Association between vitamin B2 intake and female infertility: a cross-sectional study

The high rate of unexplained female infertility significantly affects public health and women's mental well-being. Research on dietary nutrients' impact on infertility often overlooks vitamin B2. Exploring this vitamin's role could be crucial for understanding and addressing female infertility. A cross-sectional study was conducted on women of reproductive age, utilizing data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) for the period 2013-2018. To assess the relationship between vitamin B2 intake and female infertility, multivariable logistic regression analysis was employed. Furthermore, subgroup analysis was performed on baseline categorical variables. The results were summarized using an odds ratio (OR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI). Additionally, restricted cubic splines were applied to explore linear correlations. Among a total of 3,208 women, 524 were found to be infertile. The results indicated that, within a fully adjusted model, a higher intake of vitamin B2 was associated with a lower prevalence of female infertility (OR [95% CI]: 0.81 [(0.69, 0.96)]), and the highest quartile of vitamin B2 intake (Q4) offered greater protection against infertility compared to the lowest quartile (Q1) (OR [95% CI]: 0.58 [0.38, 0.89]). Subgroup analysis showed the association between vitamin B2 intake and female infertility was independent across all baseline variable groups, with no observed interaction. A negative linear relationship was also confirmed through RCS (P for non-linearity = 0.503). Increased vitamin B2 intake is associated with a reduced risk of infertility in women. Our findings suggest that maintaining adequate vitamin B2 levels could help lower infertility risks. Dietary modifications and vitamin supplementation may be key in preventing and treating infertility early on.