The effects of nutrients on endometriosis-related symptoms

Nutrients may be effective on endometriosis related symptoms

Key Points

Highlights:

• Current treatment modalities have limited success, and many women with endometriosis desire to control their diseases individually and are in search of remedies available in daily life.
• Dietary intervention may be an effective self-management strategy in women with endometriosis.
  

Importance:

• Diverse genetic, immunological, environmental, and hormonal components are involved in the pathogenesis of endometriosis resulting in a heterogeneous patient population with different responses to the treatment modalities. 
• Endometriosis related symptoms frequently detain patients from both professional and social activities requiring to search for personal measures for the patients. 
• A substantial number of publications on dietary restrictions or full diets for symptomatic relief in endometriosis.

What's done here:

• A comprehensive literature review was made on the effects of nutrients or diets on endometriosis-related symptoms.
• A literature search in electronic databases was made in two steps and study quality, including the risk of bias.
• Finally, 12 valid studies were evaluated.

Key results:

• Nutrients that possess direct or indirect anti-inflammatory effects may be beneficial in suppressing endometriosis-related symptoms.
• It may be speculated that polyunsaturated fatty acids, antioxidants, resveratrol, lactobacilli, certain vitamins, and minerals may be beneficial in this regard.
• Soy, gluten, FODMAP (low fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols) diet are the nutrients to be avoided for endometriosis-associated symptoms. 

Lay Summary

A recent literature review from the Netherlands by researchers Emma Huijs and Annamiek Nap, published in "Reproductive Biomedicine Online" puts light on the effects of some nutrients for endometriosis-related symptomatology. 

Endometriosis has heterogeneous pathogenesis involving genetic, immunological, environmental, and hormonal components. Due to this complexity, current treatment methods are not completely successful, and women with endometriosis are trying to control their diseases individually. These women are in the search for remedies available in daily life. An Australian online survey showed that up to 76% of women with endometriosis use self-management, consisting of different self-care and lifestyle choices like meditation, exercise, and nutrition. It is noteworthy that the effectiveness of dietary choices revealed a score of 6.4 out of 10, in this particular survey.

It is a well-known fact that the endometriosis-related symptoms frequently detain patients from both professional and social activities where the personal search for individual solutions become more important.

There are a substantial number of promising publications on dietary restrictions or full diets for symptomatic relief in endometriosis. However, there is also a great doubt on the scientific value of this information.

Here in this review, the authors made a comprehensive literature search in two steps on the effects of nutrients or diets on endometriosis-related symptoms. Finally, the study quality, including the risk of bias, was assessed finally revealing scientifically valid 12 studies. Among them, in nine studies, nutrients were added to patients’ diets, where seven of them showed a positive effect. In three studies, some nutrients were avoided demonstrating a positive effect on endometriosis-related symptomatology. 

The nutrients which turned out to be effective in suppressing endometriosis-related pain have anti-inflammatory or antioxidative actions in general. Palmitoylethanolamide, omega-3 fatty acids, and vitamin B6 rich nutrients were found to be beneficial in this regard. On the other hand, nutrients to be avoided for a positive effect on endometriosis-associated symptoms were soy, gluten, and FODMAP (low fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols) diet. 

The authors emphasize that the overall quality of the evidence related to these was not substantial and interpretation of the results should be done with caution and advice for dietary practice may be of limited value. Finally, the authors suggest a research agenda with topics in need of investigation to gain more knowledge about the role of nutrients in endometriosis-associated symptoms.

Research Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32600946/