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Too much coffee reduces chance of IVF success: Study

Written by: QMI Agency
Jul. 3, 2012

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Too much coffee is as bad as smoking for women trying to conceive through in vitro fertilization, a new study has found.

Researchers followed up with nearly 4,000 women who received IVF treatment at a public clinic in Denmark and found that women who said they drank five or more cups of coffee a day had a 50% reduced chance of getting pregnant.

The authors of the study, from Aarhus University Hospital, expected an adverse link between coffee consumption and fertility, but were surprised at "the magnitude of the effect," said Dr. Ulrik Kesmodel, who presented the findings Tuesday at the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology.

The adverse effect is comparable to that of smoking, which has also been linked to reduced IVF success, according to studies cited by the Danish researchers.

They didn't find the same effect in women who said they drank fewer than five cups of coffee a day.

"There is limited evidence about coffee in the literature," Kesmodel said, "so we would not wish to worry IVF patients unnecessarily. But it does seem reasonable, based on our results and the evidence we have about coffee consumption during pregnancy, that women should not drink more than five cups of coffee a day when having IVF."

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