Endometriosis, dysmenorrhea and diet—What is the evidence?

Agnete Fjerbaek, Agnete Fjerbæk, Fjerbaek A, Knudsen UB, Ulla B Knudsen, Ulla Breth Knudsen
European journal of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive biology · 2007 · vol. 132(2) , pp. 140–147 · doi:10.1016/j.ejogrb.2006.12.006 · PMID:17210218 · W2029887836
review OA: closed CC0 ⤵ 27 in-corpus citations
View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by gemini-2.5-flash-lite, 2026-06-08 ⓘ

This paper reviews the existing evidence on the relationship between endometriosis, painful periods (dysmenorrhea), and dietary factors.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

The objective of this study is to assess the literature concerning the effect of diet on endometriosis and dysmenorrhea and to elucidate evidential support, to give dietary recommendations to women suffering from these conditions. A systematic search in electronic databases on a relationship between diet and endometriosis/dysmenorrhea was performed. Data on diet and endometriosis were limited to four trials of which two were animal studies. The articles concerning human consumption found some relation between disease and low intake of vegetable and fruit and high intake of vegetarian polyunsaturated fat, ham, beef and other red meat. Results concerning fish intake were not consistent. Eight trials of different design, with a total of 1097 women, investigated the relationship between diet and dysmenorrhea. Intake of fish oil seemed to have a positive effect on pain symptoms. This study concludes that literature on diet and endometriosis is sparse, whereas eight studies have looked at diet and dysmenorrhea. No clear recommendations on what diet to eat or refrain from to reduce the symptoms of endometriosis can be given, while a few studies indicate that fish oil can reduce dysmenorrhea. Further research is recommended on both subjects.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

dysmenorrheaendometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Diet Dysmenorrhea Endometriosis Diet Dysmenorrhea Dysmenorrhea Endometriosis Endometriosis Female Fish Oils Fish Oils Humans

Citation neighborhood

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

References (51)

Cited by (28)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-08-20T06:14:21.026120+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-05-13T22:15:06.633332+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK