 = 85%, P = 0.05; OR: 1.49; 0.98–2.26; I2 = 63%, P = 0.06; OR: 0.98, 95% CI: 0.63–1.53; I2 = 0%, P = 0.94 and OR: 3.64, 95% CI: 0.58–11.98; I2 = 68%, P = 0.21). The improvement of clinical pregnancy rate in the intervention group was influenced by the vitamin D level of patients, drug type, the total vitamin D dosage, the duration, administration frequency, and daily dosage of vitamin D supplementation. The infertile women (vitamin D level < 30 ng/mL) treated with the multicomponent drugs including vitamin D (10,000–50,000 IU or 50,000–500,000 IU), or got vitamin D 1000–10,000 IU daily, lasting for 30–60 days could achieve better pregnancy outcome.

Conclusion

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first meta-analysis systematically investigated that moderate daily dosing of vitamin D supplementation could improve the clinical pregnancy rate of infertile women and reported the effects of vitamin D supplementation parameters on pregnancy outcomes. A larger sample size and high-quality RCTs are necessary to optimize the parameters of vitamin D supplementation to help more infertile patients benefit from this therapy.

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Improved male fertility if increased Vitamin D and/or Calcium - Dec 2023

Calcium and vitamin D homoeostasis in male fertility

Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, Page 1 of 14 doi:10.1017/S002966512300486X

Sam Kafai Yahyavi1,2, Ida Marie Boisen1,2, Zhihui Cui1,2, Mads Joon Jorsal1,2, Ireen Kooij1,2,

Rune Holt1,2, Anders Juul3,4,5 and Martin Blomberg Jensen1,2

Calcium and vitamin D have well-established roles in maintaining calcium balance and bone health. Decades of research in human subjects and animals have revealed that calcium and vitamin D also have effects on many other organs including male reproductive organs. The presence of calcium-sensing receptor, vitamin D receptor, vitamin D activating and inacti­vating enzymes and calcium channels in the testes, male reproductive tract and human spermatozoa suggests that vitamin D and calcium may modify male reproductive function. Functional animal models have shown that vitamin D deficiency in male rodents leads to a decrease in successful mating and fewer pregnancies, often caused by impaired sperm motil­ity and poor sperm morphology. Human studies have to a lesser extent validated these findings; however, newer studies suggest a positive effect of vitamin D supplementation on semen quality in cases with vitamin D deficiency, which highlights the need for initiatives to prevent vitamin D deficiency. Calcium channels in male reproductive organs and sperm­atozoa contribute to the regulation of sperm motility and capacitation, both essential for successful fertilisation, which supports a need to avoid calcium deficiency. Studies have demonstrated that vitamin D, as a regulator of calcium homoeostasis, influences calcium influx in the testis and spermatozoa. Emerging evidence suggests a potential link between vitamin D deficiency and male infertility, although further investigation is needed to estab­lish a definitive causal relationship. Understanding the interplay between vitamin D, calcium and male reproductive health may open new avenues for improving fertility outcomes in men.

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Vitamin D is significantly associated with male fertility and sperm quality - meta-analyses 2019 and 2023

The association between serum vitamin D, fertility and semen quality: A systematic review and meta-analysis - Nov 2019

International Journal of Surgery Vol 71, Nov 2019, Pages 101-109https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijsu.2019.09.025 FREE PDF

The Association between Serum Vitamin D Levels and Male Fertility: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis - Aug 2023

Andrologia Vol 2023 | Article ID 9002938 | https://doi.org/10.1155/2023/9002938 FREE PDF

600,000 IU of vitamin D a few weeks for women before IVF did not help - RCT April 2021

Single oral dose of vitamin D3 supplementation prior to in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer in normal weight women: the SUNDRO randomized controlled trial

American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajog.2021.04.234

Background: Improving in vitro fertilization (IVF) success is an unmet need. Observational studies suggested that women with deficient or insufficient vitamin D have lower chances of success, but whether supplementation improves clinical pregnancy rate is unclear.

Objective: To determine whether oral vitamin D3 supplementation may improve clinical pregnancy in women undergoing an IVF cycle

Study design: The SUNDRO trial is a two-centers randomized superiority double-blind placebo controlled trial. Subjects were recruited between October 2016 and January 2019. Participants were women aged 18-39 years with low vitamin D (peripheral 25-hydroxyvitamin D < 30 ng/ml), serum calcium ≥ 10.6 mg/dl, body-mass index (BMI) 18-25 Kg/m2, anti-mullerian hormone (AMH) levels > 0.5 ng/ml, starting their first, second, or third treatment cycle of conventional IVF or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). The primary outcome was the cumulative clinical pregnancy rate per cycle. Pregnancies obtained with both fresh or frozen embryo transfers were included. Clinical pregnancy was defined as intrauterine gestational sac with viable fetus. The primary analysis was performed according to the intention to treat principle and could also include natural conceptions. Secondary outcomes included total dose of gonadotropins used, embryological variables (number of oocytes retrieved, number of suitable oocytes retrieved, fertilization rate and rate of top quality embryos) and clinical outcomes (miscarriage rate and live birth rate).

Results

630 women were randomized 2-12 weeks prior to initiate the IVF cycle to receive either a single dose of 600,000 IU of vitamin D3 (n=308) or placebo (n=322). One hundred thirteen (37%) and 130 (40%) women achieved a clinical pregnancy in the treatment and placebo groups, respectively (p=0.37). The risk ratio (RR) of clinical pregnancy in women receiving vitamin D3 was 0.91 (95% confidence interval-CI: 0.75 – 1.11). Compared to placebo, vitamin D3 supplementation did not significantly improve the secondary outcomes. Exploratory subgroup analyses for BMI, age, indication to IVF, ovarian reserve, interval between drug administration and initiation of the cycle and basal levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D failed to highlight any clinical situation that could benefit from the supplementation.

