Nutritional Interventions, Complementary and Alternative Medicine for Endometriosis

Abstract

Since endometriosis symptoms can significantly impact women’s quality of life, while the short-term and particularly long-term therapeutic benefits of the currently available approaches are quite limited, there is increasing frustration among patients who undergo only hormonal and/or surgical intervention. The discovery of changeable risk factors for endometriosis, such as diet and exercise, and the search for complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), has become increasingly attractive. The importance of nutrition in controlling the growth and development of endometriosis has lately emerged as a matter of study, mainly due to the finding that some of the disease-related physiological and pathological pathways, such as inflammatory response, estrogen production, menses succession, organochlorine influence, and prostaglandin secretion, may also be affected by nutrition and lifestyle. CAM include applying topical heat, rest, relaxation, movement, massage, kinesiology, physiotherapy, homeopathy, phytotherapy, acupuncture, electrotherapy, traditional Chinese medicine, osteopathic manipulative therapy, and yoga.