If you are trying to conceive with endometriosis, the natural supplement resveratrol may be able to help to resolve the growth and spread of endometriosis naturally. Resveratrol can help to reduce pain, curb inflammation and modulate estrogenic activity within your pelvis. By attenuating the spread of endometriosis, resveratrol may help your body to be more baby-friendly increasing the chances of conceiving.

Resveratrol is a powerful anti-inflammatory and anti-proliferative polyphenol derived from grapes - and of course red wine - which has been found to significantly decrease endometriosis pain. The pain-relieving effect of resveratrol has been studied alone, in combination with the contraceptive pill and also with green tea extracts. As pain diminishes, so too does the invasive growth of endometriosis which could have a sparing effect on fertility.

A Brazilian study (1) published in the International Journal of Women's Health, 2012, explored the effectiveness of combining 30mg of resveratrol daily with the contraceptive pill for relieving endometriosis pain in women who had not experienced pain relief from the pill alone. Impressively, adding this relatively small daily dose of resveratrol to the contraceptive pill resulted in:

"...a significant reduction in pain scores, with 82% of patients reporting complete resolution of dysmenorrhea and pelvic pain after 2 months of use."

A separate experiment was initiated to see how this powerful combination was acting inside the endometrium of 42 women undergoing laparoscopy for endometriosis. Of these women, 16 were were taking the contraceptive pill alone and 26 were taking the contraceptive pill along with resveratrol.

Researchers assessed the level of inflammation (COX-2) and estrogenic activity (aromatase) in the endometrium and discovered that suppression of both
aromatase and COX-2 was significantly greater in women who were taking resveratrol. The study concluded that:

"These results suggest that resveratrol potentiates the effect of oral contraceptives in the management of endometriosis-associated dysmenorrhea by further decreasing aromatase and cyclo-oxygenase-2 expression in the endometrium."

A further study from Vanderbilt University (2), published in Biology Of Reproduction, 2011 set out to examine the effects of resveratrol in human endometriosis tissue in an animal model. This study discovered that:

"Resveratrol decreased the number of endometrial implants per mouse by 60%...and the total volume of lesions per mouse by 80%"

Resveratrol was also found to induce a significant reduction in the invasiveness of endometriosis - at a rate of 78% - in a dose-dependent manner indicating that resveratrol may be able to arrest the spread of endometriosis preserving fertility. The study concluded that:

"Resveratrol inhibits development of endometriosis in the nude mouse and reduces invasiveness of HES (human endometrial cells) cells. These observations may aid in the development of novel treatments of endometriosis."

A further study (3) published in the journal Human Reproduction, 2013 also found that resveratrol could halt the growth of endometriosis by reducing the development of blood vessels which support the growth of endometriosis. This study concluded that:

"Resveratrol is a potent inhibitor of vascularization in endometriotic lesions. This, most probably, causes the suppression of lesion growth. Accordingly, resveratrol represents a promising candidate therapy for future phytochemical treatment of endometriosis."

If you have endometriosis, ask your physician whether resveratrol may be a good fit for your situation.

This article is for informational purposes and is not intended to diagnose or provide medical or dietetic advice for which you should consult a physician or dietitian.

(1) In J Womens Health. 2012;4:543-9. doi: 10.2147/IJWH.S36825. Epub 2012 Oct 10.
Advantages of the association of resveratrol with oral contraceptives for management of endometriosis-related pain.
Maia H Jr, Haddad C, Pinheiro N, Casoy J.

(2) Biol Reprod. 2011 Jan;84(1):106-12. doi: 10.1095/biolreprod.110.086744. Epub 2010 Sep 15.
Resveratrol inhibits development of experimental endometriosis in vivo and reduces endometrial stromal cell invasiveness in vitro.
Bruner-Tran KL, Osteen KG, Taylor HS, Sokalska A, Haines K, Duleba AJ.

(3) Human Reproduction Volume 28, issue 5. (May 2013), p. 1339-1347

ISSN: 0268-1161, DOI: 10.1093/humrep/det031. Resveratrol is a potent inhibitor of vascularization and cell proliferation in experimental endometriosis

Rudzitis-Auth, J.1; Menger, M.D.1; Laschke, M.W.1