Categories
Change Password!
Reset Password!
With its strong safety profile, accessibility, and affordability, zinc intake is a practical and promising intervention for managing dysmenorrhea.
For millions of women, primary dysmenorrhea (PD) or menstrual pain is more than just "period pain"—it’s a recurring battle that disrupts daily life. But what if relief came in the form of a simple, affordable mineral? A recent systematic review and meta-analysis published in the MDPI-Nutrients journal provided compelling evidence supporting zinc supplementation as an effective and well-tolerated option for menstrual pain relief.
Abiding by the PRISMA 2020 guidelines, Ting-Jui Hsu and researchers conducted a comprehensive search across renowned databases (PubMed, Embase, etc.) and included six randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with 739 participants, evaluating the impact of zinc supplementation on period pain severity. To effectively gauge pain levels, validated tools like the visual analog scale (VAS) was used to capture the intensity of discomfort and pain. A random-effects model analyzed overall effects.
The use of zinc was significantly associated with reduced pain severity compared to placebo (Hedges’s g = −1.541; p < 0.001), demonstrating a clinically meaningful reduction in menstrual pain. Even a low dose of 7 mg/day provided effective relief, while longer treatment durations (≥8 weeks) led to greater pain reduction (p = 0.003). Although higher doses delivered additional benefits, the incremental effect per additional milligram was subtle.
Of particular interest, zinc was well-tolerated, with no noteworthy differences in adverse events between the study groups.
MDPI-Nutrients
Efficacy of Zinc Supplementation in the Management of Primary Dysmenorrhea: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Ting-Jui Hsu et al.
Comments (0)