Overview of the Effect of Complementary Medicine on Treating or Mitigating the Risk of Endometriosis

OBJECTIVE

 Endometriosis is a hormone-dependent chronic inflammatory disease with symptoms such as pelvic pain, which affect the physical, emotional, and social health of women in reproductive age. The current overview article aims to explore the effect of complementary medicine on the treatment or in mitigating the risk of endometriosis.

METHODS

 This is an overview article done in Iran. Two separate researchers systematically searched 3 databases (Medline, Scopus, and Cochrane Central Register Trials) until September 2020. The methodological quality of each study was assessed using the assessment of multiple systematic reviews (AMSTAR) tool.

RESULTS

 The results of two reviews suggested that physical activity, tobacco smoking, diet, coffee and caffeine intake had no effect on mitigating the risk of endometriosis or improving its treatment, but acupuncture successfully reduced pain and related marker (serum CA-125) levels.

CONCLUSION

 As endometriosis is an annoying disease with many complications and is hard to diagnose and treat, related studies in complementary medicine can help patients with endometriosis. Based on the relevant literature review, among the complementary medicine available for the treatment or to mitigate the risk of endometriosis, only acupuncture seems to alleviate the pain of endometriosis.

Milk consumption and multiple health outcomes: umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses in humans

In order to recapitulate the best available evidence of milk consumption and multiple health-related outcomes, we performed an umbrella review of meta-analyses and systematic reviews in humans. Totally, 41 meta-analyses with 45 unique health outcomes were included. Milk consumption was more often related to benefits than harm to a sequence of health-related outcomes. Dose–response analyses indicated that an increment of 200 ml (approximately 1 cup) milk intake per day was associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, hypertension, colorectal cancer, metabolic syndrome, obesity and osteoporosis. Beneficial associations were also found for type 2 diabetes mellitus and Alzheimer's disease. Conversely, milk intake might be associated with higher risk of prostate cancer, Parkinson’s disease, acne and Fe-deficiency anaemia in infancy. Potential allergy or lactose intolerance need for caution. Milk consumption does more good than harm for human health in this umbrella review. Our results support milk consumption as part of a healthy diet. More well-designed randomized controlled trials are warranted.

Association between dietary inflammatory index and endometriosis risk in a case-control study

Background:

Endometriosis is defined as the presence of functioning endometrial tissue in extra uterine structures that causes pain, infertility and reduced quality of life. Diet plays an important role in the modulation of endometriosis.

Aim:

This study aimed to evaluate the association between the dietary inflammatory index (DII) score and the endometriosis compared to healthy people in a case-control study in Iran.

Methods:

This study included 78 women with laparoscopically confirmed endometriosis and 78 women with normal pelvis. The DII was calculated from dietary intake assessed using a validated food frequency questionnaire. The association between DII scores (divided in tertiles) and endometriosis risk was investigated using logistic regression analysis and reported as odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) adjusted for age, energy, BMI, education, para, smoking, pelvic pain, menorrhagia, stage of endometriosis, physical activity, and income.

Results:

In the age-adjusted models, subjects who consumed more pro-inflammatory diets (the upper tertile of DII) had an OR of 2.24 (95% CI = 2.03, 3.91) as compared to subjects in the lowest tertile. Also after multivariable adjustment, women in the highest tertile of DII (versus lowest tertile) were more likely to have endometriosis (OR 2.63; 95% CI 1.88–2.91, p = 0.004).

Conclusion:

Our results suggest that women with more consumption of pro-inflammatory diet were at increased endometriosis risk.

Recent advances in understanding and managing chronic pelvic pain in women with special consideration to endometriosis

Chronic pelvic pain (CPP) in women is defined variably, but for clinical use it is cyclical or non-cyclical pain of at least 3-6 months' duration. It has major impacts on individuals and society. There are both structural and idiopathic causes. Whereas CPP is not curable in many cases, it is treatable. The most promising approach is multidisciplinary patient-centered care including cause-directed therapy, lifestyle changes, talking therapies, meditation, acupuncture, and physiotherapy (this is not a complete list). One of the most common structural causes for CPP is endometriosis. This review investigates current scientific concepts and recent innovations in this field as well as for CPP in general.