Conclusions: In normal weight women with preserved ovarian reserve and low vitamin D levels undergoing IVF cycles, a single oral dose of 600,000 IU of vitamin D3 does not improve the chances of clinical pregnancy. Although the findings do not support the use of vitamin D3 supplementation to ameliorate IVF success, further studies are required to rule out milder but potentially still interesting benefits as well as exploring the effectiveness of alternative modalities of supplementation.

Clinical trial of 50,000 IU vitamin D weekly to improve IVF success - Phase 4 trial announced July 2017

Vitamin D Supplementation in Vitamin Deficient Women Undergoing IVF Cycles: Does it Affect the Fertility Outcome?

Unfortunately trial is only giving vitamin D to the women, and for only 2 months

They will be measuring results over the next 12 months

Doubt that this clinical trial will be successful

50,000 IU bi-weekly to both man and woman during an entire year would have had far better success.

59% reduction in sperm count around the world in just 40 years - Mercola Aug 2017. May 2022

Skyrocketing Male Infertility May Threaten Mankind’s Survival - Mercola

Eating more fish (probably Omega-3 and Vitamin D) resulted in a 16% increase in babies - May 2018

Survey of 501 couples, New York Times

Reportingo n study in Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism https://doi.org/10.1210/jc.2018-00385

  • "By 12 months, 92 percent of couples who ate fish twice a week or more were pregnant, compared with 79 percent among those who ate less."

SpermEggGeddon: The Fertility Crisis (nothing about Vitamin D) - Aug 2025

Substack

Men Are Freaking Out About Their Sperm NYT July 2018

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Vitamin D: Study Finds Impaired Fertility - May 2016

URL

RCT of Vitamin D and Fertility - daily for a year - to 16 weeks after birth

This data disagrees with a majority of studies on this page

Became pregnant Complications
Placebo 38% 52%
1400 IU 33% 23% for 1400 and 2800 IU
2800 IU 39%

Statistical certainty of the percentages was not given in the abstract

  • "Complications during labor, including preeclampsia and postpartum bleeding, were significantly more frequent in the placebo group compared with the combined treatment groups (52% versus 23%, P=0.005)."

  • "The study found no difference in other complications including pre-term birth, miscarriage, gestational diabetes, and infections"

  • No comment on any differences in Still Births, Death during first year, etc.

  • Wonder if mothers getting lots of vitamin D had more alive and healthy children at the one year mark compared to placebo

    Abstract

Why Are Young People Having So Little Sex? Nov 2018

The Atlantic Vitamin D is not mentioned

  • "...Americans are in the midst of a sex recession"

  • "...crushing economic pressures, of surging anxiety rates, of psychological frailty, of widespread antidepressant use, of streaming television, of environmental estrogens leaked by plastics, of dropping testosterone levels, of digital porn, of the vibrator’s golden age, of dating apps, of option paralysis, of helicopter parents, of careerism, of smartphones, of the news cycle, of information overload generally, of sleep deprivation, of obesity. Name a modern blight, and someone, somewhere, is ready to blame it for messing with the modern libido?

The Disappearing Y Chromosome Atlantic Mag Dec 2019

It’s surprisingly common for men to start losing entire chromosomes from blood cells as they age

  • "Now a new study—the largest yet of this phenomenon—estimates that 20 percent of 205,011 men in a large genetic database called the UK Biobank have lost Y chromosomes from some detectable proportion of their blood. By age 70, 43.6 percent of men had the same issue."1

No mention of Vitamin D

5X longer to induce pregnancy if male is >45

The male biological clock – How to tell the time MDEdge Oct 2021

Vitamin D in human reproduction: some answers and many more questions - Jan 2021

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Less fertile mice if low Vitamin D (fully-activated Vitamin D) - Feb 2021

  • 1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D deficiency accelerates male reproductive senescence in aging mice

Email from a woman who read this page, tested and then took vitamin D - Dec 15. 2022

Hello

I want to thank you for providing the information on your website. I was able to give birth to a healthy baby after 4 miscarriages.

I read many of the articles and saw the testimony a man had wrote about his wife having a baby. I had been tested for many things but my vitamin D level wasn't checked.

I ordered a test on my own and I was at a 13. I got it up to a 94 and was pregnant the next month. Taking high dose vitamin D is the only change I made and I hope I can share this knowledge with others struggling with fertility problems.

Candice

AI image scanning found and extracted sperm from "infertile" men - July 2025

A couple tried for 18 years to get pregnant. AI made it happen CNN

  • "“A patient provided a sample, and highly skilled technicians looked for two days through that sample to try to find sperm.
    • They didn’t find any. We brought it to the AI-based STAR System. In one hour, it found 44 sperm. "

  • "It’s estimated that the male partner accounts for up to 40% of all infertility cases in the United States, and up to 10% of men with infertility are azoospermic."

  • "Using the STAR method to find, isolate and freeze sperm for a patient would cost a little under $3,000 total, he said."

  • “The reason AI is so well-suited for this is AI really relies on learning – showing it an image of what a sperm looks like, what the shape is, what characteristics it should have – and then being able to use that learning algorithm to help identify that specific image that you’re looking for,”

  • "Another AI tool, CHLOE, can assess the quality of a woman’s eggs before she may freeze them for future use."

Associated categories: Pregnancy, Vitamin D Receptor, Intervention, Women, Genetics

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