Endocrine Abstracts

Objective: The open-label clinical study aimed to evaluate the effects of myo-inositol plus alpha-lactalbumin in PCOS women. Alpha-lactalbumin was used being effective in increasing myo-inositol intestinal absorption. This effect is very useful in greatly reducing the therapeutic failure of myo-inositol in some patients (inositol resistant subjects).

Patients and methods: The study involved 36 normal weight, overweight or obese patients aged 18 to 40 years, with anovulation and infertility >1 year and insulin resistance diagnosed by HOMA-Index. Patients were administered orally with 2 g myo-inositol, 50 mg alpha-lactalbumin, and 200 µg of folic acid twice a day for 6 months. Controls were the same patients at t0 (baseline). The primary outcome was HOMA-index decrease after 3 and 6 months of treatment. Other parameters monitored were BMI, progesterone, LH, FSH, total testosterone, androstenedione, lipids.

Results: Recovery was general. The most important results were obtained with insulin, HOMA-index, LH, and androstenedione. The body weight was significantly reduced, the improvement of hyperandrogenism was prominent, the ovulation rate and the duration of the menstrual cycle were also improved.

Conclusions: The combination of myo-inositol and alpha-lactalbumin improve important parameters in PCOS patients characterized by different metabolic profiles. The benefits of combining myo-inositol and α-lactalbumin clearly make this combination a real advantage in the treatment of PCOS.

Keywords: polycystic ovary syndrome; myo-inositol; α-lactalbumin.