Low Diet Quality and Nutritional Knowledge in Women with Endometriosis: A Pilot Study

Abstract

Endometriosis is a chronic gynecological disease characterized by ectopic endometrial tissue outside the uterus that can cause chronic pain, dysmenorrhea, fatigue, and infertility. The aim of this study was to assess diet quality and nutritional knowledge of women with endometriosis. A questionnaire was used to collect data on lifestyle, dietary habits and nutritional knowledge from 90 women. More than 80% of women with endometriosis (82.2%) confirmed that diet and lifestyle are related to the progression of endometriosis. After being diagnosed with endometriosis, 77.3% of respondents reported a change in their dietary habits and made various changes to their diet by increasing or eliminating the consumption of certain foods. The majority declared reducing pro-inflammatory products, increasing anti-inflammatory foods, including the consumption of vegetables and fruits, avoiding white/or red/or processed meat, and avoiding sweets. Nevertheless, diet quality as assessed by the pro-healthy diet index (pHDI-10) and the Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS) showed a low intensity of consumption of pro-healthy food (average pHDI-10 value 31.4%; MDS 7.55/14 points, p = 0.0001). Women with endometriosis reported lower than recommended consumption of fruits, vegetables, dairy products and whole grains. A higher percentage of healthy controls had a “good” level of nutritional knowledge than women with endometriosis. The results of our study highlight the need to improve diet quality and nutritional knowledge among women with endometriosis as well as developing targeted dietary recommendations to help improve well-being and reduce the pain symptoms of endometriosis.