NEW YORK (Reuters Health) -
Women may find some relief from
menstrual cramps by taking vitamin E a few days a month, new
research suggests.
The study, of teenage girls in Iran, found that those who
took vitamin E starting two days before their periods suffered
far less cramping than their peers who used only standard pain
medication.
After four months, the girls who took vitamin E had cramps
for less than two hours, on average, during their periods. That
compared with 17 hours for those who did not take the vitamin.
Dr. Saeideh Ziaei and her colleagues at Tarbiat Modarres
University in Tehran report the findings in the British Journal
of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Common menstrual cramps, or primary dysmenorrhea, are
thought to result from the release of hormone-like substances
called prostaglandins. Prostaglandins cause the uterus to
contract in order to expel the uterine lining, resulting in
menstrual blood flow. Vitamin E, by acting on two enzymes in
the body, can inhibit the formation of prostaglandins -- and,
potentially, menstrual cramps, according to Ziaei and her
colleagues.
To investigate, the researchers randomly assigned 278
girls, 15 to 17 years old, with primary dysmenorrhea to take
either vitamin E or an inactive placebo pill. Girls in the
vitamin E group took 200 milligrams (mg) of the vitamin twice a
day, starting two days before they expected their periods and
continuing through the third day of menstruation.>
Both groups were allowed to take ibuprofen if they needed
to.
After four months, girls in the vitamin E group showed a
sharp reduction in the number of hours they suffered cramps
each month. Few -- 4 percent -- reported using ibuprofen,
compared with 89 percent of girls in the placebo group.
Girls in both groups tended to say their periods got
lighter during the study period, but the change was greater in
the vitamin group, according to Ziaei's team.
The dose of vitamin E used in the study -- 200 mg twice a
day -- is significantly higher than the recommended daily
intake of 20 mg, but still well within the range that experts
consider unlikely to cause adverse effects. U.S. health
officials set the "upper tolerable intake level" for vitamin E
at 1,000 mg per day.
"The use of vitamin E for dysmenorrhea in adolescent women
is attractive," Ziaei's team writes, "because of the marked
effect we have demonstrated, coupled with the absence of
significant side effects from vitamin E at therapeutic doses."
SOURCE: British Journal of Gynecology, April 2005.
