Mark Perloe:
“I’m Mark Perloe and I’m here with
the American Society of Reproductive Medicine meeting
in Seattle, Washington and I'm with Dian Mills who
recently updated her book on nutrition. We talked
earlier about how nutrition plays a role in fertility
but I understand that the book is a bit more comprehensive.
Can you first of all tell us the title of the book
and when the new edition will be out?”
Dian Mills:
“Yes, the new edition was out in America on
the 1st of August 2002. Mike and I have rewritten
three new chapters in the book, one on the ovary,
one on the nervous system because when I was in Helsinki
the Danish and Swedish groups were saying, ‘Why
are we so depressed all the time?” so I’ve
explained a little bit about that. Then I put another
in on food and what to eat and how to prepare shopping
lists, more about these and everything else like that.”
Mark Perloe:
“One of the theories about endometriosis that
I was so interested in is, women who had endometriosis.
It may actually not be the endometrial implant that
is to blame. There are women who have bladder systems,
interstitial cystitis and have bowel related symptoms
and fibromyalgia. There is a lot of thinking that
perhaps this is a disorder of para-sympathetic nerve
connection or pelvic neuropathy. What role would nutrition
play in dealing with pelvic pain aside from the actual
presence of a lesion?”
Dian Mills:
“Well, this is a good question because I always
suspect that a lot of the pain which we get with endometriosis,
I don’t know that it’s necessarily caused
by the endometriosis itself. I think there are a lot
of immune products in the peritoneal fluid, which
are increasing inflammation, which are causing the
bowel and bladder to go into spasms. Also you can
look at digestion because if a person is not absorbing
the nutrients correctly, due to whatever reason, that
could also lead to more higher levels of pain perception
in the body because they are not taking in the nutrients
that would help dampen down the pain pathways.”
Mark Perloe:
“What nutrients specifically might be involved?”
Dian Mills:
“Ah, now this is interesting because there are
lots of research papers on pain and nutrients. Vitamin
C is an antihistamine so it can dampen histamine release.
Vitamin E can help with pain because that will also
help with histamine release and it also works as an
antioxidant that can stop cell damage at the membrane
if you’ve got free radical damage damaging the
cell membrane, which could be weakening the cell membrane
so that the endometriosis can attach. And the B vitamins,
especially B1, B6 and B12 when taken in combination,
work as well as any analgesic when they are in the
right level in the body.
Essential fatty acids, like omega-6 fatty acids from
linseed oil and fish omega 3, evening primrose oil,
borage oil, star flower oil front the six. What I
find very interesting is that when people are eating
a lot of processed foods they are taking in trans-fatty
acids. That’s fats that have been hydrogenated
and they’ve been changed in their shapes so
they don’t lock into cells in the same way.
Fats that are natural, the cis fatty acids have a
horseshoe shape and lock into cell membranes and give
them integrity. Whereas the trans fatty acids form
just a kink shape and the cell membrane loses its
integrity, Oils and magnesium are important at the
cell membrane as they are seen from research to stop
cancers attaching. So if you can change the balance
to improve good cis oils and remove the bad trans
oils from the diet it may be giving the cells more
integrity. Also, if we think about this logically,
all the hormones, so if you are using the correct
oils and they’re being metabolized into prostaglandins
series one and three, which are anti-inflammatory
and you reduce the oils in dairy and meat which are
pro-inflammatory, series two prostaglandins, you can
possibly, or we see this happening, reduce pain levels.
The other interesting thing that I found is that
there has to be some mechanism with wheat with endometriosis.
Wheat has been genetically modified and there are
two hormones out of two, the genome. There is also
problems with gluten sensitivity, and more people
are becoming gluten sensitive and I find that when
I’ve taken wheat out of the diet, in 80% of
the women with endometriosis, their pain subsides.”
Mark Perloe:
“Fascinating.”
Dian Mills:
“And when they reintroduce the wheat the pain
comes back.”
Mark Perloe:
“Is this all wheat flours? I mean are they,
buckwheat, which is a protein, or whole wheat do you
have it as much as the processed wheat?”
Dian Mills:
“Whole wheat, all wheat is a problem. Anything
with wheat flour, like pastry cakes, pizza, pasta.
Buckwheat isn’t wheat; that’s rhubarb
family. That’s the same plant as rhubarb, so
buckwheat isn’t wheat. That works in a different
way. But there’s something different. I think
there may be the hormones in the wheat or the phytic
acid is locking up some of the minerals but certainly
there seems to be some modality with wheat and endometriosis.
It’s almost as though something within wheat
is exacerbating the implant."
Mark Perloe:
“Some of us are going to get on a wheat-free
diet. Would you just say try this for a period of
time and see if it works?”
Dian Mills:
“Yes, I would say try it for two months. Don’t
have anything with wheat in, modified starch, malto-dextrins,
dextrins, rusk, you know anything like that, avoid.
Rye, Ryvita, rye breads, rice cakes, rice, rice noodles,
corn pasta and corn and rice pasta. Anything made
with lentils, like popadoms; what else is there, minute
buckwheat would be all right. You replace the wheat
with other foods so that you are not lacking in any
in any nutrients. Do that for 28-30 days alongside
taking multi-vitamins and evening primrose and fish
oil. Magnesium is helpful because that relaxes muscles
in the uterus and the bowel. And also you may need
to take a digestive enzyme and an acidophilus if you
have digestion problems. And if you do that for a
month and then challenge yourself with one slice of
bread and see what symptoms recur over the next 24
hours. That’s quite a good way of looking at
if you’ve got a food intolerance. You can do
it with dairy foods as well. You will then know whether
it is creating more pain and bloating, certainly abdominal
boating can be reduced.”
Mark Perloe:
“Well, I think that’s wonderful. How would
people learn more about the book if they wanted to
order it online do you have a website where they can
get more information?”
Dian Mills:
“You can get it www.endometriosis.co.uk or www.makingbabies.com
and also, I believe www.amazon.com has it. Barnes
& Noble have this as well."
Mark Perloe:
“Give us the name of the book.”
Dian Mills:
“Endometriosis: A Key to
Healing and Fertility Through Nutrition, by Dian
Shepperson Mills and Mike Vernon and the publisher
is Thorsens Harper Collins.”
Mark Perloe:
“Thank you so much, Dian.”
Dian Mills:
“Thank you very much.”
This interview has been reprinted with the permission
of EndoZONE.org.
To listen to the interview please
click here
>>
DIAN SHEPPERSON MILL's FERTILITY RESULTS HIGHLIGHTED
AT THE 2006 ASRM MEETING
Dian Shepperson Mills practices as a nutritionist
at:
The Hale Clinic, London (to book an appointment
please call +44 (0)20 7631 0156)
The Putney Clinic, London (to book an appointment
please call +44 (0)20 8789 3881)
The Endometriosis and Fertility Clinic, Hailsham (to
book an appointment or to arrange for a telephone
consultation please call +44 (0)1323 846888).
To learn more about endometriosis and nutrition,
please see The
Endometriosis and Fertility Clinic
MORE ARTICLES
