Polycystic Ovary Syndrome and Dietary Patterns in Iran: A Review Study

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOs) is one of the most common metabolic and endocrine abnormalities among women in reproductive age. In the case of not comprehensive treatment, PCOs can lead to hormonal, metabolic, and fertility disorders. The exact cause of PCOs is still unclear. This disease seems to have a genetic background caused by the interference of several key genes with the environmental factors such as dietary habit and food intake, which play an important role in prevention and treatment of this syndrome. We searched Scopus, PubMed, SID, and Magiran data bases to find the studies conducted in Iran on dietary patterns, dietary intake, food intake, and PCOs published in English. The findings showed that decrease of weight and fat intake from total calorie (especially saturated fat and cholesterol), increase of physical activity and intake of dietary fibers can improve this syndrome. Furthermore, DASH diet, increase of the protein/carbohydrate ratio in the diet, the low-calorie diets, or iso-caloric diets with a low glycemic index can also be useful in this regard. In recent studies, the effects of some healthy diets were studied on PCOs women. A few of these studies were about finding appropriate dietary patterns for PCOs patients, but their number was limited. So, further studies are needed in this regard.