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Iron Intake and Risk of Ovulatory Infertility

From the Departments of ¹Nutrition and ²Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health; ³Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care; ⁴Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School; and ⁵Department of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether iron supplement use or greater intake of total, heme and nonheme iron is associated with lower risk of ovulatory infertility.

METHODS: We conducted a prospective cohort study among 18,555 married, premenopausal women without a history of infertility who attempted a pregnancy or became pregnant between 1991 and 1999 (mean baseline age±standard deviation 32.6±3.6). Diet was assessed twice during follow-up and prospectively related to the incidence of infertility due to ovulatory disorder.

RESULTS: During the 8 years of follow-up, 438 women reported infertility due to ovulatory disorder. Women who consumed iron supplements had a significantly lower risk of ovulatory infertility than women who did not use iron supplements (relative risk 0.60, 95% confidence interval 0.39–0.92), after adjusting for potential confounders. Total nonheme iron intake, primarily consumed as multivitamins and iron supplements, was inversely associated with the risk of infertility (relative risk Quintile 1 compared with 5, 95% confidence interval 0.39–0.92; P, trend .005.) Heme iron intake was unrelated to ovulatory infertility in multivariable adjusted analyses.

CONCLUSION: Consumption of iron supplements and nonheme iron from other sources may decrease the risk of ovulatory infertility.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: II-2

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				J. E. Chavarro, J. W. Rich-Edwards, B. A. Rosner, and W. C. Willett Diet and Lifestyle in the Prevention of Ovulatory Disorder Infertility Obstet. Gynecol., November 1, 2007; 110(5): 1050 - 1058. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				Does Iron Decrease the Risk for Ovulatory Infertility? Journal Watch (General), December 7, 2006; 2006(1207): 3 - 3. [Full Text]