March 10, 2010

expert reaction to British Fertility Society’s new guidance on acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine, as published in the journal Human Fertility

The British Fertility Society’s advice refers to the use of acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine by women with fertility problems to help them to conceive.

Prof Edzard Ernst, Professor of Complementary Medicine, Peninsula Medical School, said:

“This is a long-overdue clarification. Infertile women have been misled for some time now to think that traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) can help them getting pregnant. This analysis shows two things very clearly: the totality of the acupuncture trials does not support this notion, and for Chinese herbs, we have no evidence at all. This will help infertile women not to waste their money or get disappointed by TCM practitioners who behave less than responsibly when recommending these treatments.”