Acupuncture 'helped me conceive' says mother

Couples who turn to acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine to help them conceive are wasting their time, experts have said. New guidelines from the British Fertility Society, which represents fertility clinics, said there was no evidence that the complementary treatments can improve the success of assisted conception. The society's advice followed a systematic review of all reliable published trials looking at acupuncture administered at the same time as fertility treatment. Information was gathered from a total of 14 studies involving 2,670 patients. Experts found that acupuncture made no significant difference to any outcomes at whatever stage of In-Vitro Fertilisation it was carried out. The authors could find no published randomised controlled trials on the effectiveness of using Chinese herbal medicines in conjunction with IVF treatment. They therefore concluded there was no evidence to support the use of these remedies either. Edzard Ernst, Professor of Complementary Medicine at the Peninsula Medical School, based at the universities of Exeter and Plymouth, said: "This is a long-overdue clarification. Infertile women have been misled for some time now to think that traditional Chinese medicine can help them getting pregnant."

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ITN | March 10, 2010

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