My wife and I want to have a baby by In Vitro Fertilization. I
understand that this procedure does not have a very high success rate
so I am looking for practical, low cost ways to increase the odds of a
successful pregnancy. I want to know if there is any medically
established correlation between success rates of this procedure and
diet, lifestyle, medical drugs, etc, or whether there are any low cost
tests for establishing the likelihood of success before undertaking
the procedure.

Hello Davo:

I hope that I can help in your search for additional methods or
lifestyle changes that can increase your chances of success with In
Vitro Fertilization”

Lifestyle of both partners can affect your chances of conceiving. The
quest for getting pregnant is very difficult for some. Making it even
more difficult are comments from friends and family like “when are you
going to have children”, or when they know you are having trouble,
they often say “ just relax, and it will happen”. It is hard to relax
when you are undergoing treatments, having “mechanical sex” timed to
ovulation cycles, temperature etc.

However there are many ways to increase your chances, I have listed a
few below.
I used the search term below on Google

In Vitro Fertilization   diet OR lifestyle "success rate"

“There are a surprising number of lifestyle factors that couples can
change which may improve their reproductive health and ability to have
children. Simply reducing or abstaining from caffeine and alcohol and
not smoking can have a beneficial impact on a couple's ability to
conceive.”

http://www.arcfertility.com/infertility/infertility_prevention.html

http://www.infertilitybooks.com/titles/infertility_solutions_natural_approaches.html

Certain lifestyle factors do affect your chances.

“Caffeine, alcohol, and tobacco may play as big a role in male
infertility as anything else, say fertility experts, who are urging
their peers to pay more attention to a man's lifestyle when evaluating
infertility, reports Reuters.”

http://www.babycenter.com/topic/3103.html;prod-bc-sessionid=YTSNCRZUWRTYSCUAQJQSLMQ

The environment can be causal to infertility:

“Your water--and even your utility poles--may affect your reproductive
health. Researchers and environmentalists are urging that dangerous
chemicals like atrazine, alachlor, simazine, cyanzine, metolachlor
(all herbacides that have been found in tap water in the Midwest at
some time), and pentachlorophenol (a wood preservative used nationwide
in utility poles) be phased out of use, reports MSNBC. Why? All have
been linked to some sort of reproductive problem in the past--from
fertility problems to birth defects to menstrual disorders. ”

From: 
http://www.babycenter.com/topic/2726.html

Hormonal Therapy With Human Menopausal Gonadotropins has been shown to
help. See the following link:

http://www.holistic-online.com/Remedies/infertility/inf_treatment2.htm

The two links that follow talk about a controversial study that was
reported in the Journal of Reproductive Medicine. The study tries to
confirm if prayer will have any effect.

http://my.webmd.com/content/article/1728.92943

http://www.aphroditewomenshealth.com/news/20020311224422_health_news.shtml


Sexually transmitted diseases and their prevention are discussed here:

http://infertility.about.com/library/ifctr/blstd.htm

While not dealing solely with success rates, this article from the CDC
is extremely informative on IVF:

http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/drh/ART99/index99.htm


Use the search term I described above, typing it in exactly as you see
it into Google’s search term area, there are many more websites.

I hope these links will help you, I wish you both the best of luck. 

Sincerely,

Colin

Not quite directly an answer to my question but the wealth of
information provided by the researcher and the comments added later
have proven useful. Thankyou.

Dear Davo,

IVF is offered to people who have difficulties conceiving.  The
difficulties are often medical.  So, it would be good to consult a
doctor regarding this.

Yes, IVF has low rates.  But, there are technologies that go with IVF
that make a conception more likely.  Some of the recently cited rates
of pregnancy in IVF are higher than "natural" methods.

One of such complementary technology that I am currently researching
is called preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD).  PGD is an
experimental procedure that involves IVF.  It screens the the embryo
before the implantation stage of IVF.  The screens can detect some
genetic defects such as some types of beta-thylasemia, or chromosomal
disorders, such as Down's syndrome.  PGD has also been used to select 
the sex of a child in cases where there is a disease that only occurs
in boys, or girls.  PGD can probably increase the chance of IVF
success, especially if the mother is older than 35 years old.

You are right in saying that IVF is expensive.  PGD is also expensive,
however, it may not be much if you opt for IVF.  However, if a genetic
disease is the underlying problem of infertility, IVF + PGD may be
sponsored by an insurance company.

I'd also recommend reading a Reproductive Endocrinology to understand
the IVF procedure:

Do lifestyle factors affect IVF success?  Yes
as colin mentioned smoking, drugs,etc are negatively correlated.

Simple tests before the IVF procedure?  Yes
Andrologists will do sperm tests: motility, perhaps zona penetration,
acrosome
reaction or some such function test.  PMID: 8059499 


 paper cites: Ovarian volume as a predictor

Fertil Steril 1995 Dec;64(6):1167-71
Ovarian volume: a novel outcome predictor for assisted reproduction.
Syrop CH, Willhoite A, Van Voorhis BJ.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Iowa College of
Medicine, Iowa City 52242-1080, USA. PMID: 7589671

OBJECTIVE: To determine the potential of ovarian volume as a predictor
of assisted reproduction outcomes. DESIGN: Retrospective chart review.
SETTING: University-based assisted reproduction program. PATIENTS: One
hundred eighty-eight women initiating their first cycle of assisted
reproduction. INTERVENTIONS: None. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Pretreatment
transvaginal ultrasound ovarian measurements were compared with
subsequent ovulation induction parameters (peak E2, numbers of
oocytes, and embryos) and cycle outcome (cancellation and pregnancy).
RESULT: Total ovarian volume and volume of the smallest ovary were
significant variables predicting peak E2 and numbers of oocytes and
embryos. Total ovarian volume was a predictor of cycle cancellation
and volume of the smallest ovary a predictor of clinical pregnancy.
Large ovarian volumes are associated with good assisted reproductive
technology outcomes whereas small ovarian volumes are associated with
poor outcomes. CONCLUSION: Beyond maternal age, total ovarian volume,
and volume of the smallest ovary are significant predictors of the
success of assisted reproductive techniques.

I think ~ 1/3 of IVF pregnancies have twins or more.  

Here are some more citations - type the PMID in at
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi

1:  Kligman I, Rosenwaks Z. 
Differentiating clinical profiles: predicting good responders, poor
responders,
and hyperresponders.
Fertil Steril. 2001 Dec;76(6):1185-90. Review.
PMID: 11730748 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

2:  Borini A, Maccolini A, Tallarini A, Bonu MA, Sciajno R, Flamigni
C.
Perifollicular vascularity and its relationship with oocyte maturity
and IVF
outcome.
Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2001 Sep;943:64-7. Review.
PMID: 11594559 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

3:  Phelps JY, Levine AS, Hickman TN, Zacur HA, Wallach EE, Hinton EL.
Day 4 estradiol levels predict pregnancy success in women undergoing
controlled
ovarian hyperstimulation for IVF.
Fertil Steril. 1998 Jun;69(6):1015-9. Review.
PMID: 9627286 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

If IVF doesn't work ICSI is an option (intracytoplasmic sperm
injection).