We won’t sell you pseudoscience.
Some approaches have meaningful evidence. Some are promising but unsettled. Others have very little behind them. Aumi helps you tell the difference, looking at the quality of the research, what was actually studied, and what’s relevant to you. And we show you the sources.
How we talk about evidence
SupportedReasonably consistent human evidence for that specific intended use
PromisingEncouraging human evidence, but meaningful limitations remain
Emerging / LimitedEarly, inconsistent or insufficient for a strong conclusion
VariesBroad categories where the answer depends on ingredient, dose or formulation
An evidence label applies to a specific intervention and intended outcome, not to an entire wellness category or medical tradition.
We start with you, not the modality.
Aumi does not begin with acupuncture, supplements, counseling, nutrition or any other service and ask how to fit it in. Your clinician starts with what you’re trying to improve and what is already being addressed in your existing care. Only then do we consider which approaches, if any, belong.
The evidence below describes approaches your plan may draw from. It is not a checklist of what everyone should do.
Aumi works alongside medical fertility care. The goal is not to claim that supportive care causes pregnancy or improves IVF success, but to ask whether an approach may help with a specific health, symptom or wellbeing need during your journey.
AcupuncturePromisingSome studies link it to better embryo quality and less menstrual pain. Evidence that it improves pregnancy or live birth remains mixed.
- Why might it be useful
- Acupuncture may be considered for specific supportive goals such as stress, wellbeing, pain or symptom support during a fertility journey.
- What the evidence supports
- Evidence varies substantially by the condition and the outcome being studied. It is stronger for some symptom and pain outcomes than for others.
- What about fertility outcomes
- Acupuncture has also been studied for IVF, pregnancy and live-birth outcomes. Findings have not been consistent enough for Aumi to claim that acupuncture reliably improves IVF success.
- How Aumi uses it
- Considered when there is a specific supportive reason for including it. It is not automatically added as a way to increase the chance of pregnancy.
- Journal of Integrative Medicine · 2026Acupuncture to ensure high-quality embryos in women undergoing IVF. Eighteen trials, 1,506 women, treated during ovarian stimulation. Higher high-quality embryo rate and fertilization rate, both moderate certainty.
- Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics · 2024Effects of acupuncture on pregnancy outcomes in women undergoing IVF. Twenty-five trials, 4,757 participants. Clinical pregnancy 43.6% against 33.2%, live birth 38.0% against 28.7%.
- Frontiers in Endocrinology · 2025Different effectiveness of acupuncture treatment schedule on ART pregnancy outcomes: a network meta-analysis. Courses of three months or more outperformed shorter ones.
- Integrative Medicine Research · 2023Acupuncture for endometriosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Six trials, 331 women. Moderate-certainty reduction in menstrual pain against non-specific needling. Against true sham, one study found no clear difference.
- Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews · 2025Acupuncture for polycystic ovary syndrome. Compared with sham, no clear difference in live birth, ovulation or clinical pregnancy, and acupuncture was probably associated with a greater risk of side effects.
- Turkish Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology · 2022Acupuncture as an adjunct to IVF cycles in China and the world. The direction of effect reversed depending on where trials were run, and live birth rates did not differ significantly. We show you this one too.
NutritionSupportedGood nutrition supports overall and reproductive health. There is no single proven “fertility diet.”
- Why might it be useful
- Nutrition may be relevant to nutritional adequacy, metabolic health, insulin resistance, weight-related factors and other considerations that overlap with fertility planning.
- What the evidence supports
- The answer depends on the specific nutritional question, population and outcome. There is no single proven fertility diet appropriate for everyone.
- What about fertility outcomes
- Dietary patterns have been studied in relation to reproductive outcomes, but findings vary and should not be translated into guarantees about IVF or pregnancy success.
- How Aumi uses it
- Nutrition becomes a priority when there is a clear reason it matters for you.
- Fertility and Sterility · 2022Optimizing natural fertility: a committee opinion. ASRM Practice Committee. Recommends a healthy diet, 400 micrograms of folic acid daily, no smoking, and limiting exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals. Notes that lifestyle change helps most where there is ovulatory dysfunction, and that the evidence base is expert consensus rather than graded trials.
