Long-chain omega-3 fatty acids have been positively related with improvement of fertility in both women and men. Primary natural source of omega-3-fatty acids is seafood. As this also can bei the source of toxicants like f.e. lead, mercury and cadmium, reproductive benefits may be counteracted. Therefore, our approach was to supplement pharmaceutical grade omega-3-fatty acids in order to assess potential benefits of omega-3-fatty acids on modulation of IVFsuccess by dietary measures in a well-defined group of patients of a German Fertility Centre. A group of 52 IVF-patients with a history of at least two miscarriages or unsuccessful in vitro fertilization approaches received periconceptual omega-3-fatty acid supplementation for a time period of at least 3 weeks. The "historical" control group, consisting of 1109 patients without omega-3-fatty acid supplementation, was generated out of the Fertility Centre´s patient database. The same inclusion criteria (history of at least two miscarriages or unsuccessful in vitro fertilization approaches) were applied for both groups. Omega-3-fatty acid supplementation lead to significantly enhanced in vitro fertilization success rates as well as to reduction of miscarriage rates compared to patients of the control group. The results encourage to design further agematched, double-blinded prospective studies in order to verify a positive influence of dietary intervention and lifestyle modification on fertility rates.

A well-defined group of patients of a German Fertility Centre, all supplemented periconceptually with omega-3fatty acids, was monitored for specific alterations in the immunological laboratory status in correlation with the outcome of invitro-fertilization-(IVF)-treatment. For 36 of 52 IVF-patients IVF-treatment was successful. Patients with IVF-success revealed statistically significant lower soluble interleukin-2-receptor concentrations than unsuccessfully treated patients. Decreased numbers of CD4-positive T-cells could be correlated with increased failure rates of IVF, increased numbers of regulatory T-cells on the other hand with significantly improved success rates. Six of the parameters analyzed (T-lymphocytes, T-helper cells, B-lymphocytes, CD4/CD8 ratio and both classes of regulatory T-cells) significantly more often were below the median of the respective distribution in patients without IVF-success than in successfully treated. These results offer the possibility of developing a simple prognostic measure for the outcome of an IVF-therapy by assessing these parameters in relation to the median of the respective distribution. With increasing numbers of parameters lying below the median, the probability of successful IVF-treatment is decreasing.