A multicenter clinical study with myo-inositol and alpha-lactalbumin in Mexican and Italian PCOS patients

This open-label non-randomized clinical study aimed at evaluating the effects of myo-inositol plus alpha-lactalbumin in two groups of PCOS women, treated in Mexico and Italy. Alpha-lactalbumin was used being effective in increasing myo-inositol intestinal absorption. This effect is very useful in greatly reducing the therapeutic failure of myo-inositol in some patients (inositol resistant subjects).

The study involved 34 normal weight or overweight patients (14 in Mexico and 20 in Italy), aged 18 to 40 years, with anovulation and infertility > 1 year and insulin resistance diagnosed by HOMA-Index. Patients were administered orally with 2 g myo-inositol, 50 mg alpha-lactalbumin, and 200 µg of folic acid twice a day for 6 months. Controls were the same patients at t0 (baseline). The primary outcome was HOMA-index decrease after 3 and 6 months of treatment. Other parameters monitored were BMI, progesterone, LH, FSH, total testosterone, free testosterone, androstenedione, total cholesterol, HDL, LDL, triglycerides.

Recovery was general, and its relevance was higher when the starting point was further away from the normal range. The most important results were obtained with insulin, HOMA-index, LH, and androstenedione. No significant adverse effects were detected in both groups of patients.

This clinical trial demonstrated for the first time that myo-inositol and alpha-lactalbumin improve important parameters in PCOS patients characterized by different metabolic profiles.