Why Do Doctors Suggest Vitamins When TTC?

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When I was trying to conceive, my doctor put me on a ton of vitamins. You don’t seem convinced that the vitamins help, except for a prenatal. Why is taking vitamins so common when trying to conceive through a clinic if they don’t work?

—Anonymous

You’re correct that I’m not a big fan of vitamins, mostly because the data behind them is pretty weak. But that doesn’t always mean that vitamins won’t make a difference for your particular situation or that vitamins can’t be part of your treatment plan.

One of the main challenges here is that fertility is very complex, and we aren’t always able to pinpoint exactly why a person or couple is having trouble conceiving. Lifestyle and diet are an important part of your overall health, and we know that most Americans are likely not consuming enough nutrients. But while it makes sense that vitamins would help improve your fertility, that’s not what the data so far has borne out.

Your question gets to the limits of data and, perhaps, philosophical differences among fertility providers. Large-scale studies, by design, are intended to look at large groups of people or populations. This is certainly important and helpful, but it can often be difficult to apply these results to individuals or specific situations because of nuances that the study may not capture.

Importantly, many commonly used fertility supplements haven’t been shown to cause harm at the doses currently recommended, though high doses can cause problems. It certainly doesn’t help that the vitamins are not regulated in the same way as medications by the FDA, so there’s no guarantee that the dose listed on the bottle is accurate.

Still, because the potential for harm may be low, many fertility providers and clinics may be of the mind that as long as it is not harmful, it’s okay and even a good idea to add vitamins because they might help. You may also think this, and that’s totally reasonable. I constantly tell my patients that while we do not have complete control over the outcome of treatment, that doesn’t mean that they can’t feel good about the process. It’s important to me that my patients feel that they did everything they wanted if we don’t get the ideal outcome, and sometimes, “doing everything” means adding vitamins or supplements.

I will add that the fertility space is (unfortunately) prone to many companies and individuals making big promises that they can’t always deliver on, so it’s a good idea to run any supplement you are considering by your fertility provider to double-check the claims and potential for harm.