Vitamin E + Multivitamins

Supplement 2: Vitamin E + Multivitamin (Ca, Mg, D3, Zn)

What is it?

Vitamin E is found naturally in some foods and is available as a dietary supplement. Vitamin E possesses antioxidant properties.

Good sources of Vitamin E are:

• Sunflower seeds

• Wheat germ oil

• Almonds

• Peanuts

• Spinach

• Broccoli

• Mango

• Tomato

Regimen:

• What: Oral capsules

• How much / Dosage:

• Vitamin E - 400mg (RDA = 15mg; tolerable upper limit = 1000mg)

• Multivitamin - 1000mg Calcium carbonate (RDA = 1000mg) + 240mg Magnesium oxide (RDA = 340mg) + 500 IU Vitamin D3 (RDA = 600 IU) + 11mg Zinc sulphate (RDA = 8mg)

Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA): Average daily level of intake sufficient to meet the nutrient requirements of nearly all (97–98%) healthy individuals; often used to plan nutritionally adequate diets for individuals.¹

• How to use:

  • Vitamin E - Take one capsule from 15 days before the period until the start of the period for 2 menstrual cycles

  • Multivitamin - Take one capsule daily for 2 months

How does it work?

With its antioxidant properties, vitamin E reduces phospholipid peroxidation and inhibits the release of arachidonic acid and its conversion to prostaglandins. Therefore, it can play a significant role in relieving the severity of dysmenorrhea.²

What is the efficacy?

Methods: Sixty women, aged 17-25 years old, who suffered from primary dysmenorrhea, among 1000 Women attending the gynec OPD in Kilpauk Medical College. 30 women were given 200 units of vitamin E (each tablet twice daily), and 30 were given placebo tablets (each tablet twice daily). The treatment began two days before the beginning of menstruation and continued through the first three days of bleeding. The severity of pain and duration of pain before and after the treatment were studied. Treatment in both groups was carried out in three consecutive menstrual periods.

Results: As to the findings, the mean age of the participants was 22.6 years. There was a significant difference between the pre- and post-treatment periods in terms of pain severity (P=0.72 and P=0.002, respectively) and pain duration (P=0.514 and P=0.027, respectively) in the Vitamin E group. There was a significant difference observed between the Vitamin E group and placebo group regarding the mean of pain severity and duration (P=0.002 and p=0.027, respectively).

Conclusions: Vitamin E helps to relieve pain in primary dysmenorrhea. As this is a relatively easier method for control of pain with fewer side effects and as it is cost- effective, it can be considered as a universal drug in the treatment of primary dysmenorrhea.³

Side-effects:

Short-term effects: Weakness, fatigue.

Long-term effects: Bruising, excess bleeding.⁴

References

1. Office of Dietary Supplements, National Institutes of Health. Nutrient Recommendations and Databases. [Internet]. Bethesda (MD): National Institutes of Health; [cited 2025 May 20]. Available from: https://ods.od.nih.gov/HealthInformation/nutrientrecommendations.aspx

1. Sadeghi N, Paknezhad F, Rashidi Nooshabadi M, Kavianpour M, Jafari Rad S, Khadem Haghighian H. Vitamin E and fish oil, separately or in combination, on treatment of primary dysmenorrhea: a double-blind, randomized clinical trial. Gynecol Endocrinol. 2018 Sep;34(9):804–8. doi:10.1080/09513590.2018.1450377.

1. Vilvapriya S, Vinodhini S. Vitamin E in the treatment of primary dysmenorrhoea. Int J Reprod Contracept Obstet Gynecol. 2018 Jun;7(6):2257–61. doi:10.18203/2320-1770.ijrcog20182331.

1. Rahnemaei FA, Gholamrezaei A, Afrakhteh M, Zayeri F, Vafa MR, Rashidi A, Ozgoli G. Vitamin D supplementation for primary dysmenorrhea: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial. Obstet Gynecol Sci. 2021;64(4):353–63. doi:10.5468/ogs.20316.