Dietary Approaches to Women's Sexual and Reproductive Health

Area of Science:

• Integrative Medicine
• Women's Health
• Nutritional Science

Background:

• Common gynecologic conditions (sexual dysfunction, PCOS, fibroids, endometriosis, infertility) affect women throughout their reproductive lifespan.
• Current management often relies on pharmaceuticals, but lifestyle medicine emphasizes food as medicine.
• Dietary patterns are crucial for managing chronic gynecologic diseases and preconception health.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the scientific literature linking dietary patterns to sexual and reproductive health in premenopausal women.
• To highlight the potential of plant-forward diets in managing gynecologic conditions.
• To explore the role of nutrition in preconception health and epigenetic signaling.

Main Methods:

• State-of-the-art literature review.
• Analysis of studies connecting diet with gynecologic and reproductive health outcomes.
• Focus on premenopausal women's health.

Main Results:

• Evidence supports an evidence-based, food-as-medicine approach for gynecologic conditions.
• Plant-forward diets, similar to the Mediterranean diet, show promise for improving chronic gynecologic diseases.
• Optimal nutrition pre-conception may positively influence epigenetic signaling and offspring health.

Conclusions:

• Dietary interventions, particularly plant-forward patterns, are valuable in managing women's sexual and reproductive health.
• Lifestyle medicine principles, emphasizing nutrition, offer a complementary approach to pharmaceutical treatments.
• Nutritional strategies pre-conception can impact intergenerational health outcomes.