Randomised trial · JBRA assisted reproduction · 2023

Beetroot, watermelon and ginger juice in IVF cycles

What it found

In women having a type of IVF, those who drank a daily beetroot, watermelon and ginger juice had higher implantation and clinical pregnancy rates than those who did not.

The juice was taken from the day of embryo transfer until the pregnancy test.

What they found

Studies in people

Implantation rate

The implantation rate was 25.2% in the juice group and 20.5% in the control group. The authors say this difference was significant.

Clinical pregnancy rate

The clinical pregnancy rate was 41.0% in the juice group and 22.0% in the control group. The authors say this difference was significant.

Miscarriage rate

The miscarriage rate did not differ between the groups.

Patient and cycle features

The two groups were similar in maternal and paternal age, maternal BMI, hormone levels, number of eggs retrieved and fertilised, embryo quality, number of embryos transferred and endometrial thickness.

What the authors conclude

“The use of beetroot, watermelon and ginger juice may be considered a promising strategy for improving clinical outcomes in assisted reproductive technology (ART), without any side effects.”
Halpern G, Braga DPAF, Morishima C, Setti AS, Setti AI, Borges E, 2023

Also in their conclusions

  • They conclude that beetroot, watermelon and ginger juice may be a promising strategy for improving clinical outcomes in assisted reproductive technology, without any side effects.
  • They say their results show that the use of specific nutrients may also improve reproductive health.

How it was done

The authors wanted to see whether beetroot, watermelon and ginger juice would improve the lining of the womb and the outcomes of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) cycles.

They enrolled 436 women having ICSI cycles at a private IVF centre between January 2018 and June 2021. Women were put at random into a control group (109 women) or a juice group (327 women). The juice group drank a daily homemade juice made from fresh beetroot, watermelon and ginger from the day of embryo transfer until the day of the pregnancy test; the control group did not.

What it can’t tell you

  • This trial was done in women having ICSI at one IVF centre, so the results may not apply to other fertility treatments or other groups of women.
  • The juice contained three ingredients, so the study cannot show which one, or which combination, might have mattered.

The paper

Title
Beetroot, watermelon and ginger juice supplementation may increase the clinical outcomes of Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection cycles
Type
Randomised controlled trial
Evidence
Studies in people
Summarised from
Full text
Cite
Halpern G, Braga DPAF, Morishima C, Setti AS, Setti AI, Borges E (2023). Beetroot, watermelon and ginger juice supplementation may increase the clinical outcomes of Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection cycles. JBRA assisted reproduction. doi:10.5935/1518-0557.20230012Free full textPubMed 37459441DOI

Summary written 26 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error