Food as Medicine: Dietary and Supplement Solutions for Endometriosis Pain, study suggests

Recent study on dietary modifications and supplement use for endometriosis pain aimed to investigate the effectiveness of various strategies in managing symptoms among individuals with endometriosis. The research methodology involved a survey distributed through an online platform, Qualtrics, among 2858 participants, out of which 2599 completed over 80% of the survey questions. The results indicated that the majority of respondents experienced pelvic pain (96.9%) and frequent abdominal bloating (91.2%). It was highlighted that 83.8% of participants had tried one or more diets, while 58.8% had used supplements to alleviate their symptoms. A substantial proportion of individuals reported that these dietary modifications and supplements had a positive impact on their pain levels, with 66.9% attributing pain improvement to diet changes and 43.4% to supplement use.

Pain Improvement and Dietary Modifications

The study found a statistically significant difference in pain scores between participants who reported improvement from dietary modifications compared to those who did not perceive any benefit. Among the popular dietary modifications attempted, reducing alcohol, gluten, dairy, and caffeine were associated with pain improvement for a considerable number of respondents. However, the low-FODMAP diet was less commonly tried despite its potential benefits. Additionally, approximately 32.3% of individuals who used magnesium reported experiencing benefits. The research highlighted the limitations and permissions associated with the distribution of the study findings. The abstract specified that the article is distributed under the CC-BY-NC-ND License, which restricts alterations and commercial uses including text and data mining. Moreover, the introduction discussed the complexities of endometriosis, emphasizing chronic pain as a predominant symptom alongside infertility, fatigue, and gastrointestinal issues. The study aimed to explore the role of the gut microbiome in pain regulation and investigate how dietary modifications could potentially alleviate symptoms in individuals with endometriosis.