Ascorbic acid supplement during luteal phase in IVF

Purpose: To evaluate the impact of ascorbic acid of different doses as additional support during luteal phase in infertility treatment by means of a prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled, group comparative, double-blind study. Methods: Voluntary daily oral intake of either ascorbic acid (1, 5, or 10 g/day) or Placebo for 14 days after follicle aspiration for IVF-ET procedure. Data was obtained on 620 cases of women, age <40 years, undergoing first IVF-embryo transfer cycles in two private outpatient infertility clinics. All women were stimulated by the same protocol. The mean age was 31.73 (±4.4 SD) years. Results: No differences in clinical pregnancy rate and implantation rate were noted in statistical logistic regression analysis between the four intake groups. Conclusions: There was no clinical evidence of any beneficial effect, as defined by main outcome measures, of ascorbic acid on IVF-ET. Our data suggest there is no obvious value of high dosed intake of vitamin C during luteal phase in infertility treatment.