Effect of omega-3 supplements or diets on fertility in women: A meta-analysis

Objective: This study aimed to assess the effect of increased omega-3 consumption on
fertilization rates and the probability of women getting pregnant. This study is needed because
different perspectives exist regarding the use of omega-3 fatty acids in enhancing fertility among
women with reproductive issues, and information for those planning a spontaneous pregnancy
is limited. Methods: PubMed, Clinical Trials, CINAHL/EBSCO, Medline Complete, Cochrane
Library, and Google Scholar were searched for articles published until April 2021, and the
search was limited to articles in English language. The search strategy included the following
key words: “in-vitro fertilization (IVF)” “intracytoplasmic sperm injection techniques (ICSI)” “pregnancy”; “omega-3 fatty acid”, “alpha-linolenic acid”, “eicosapentaenoic acid”, “docosahexaenoic acid”, “n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid”, “fish oil and seafood”.  Studies reporting female fertility occurring naturally or IVF/ICSI concurrent with omega-3 intake were included. Retrospective studies, studies including postmenopausal women, and unevenly matched control and study groups were excluded. To assess bias, we used the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions, version 5.1.0. To synthesize the findings from the studies included in this review, a meta-analysis was conducted using calculated or
extracted odds ratios (OR) of clinical pregnancies and fertilization rates for each group in each
study. Results: We included six trials involving 1789 women who received fertility treatment, four
trials involving 2607 women who conceived naturally, and three trials involving 1725 oocytes for
fertility rates. Aggregated ORs for the effects of omega-3 on pregnancies were 1.74, 1.36, and
2.14 for women who received fertility treatment, those who conceived naturally, and fertilization
rate, respectively. All these results were significant (p ≤ 0.01), although they had high
heterogeneity I2>68 %. Conclusion: This systematic review and meta-analysis suggest that
omega-3 intake significantly improves women's pregnancy and fertilization rates; however, the
high heterogeneity in this review somewhat limits its interpretation. Therefore, further
prospective randomized studies are necessary to better understand this relationship.