In 2022, more than ever, infertility has become a major public health issue.
In February, a report submitted to the Ministry of Solidarity and Health informed that 3.3 million people are affected in France.
More recently, a study published Tuesday, November 15 in the journal
Human Reproduction Update
, warned of the accelerated drop in the concentration of spermatozoa in men, on a global scale.
The trend is also worrying for women, a third of infertility cases concern them.
If it is difficult to identify the exact cause of the problem, many scientific studies point the finger at individual factors related to lifestyle, such as sedentary lifestyle or diet.
It is precisely these factors that an online test seeks to identify after analysis of a blood test and created by a group of hospital-university researchers from Sorbonne University, Paris Cité University and APHP, grouped behind the start-up Alifert .
The patented test has been available since October 31.
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For a more early diagnosis
Open the way to a more early and above all faster fertility diagnosis.
This is the objective of this new service.
Indeed, a medical consultation for infertility is considered "most often, when there is no pregnancy after 12 to 24 months of regular intercourse (two or three times a week) at favorable times, in the absence of contraception”, recalls on its site the health insurance.
The start-up Alifert is therefore positioned here well upstream, and offers couples, men and women of childbearing age, wishing to have a child or not, to discover their fertility "score", based on an analysis of blood coupled with anthropometric data (age, height, weight).
This service, not covered by social security, costs 80 euros per person (the price is currently lowered to 60 euros for the launch of the site), and 120 euros per couple.
In practice, after having informed the conclusions of the blood test prescribed by Alifert (and also not reimbursed), the results of the test are delivered by email in three days.
On the screen, we find our fertility percentage, located between “very favorable”, “favorable”, “unfavorable” and “unfavorable”.
Detailed information on the metabolic and nutritional parameters to be readjusted, as well as general public health recommendations, are also provided.
Food, physical activity and infertility are indeed linked, recalls Professor Rachel Lévy, co-founder of Alifert and head of the CECOS reproductive biology department at Tenon Hospital (Paris).
Dietary imbalance, antioxidant deficiencies, cholesterol, blood sugar, overweight, sedentary lifestyle, lack of sleep… All these situations can result in “not only reducing the quality of gametes but also reducing the chances of conceiving spontaneously, and therefore potentially increasing the risk miscarriage", explains the professor.
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Anticipate for your health and that to come
Alifert's expertise is the result of 15 years of research.
Their algorithm is based in particular on a clinical study of 200 fertile and infertile couples, conducted between 2009 and 2015 by teams from the reproductive biology departments of Tenon Hospital, nutrition from the Georges Pompidou European Hospital and also of clinical metabolomics at Saint-Antoine hospital.
"A man or woman in poor health, particularly cardio-metabolic, will transmit epigenetic markers, which will have negative effects on their fertility but also on the health of their offspring", specifies Professor Rachel Lévy.
Whether the outcome of the test is favorable or not, the Alifert platform, which does not intend to replace medical care, invites each Internet user to inform their general practitioner and redirects them, depending on the situation, to a directory of specialists.
Ultimately, the company also intends to offer personalized nutritional recipes, says Professor Rachel Lévy.
At the same time, hospital-university researchers are also working to develop a tool, this time intended for health professionals, which will make it possible “to offer, for the first time, to people suffering from infertility, dedicated therapeutic support in hospital departments. », Underlines the press release of Alifert.