The Study About 40 percent of women of childbearing age endure severe menstrual cramps. Treatment is trickier now that Vioxx and other painkillers have been linked to cardiovascular risks. A new study in the British Journal of Gynecology shows that taking 200 IU of vitamin E twice daily for several days a month may dramatically ease menstrual pain. But the treatment is not risk-free.
The Findings The study involved 278 teenage girls in Iran. Half took 200 IU of vitamin E twice a day for two days before their periods and three days after menstruation started; the other half took a sham pill. After four months, the vitamin E group had an average hour and a half or so total of cramps, compared with the roughly 18 hours they'd reported earlier; the placebo group had nearly 17 hours of cramps. The vitamin E group also had less-intense pain and menstrual bleeding. Only 4.3 percent of the vitamin E group needed ibuprofen for additional pain relief, compared with 89.4 percent of the control group.
Treatment Options Nancy Gaba, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at George Washington University, said the findings "could be helpful" for many patients who "are looking for [painkiller] alternatives."
Safety concerns about vitamin E raised by recent studies probably don't apply, she said. One study, in March, saw an increase in heart failure risk among patients who took 400 IU for about seven years. In another, published in November, people who took 400 IU or more daily for more than a year increased their risk of death; but many of the participants were over age 60 and at risk for heart disease.
Gaba said that the vitamin E regimen shown effective for reducing cramps should be safe for healthy women cleared by their physicians. "When taken at reasonable doses like these, it's probably not harmful," Gaba said. The author of the November study agreed "there's no excess risk" for young women taking the vitamin for brief episodes.
-- Rebecca Adams
