First off, it’s worth saying that the supplement market is still unregulated in the UK. As a result, you rarely see the NHS recommending any kind of supplement beyond vitamin D and folic acid for women who are trying to conceive. But there’s still a huge array of formulas on offer.

Google ‘fertility supplements’ and you’ll be inundated with options costing anywhere from £13 to £45. To take a closer look at what tends to be in these formulas, I’ve chosen three brands at random: a high street own-brand bottle, a well-known supplement brand ‘Conception Max’ formula and a ‘Fertility Support’ product from a ‘food grown’ supplement company.

The high street own-brand contains magnesium oxide, vitamin C, choline, zinc, beta-carotene, niacin, pantothenic acid, vitamins B5, E, D3, B1, B2 and B12, ginger root extract, folic acid, biotin and various stabilising ingredients. The Conception Max capsules contain 32 different ingredients – six of which are bulking, coating, anti-caking and colouring agents. Per two tablets, it provides 1,000% of your RDA of vitamin B12, 727% of vitamin B1 and 500% of your vitamin D3 intake. The more expensive Fertility Support contains lots of vitamins and minerals, most of which are derived from food. It’s got purified seawater for magnesium, citrus pulp for vitamin C and bioflavonoids, yeast (containing iron, selenium, folate), carrot (beta-carotene) and Lactobacillus for zinc, pantothenic acid and copper.

In other words, there’s a lot going on in these tablets. The question is, how effective are they at increasing fertility?

“Should I take fertility supplements if I want to get pregnant?” Nutrition experts explain how they work (and which ones to avoid)