A new study conducted in the UK shows that two common infertility treatments do not improve fertility.

Researchers in Scotland compared a drug that stimulates ovulation and artificial insemination with no treatment. The study was published Friday in the British Medical Journal. Doctors only studied couples with unexplained fertility problems.

At the study’s end only 14 per cent of the couples taking Clomifene citrate, a drug which stimulates the ovaries to release eggs, got pregnant and 23% in the insemination group had given birth compared to 17 % of the no-treatment group. For the insemination group, doctors performed artificial insemination, injecting sperm into the uterus to facilitate fertilization. The no-treatment group was given general advice about the need to have intercourse regularly during the six-month study.

“What we found is that neither of these popular and commonly used treatments offered a higher birth rate than no treatment at all,” says Siladitya Bhattacharya, MD, the study’s lead author and professor of reproductive medicine at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland. “What we’ve shown is that neither of these first-line treatments is better than [the couples] trying themselves.”

Another study showed that men who suffer fertility problems because of low sperm quality may be able to improve their chances of fatherhood by having sex every day.

Infertility affects about one in seven couples. Doctors try these methods – fertility pills or artificial insemination – before moving on more complicated techniques such as in-vitro fertilization.