Alcohol 'affects IVF success'

Females who had between one and nine units of white wine a week were 24 per cent less likely to have a live birth (jason alden)

Women who drink just a few glasses of white wine a week cut their chance of successful IVF, research shows. Men can also reduce their hopes of fathering a child if they consume a daily beer.

Meanwhile, couples where both partners drink six units a week – equivalent to sharing a bottle of wine – cut their chance of a live birth by 26 per cent.

Harvard Medical School in the US asked 2,574 couples how much they drank and what type of alcohol they liked just before they embarked on IVF. Brooke Rossi, who led the study, said men and women who each had six units a week or more "significantly reduced their likelihood of pregnancy".

This is equivalent to two strong pints of beer or two large glasses of wine. Women cut their chances of getting pregnant by 18 per cent while men reduced their chances of a live birth by 14 per cent. The effects were particularly strong for women drinking white wine and men drinking beer.

Females who had between one and nine units of white wine a week were 24 per cent less likely to have a live birth and had a 23 per cent greater chance of failed implantation of the embryo.

The figures were presented at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine conference in Atlanta, Georgia.