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Pollen cures, food supplements: for several years, companies and influencers have been praising on social networks the benefits of “miracle” treatments for getting pregnant, solutions of dubious effectiveness which take advantage of the flaws in medicine.
“Not following a fertility diet, a factor in infertility in 46% of cases“, assures an influencer on Instagram, “Pineapple, a +magic+ food for getting pregnant“, boasts the Facebook account of a naturopath, while others on TikTok advertise a “pollen cure” for 132 euros to “boost fertility”.
With one in six people affected by infertility worldwide, according to the World Health Organization, the phenomenon is so widespread that it is adapted to a very wide audience: from “fertility yoga” for stressed city dwellers to the “NaPro” method for believers, presented as a natural alternative to medically assisted procreation (MAP) based on observation of the female cycle.
How can we explain such enthusiasm for expensive methods, not covered by Social Security, and above all which have not proven their effectiveness?
This is because infertility – defined by the absence of pregnancy after one year of regular, unprotected intercourse – “affects the most intimate, the most sacred part of life”, observes Professor Samir Hamamah, president of the French Federation for the Study of Reproduction, “So when you don’t succeed, the sky falls on your head.“.
“No magic food”
In the face of failure, he notes, “we are receptive to everything and its opposite“. During consultations, this gynecologist thus notices couples who come”with always the same list of questions, because they do not listen to the answers, they spend their time on social networks rather than applying the advice of doctors“.
However, Professor Hamamah, like the other specialists interviewed by AFP, assures us: “There is no miracle recipe, no magic food” allowing you to get pregnant, even if a balanced diet is recommended.
Yet, as obstetrician Jean-Luc Pouly notes, “A study by the FDA (the American health agency, editor’s note) shows that the market for food supplements specific to fertility reaches 4 billion dollars in the United States while there is no proof of their effectiveness“.
And Instagram accounts, TikTok, or applications dedicated to fertility are overwhelmingly aimed only at women, while infertility in a couple comes in a third of cases from the woman, another third from the man and a final third from both, recalls Micheline Misrahi-Abadou, national referent for genetic infertility and for primary ovarian insufficiency of the “France Médecine Génomique” Plan.
NO to diets, YES to WW!
“Parallel market”
This interest of women for these “miracle” solutions, notes the specialist, also comes from the “under-medicalization” from which they suffer: women’s health problems are not always fairly considered by medicine, which leads them to “take charge of their health themselves” and explains “that there is a parallel market developing“.
“The risk,” she notes, “is that women self-treat,” not to mention that these techniques can “delay their treatment” in an area where “time is an enemy.” Indeed, the risk of infertility doubles between the ages of 30 and 40, and medically assisted procreation, long considered a “magic wand,” still has a very high failure rate of 40%.
According to Micheline Misrahi-Abadou, to improve the success rate of PMA, “It is essential to further investigate the causes of infertility, and in particular the predictive factors for treatment failure.“.
Samir Hamamah also insists on prevention: “We need to inform people from a young age about endocrine disruptors, but also about lifestyles that impact fertility: obesity, lack of sleep, and, of course, alcohol, tobacco and drugs.“.