Pre-conception 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) and fecundability.
Hum Reprod. 2019 Oct 28. pii: dez170. doi: 10.1093/humrep/dez170.
Results of this study
| < 20 ng | 30-40 ng | >50 ng | |
| Conception take > 6 months | 51% | 28% | 15% |
10% higher fecundability with each 10 ng/ml
Note: average age 33, mean Vitamin D level 36 ng/ml
Grassroots Health Article on the study
See also VitaminDWiki
- Assisted Reproduction – 5 studies concluded vitamin D repletion helps – Review March 2015
- Pregnancy success increased 30 percent if sunny (or vitamin D) one month earlier – June 2015
- Preconception vitamin D is great - every extra 10 ng associated with 10 percent more likely to have live birth – Aug 2018
- Women with more than minimum vitamin D were 3.4 X more likely to achieve pregnancy and 1.6 X more likely to have live births – June 2017 - A very similar conclusion to the study on this page
If they had considered good male vitamin D levels there would have been about double the benefits
Also: High vitamin D ==> fewer complications, healthier infant and then child
Healthy pregnancies need lots of vitamin D has the following summary
Most were taking 2,000 to 7,000 IU daily for >50% of pregnancy
Click on hyperlinks for details
Problem | Vit. D Reduces | Evidence | |
| 0. Chance of not conceiving | 3.4 times | Observe | |
| 1. Miscarriage | 2.5 times | Observe | |
| 2. Pre-eclampsia | 3.6 times | RCT | |
| 3. Gestational Diabetes | 3 times | RCT | |
| 4. Good 2nd trimester sleep quality | 3.5 times | Observe | |
| 5. Premature birth | 2 times | RCT | |
| 6. C-section - unplanned | 1.6 times | Observe | |
| Stillbirth - OMEGA-3 | 4 times | RCT - Omega-3 | |
| 7. Depression AFTER pregnancy | 1.4 times | RCT | |
| 8. Small for Gestational Age | 1.6 times | meta-analysis | |
| 9. Infant height, weight, head size within normal limits | RCT | ||
| 10. Childhood Wheezing | 1.3 times | RCT | |
| 11. Additional child is Autistic | 4 times | Intervention | |
| 12.Young adult Multiple Sclerosis | 1.9 times | Observe | |
| 13. Preeclampsia in young adult | 3.5 times | RCT | |
| 14. Good motor skills @ age 3 | 1.4 times | Observe | |
| 15. Childhood Mite allergy | 5 times | RCT | |
| 16. Childhood Respiratory Tract visits | 2.5 times | RCT | |
RCT = Randomized Controlled Trial
Ensure a healthy pregnancy and baby - take Vitamin D before conception has the following
Fertility and Sperm category contains the following
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
Jukic AMZ1,2, Baird DD2, Weinberg CR3, Wilcox AJ2, McConnaughey DR4, Steiner AZ5.
- 1 Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology, Yale School of Public Health, One Church St, 6th floor, New Haven, CT 06510, USA.
- 2 Epidemiology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, PO Box 12233, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA.
- 3 Biostatistics and Computational Biology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, PO Box 12233, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA.
- 4 Westat, Durham, NC 27709, USA.
- 5 Duke University Hospital, 5704 Fayetteville Road, Durham, NC 27713, USA.
STUDY QUESTION:
Is pre-conception 25(OH)D associated with the per cycle probability of conception, i.e fecundability, in a prospective cohort study?
SUMMARY ANSWER:
There are suggestive associations of high 25(OH)D (at least 50 ng/ml) with increased fecundability and low 25(OH)D (<20 ng/ml) with reduced fecundability, but the estimates were imprecise.
WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY:
Vitamin D has been associated with reproductive function and fertility in animal studies, but few human studies exist.
STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION:
This community-based prospective cohort study included 522 women attempting to become pregnant between 2010 and 2016. The women completed online daily and monthly diaries until a positive home pregnancy test was observed or 12 months had elapsed.
PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS:
The study included women from central North Carolina who were aged 30-44 with no history of infertility, with no more than 3 months of attempt time at recruitment. Women recorded vaginal bleeding so that the ongoing number of attempt cycles could be counted and used to quantify a woman's pregnancy attempt time. Blood collected at the study entry was analysed for 25(OH)D using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. Associations with fecundability were estimated with a log-binomial discrete time-to-event model.
MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE:
Among 522 women, 257 conceived during the study. The mean age was 33 years and the mean 25(OH)D was 36 ng/ml. There was an estimated 10% higher fecundability with each 10 ng/ml increase in 25(OH)D (fecundability ratio (FR) 1.10, 95% CI: 0.96, 1.25).
The suggestive dose-response association with the continuous measure of 25(OH)D was driven by women in the lowest and the highest categories of 25(OH)D. Compared to women with 25(OH)D of 30-40 ng/ml, women below 20 ng/ml had an estimated 45% reduction in fecundability (FR (CI): 0.55 (0.23, 1.32)), and women with at least 50 ng/ml had an estimated 35% increase in fecundability (FR (CI): 1.35 (0.95, 1.91)).
Across these three categories (25(OH)D of <20 ng/ml, 30-40 ng/ml and > 50 ng/ml), the probability of taking longer than 6 months to conceive was, respectively, 51% (17%, 74%), 28% (17%, 39%) and 15% (10%, 37%).
LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION:
While the distribution of 25(OH)D was wide, the number of observed cycles with high 25(OH)D (N = 107) or low 25(OH)D (N = 56) was small.
WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS:
Our findings are consistent with prior reports of reduced fertility in women with 25(OH)D concentrations below the clinically defined deficiency level (20 ng/ml). Further studies are needed to evaluate the possible reproductive benefits of considerably higher 25(OH)D concentration (>50 ng/ml).
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