Nutritional interventions to ameliorate the effect of endocrine disruptors on human reproductive health: A semi-structured review from FIGO

Background: Endocrine disrupting chemicals have harmful effects on reproductive, perinatal, and obstetric outcomes.

Objective: To analyze the evidence on nutritional interventions to reduce the negative effects of endocrine disruptors on reproductive, perinatal, and obstetric outcomes.

Search strategy: A search of MEDLINE (PubMed), Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), EMBASE, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Database was conducted from inception to May 2021.

Selection criteria: Experimental studies on human populations.

Data collection and analysis: Data were collected from eligible studies. Risk of bias assessment was completed using the Cochrane risk of bias tool and the ROBINS-I Tool.

Results: Database searches yielded 15 362 articles. Removing 11 181 duplicates, 4181 articles underwent abstract screening, 26 articles were eligible for full manuscript review, and 16 met full inclusion criteria. Several interventions were found to be effective in reducing exposure to endocrine disruptors: avoidance of plastic containers, bottles, and packaging; avoidance of canned food/beverages; consumption of fresh and organic food; avoidance of fast/processed foods; and supplementation with vitamin C, iodine, and folic acid. There were some interventional studies examining therapies to improve clinical outcomes related to endocrine disruptors.

Conclusion: Dietary alterations can reduce exposure to endocrine disruptors, with limited data on interventions to improve endocrine-disruptor-related clinical outcomes. This review provides useful instruction to women, their families, healthcare providers, and regulatory bodies.