- Nutrients · 2024The role of the Mediterranean diet in assisted reproduction: a literature review. Seven observational studies, 2,321 women. Three found improved pregnancy or live birth rates. Two found no association, and four found no effect on oocyte or embryo quality.
- Nutrition Reviews · 2023Mediterranean diet and infertility: a systematic review with meta-analysis of cohort studies. Evidence insufficient to support clinical application, while indicating improvement in sperm measures.
- CMAJ Open · 2013Effect of vitamin D status on clinical pregnancy rates following IVF. One hundred seventy-three women. Clinical pregnancy per cycle 52.5% with sufficient vitamin D against 34.7% with insufficient levels.
Pelvic floor PTSupportedWell supported when pelvic pain, tension, or pelvic-floor dysfunction are part of the picture.
- Why might it be useful
- Relevant when pelvic pain, pelvic-floor dysfunction or related functional symptoms are present.
- What the evidence supports
- Its strongest role is in addressing pain and function, not fertility itself. The evidence below is drawn from pelvic pain, sexual function and continence populations.
- What about fertility outcomes
- Aumi does not present pelvic floor physical therapy as a treatment for infertility or as a way to increase pregnancy rates. Nothing rigorous links it to conception.
- How Aumi uses it
- Considered when pelvic symptoms or function are genuinely relevant to your goals. Licensed physical therapy is provided separately.
- American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology · 2025Effectiveness of nonpharmacological conservative therapies for chronic pelvic pain in women. Thirty-eight trials, 2,168 women, mean age 35. Multimodal physical therapy reduced pain intensity with high certainty of evidence, and the effect held at intermediate follow-up.
- American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology · 2024Pelvic floor muscle training as treatment for female sexual dysfunction. Improvement across Female Sexual Function Index scores, with certainty rated low.
- Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews · 2020Pelvic floor muscle training for preventing and treating urinary and faecal incontinence in antenatal and postnatal women. The standard reference for pelvic floor training through pregnancy and after birth.
- On fertility specificallyWe could not find a randomized trial or meta-analysis linking pelvic physical therapy to conception. The claims you will see online trace back to a retrospective chart review and a ten-person case series. That is not enough, and we would rather tell you.
Mind & bodySupportedGood evidence for reducing distress and supporting emotional wellbeing during fertility care.
- Why might it be useful
- Fertility planning and treatment can create substantial emotional strain, uncertainty, relationship stress and treatment burden.
- What the evidence supports
- Psychological and mind-body support can help with distress, coping, sleep and emotional wellbeing.
- What about fertility outcomes
- A reduction in stress should not be interpreted as an increase in pregnancy or live-birth rates. Counseling does not need to improve those outcomes to be worth doing.
- How Aumi uses it
- Included when emotional wellbeing is a meaningful priority. Licensed counseling is provided separately by an appropriately licensed professional.
- ASRM · ReproductiveFacts.orgStress and infertility: patient education fact sheet. Psychological interventions can meaningfully improve distress, anxiety, coping, sleep, and quality of life during treatment. Evidence that reducing stress itself increases pregnancy or live-birth rates is much less certain.
Supplements & herbsVariesSome have evidence for specific nutrient needs or reproductive markers. Others have very little behind them. What you take, why you take it, and at what dose matter.
- Why might they be useful
- Specific nutrients or botanicals may be relevant in certain situations, usually tied to an identified gap or marker.
- What the evidence supports
- There is no meaningful evidence grade for supplements as a whole. The answer depends on the ingredient, dose, formulation, population and intended outcome.
- What about fertility outcomes
- Some have been studied for reproductive outcomes, but evidence varies substantially and does not justify treating every fertility supplement as beneficial.
- How Aumi uses them
- A supplement should have a specific reason to be in your plan. Evidence for an ingredient is not evidence for every commercial product containing it.
- Obstetrics & Gynecology and Fertility and Sterility · 2019Prepregnancy counseling: Committee Opinion No. 762. ACOG, developed jointly with ASRM. Directs that all supplements and herbal products be reviewed before pregnancy, noting these are things patients may not consider to be medication use even though they can affect reproduction.
- Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology · 2018Pretreatment with coenzyme Q10 improves ovarian response and embryo quality in low-prognosis young women with decreased ovarian reserve. Randomized, 169 women evaluated. More retrieved oocytes, better embryo quality, lower gonadotrophin requirement. The authors state that further work is required to determine whether there is an effect on clinical treatment endpoints.
- ESHRE · 2023Good practice recommendations on add-ons in reproductive medicine. Evaluates oral antioxidant therapy as a category and does not recommend it routinely in ART. Most people preparing for IVF take CoQ10 anyway. Worth knowing before you decide.
- Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine · 2013Clinical evaluation of the spermatogenic activity of Ashwagandha root extract in oligospermic males: a pilot study. Forty-six men randomized, 675 mg/day for 90 days. Large percentage gains in sperm count, volume and motility from a low baseline. A pilot study by its own title, and pregnancy was not an outcome.
- Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism · 2024Inositol for polycystic ovary syndrome: a review informing the 2023 International Evidence-based PCOS Guidelines. Thirty trials, 2,230 participants. The most widely recommended supplement for PCOS, judged limited and inconclusive by the panel writing the guidelines.
- Explore · 2024Berberine as adjuvant therapy for reduced fertility potential in women with polycystic ovary syndrome. Ten trials, 713 patients. Improved ovulation and pregnancy rates alongside conventional treatment, with uncertain risk of bias named as a major concern. A separate multicenter placebo-controlled trial in 644 women found no live birth benefit alongside letrozole.
- JAMA · 2004Heavy metal content of Ayurvedic herbal medicine products. One in five products sampled in Boston-area stores contained lead, mercury or arsenic.
- JAMA · 2008Lead, mercury and arsenic in US- and Indian-manufactured Ayurvedic medicines sold online. A follow-up four years later found a comparable proportion contaminated. Sourcing matters more here than in any other category.
Ayurveda & lifestyleVariesLifestyle practices around food, sleep, movement, stress, and daily routines can support preconception health and wellbeing. Evidence for Ayurvedic approaches improving fertility outcomes is still limited.
- Why might it be useful
- Ayurvedic practice combines daily routine, sleep timing, diet and botanical preparations. Some of the underlying behaviours have independent modern evidence.
- What the evidence supports
- Aumi evaluates the components separately. Sleep regularity, routine and breathwork have their own evidence base. Evidence for individualized whole-system Ayurvedic care is more limited.
- What about fertility outcomes
- Evidence for Ayurvedic intervention in fertility specifically is early and thin. Product quality is a material safety issue in this category, as the research below shows.
- How Aumi uses it
- We do not use Ayurveda itself as a blanket evidence claim. Where a component is included, it is because that component has a reason to be there.
- Cureus · 2024Effectiveness of Ayurveda intervention in the management of infertility: a systematic review. Fourteen studies covering 248 patients, many of them case reports. The authors emphasized the need for larger standardized trials. Case series almost always report success, because nobody publishes the ones that didn’t work.
- On the framework itselfDoshas, Agni and Ojas are explanatory concepts, not reproductive biomarkers. They’re useful as prompts for daily living. They are not diagnoses, and a practitioner using that vocabulary is not measuring anything your clinic would recognize.
- On why the evidence is thinAyurveda is practiced as an individualized whole system. That sits awkwardly with a trial format built to isolate one variable against a placebo. It’s a reason the field is under-studied, not a reason to assume it works.
Our hypothesis
Aumi’s hypothesis is that the biggest opportunity in fertility support isn’t one supplement, one diet or one therapy. It’s getting the right things working together, early and around the individual. Our role is to bring the pieces together, distinguish what is better supported from what remains uncertain, and help you build thoughtful support alongside your medical care. That’s a hypothesis, not a finding. If the evidence changes, our approach should change with it.
Evidence is only part of the standard.
Aumi and your clinician also consider safety, your individual circumstances, your existing care, medications and potential interactions, pregnancy or plans to conceive, relevant health history, product and ingredient quality, practicality, and whether an approach makes sense for your goal at all.
More care is not automatically better care.
Where the evidence is mixed, we say so.