Nobody measured live birth in the ten trials that pooled ovulation
Ten randomised trials of inositol for ovulation, and none recorded a live birth. Cochrane, from two other trials and 84 women, put the odds at 2.42, on an interval from 0.75 to 7.83.
What the study found
Live birth was measured in none of the ten pooled trials
Ten randomised trials of inositol for ovulation, and the outcome people actually want was absent from all of them. Cochrane, working from two other trials and 84 women, put the live birth odds at 2.42 with an interval running from 0.75 to 7.83.
The caveat · Mostly women preparing for IVF
Eleven of the 13 trials in the Cochrane review gave inositol as preparation for in vitro fertilisation, so it does not describe ordinary supplement use. Cochrane translated its own estimate into absolute terms: against a 12% live birth rate without inositol, the rate with it would sit somewhere between 9% and 51%.
What we don't know
Whether inositol raises live births is unsettled. One umbrella review says it more than doubles them, Cochrane calls the outcome too uncertain to judge, and none of the 85 outcomes graded in this field reaches high quality.