The Role of Nutrition in the Treatment of Patients with Menorrhagia from the Perspective of Traditional Persian Medicine and Modern Medicine

Heavy menstrual bleeding during menstruation or hypermenorrhea or menorrhagia, which is called "Efrate Tams" in Traditional Iranian Medicine, is one of the most common causes of visiting health centers by women. The present study aimed to provide nutritional guidelines recommended in the Traditional Iranian Medicine for this complaint which their effects on bleeding regulatory pathways are also proven in conventional medicine. In first phase of this study, we conducted a review with a focus on the sources of Traditional Iranian Medicine; in second phase, electronic databases of PubMed, Scopus, and Magiran were studied with the key words of "Menorrhagia", "Hypermenorrhea", "Efrate Tams", "Heavy Menstrual Bleeding", "Nutrition", and “Food supplements”. Similarities and differences of our search results were extracted and classified, and the resulting data were analyzed. From the perspective of Traditional Iranian Medicine, foods such as egg yolk, lentils, meat extracts, pomegranate, quinceand, and Sumac are prescribed to reduce bleeding in patients with menorrhagia, and new studies have demonstrated anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, hematopoietic, and anti-fibrinolytic effects of some of these foods. Designing an appropriate diet for women with menorrhagia, along with common treatments, may help promoting health states of these patients.