--- title: What factors predict emotional eating in women with and without PMS? description: Emotional overeating is the strongest predictor of emotional appetite. Body weight, PMS appetite changes, and eating behaviors together explain 51.3% of emoti url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/a-relationship-study-of-factors-associated-with-emotional-eating-in-women-in-2026/ --- - [Niyora](https://niyora.com/) - [Research](https://niyora.com/research/) - [Library](https://niyora.com/research/library/) - What factors predict emotional eating in women with and without PMS? Survey study, 2026 # What factors predict emotional eating in women with and without PMS? Emotional overeating is the strongest predictor of emotional appetite. Body weight, PMS appetite changes, and eating behaviors together explain 51.3% of emotional eating, suggesting it involves biological, psychological, and behavioral factors. Moderate study design 450 women in Türkiye aged 18-49 years, 88.4% with regular menstrual cycles ## What they did 450 women in Türkiye aged 18-49 completed online surveys in April and May 2025. They answered questions about PMS symptoms, how much they eat when stressed, their eating habits, and quality of life. Researchers used statistics to find which factors best predicted emotional eating. ## What they found Emotional overeating was the strongest predictor of emotional appetite. There was a positive correlation between emotional appetite and body mass index (r = 0.386), PMS appetite changes (r = 0.277), and emotional undereating (r = 0.439). There was a strong negative correlation with emotional overeating (r = -0.641). The final model explained 51.3% of the variance in emotional appetite. Depressive mood and fatigue had the highest mean scores among PMS symptoms. ## What it means for you For women, changes in appetite and mood linked to PMS are connected to emotional eating. This suggests that addressing PMS symptoms and emotional eating together might help. The study cannot prove cause and effect. It only included women in Türkiye. 450 women studied 51.3% variance explained 0.386 BMI correlation ## About the study Original title A relationship study of factors associated with emotional eating in women in Türkiye: body mass index, premenstrual syndrome, eating behavior, and quality of life Authors Özcanarslan N, Özpak Akkuş Ö Journal BMC women's health Year 2026 Study design Survey study Participants 450 What was tested None Open access Yes Read the paper [doi.org/10.1186/s12905-026-04270-z](https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-026-04270-z) ## Topics [Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)[Appetite and food cravings](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-food-cravings/)[Relationships and partners](https://niyora.com/research/topics/life-area-relationships/)[Quality of life and daily functioning](https://niyora.com/research/topics/life-area-quality-of-life/) Research tells you what helps on average. Niyora helps on the day it hits. Calm down, see it another way, and decide what to say, with a PMS and PMDD app built by a doctor. ## Related studies Study, 2026 What are premenstrual syndrome and premenstrual dysphoric disorder? Cohort study, 2026 Are eating behaviors linked to how severe a woman's PMS symptoms are? Cohort study, 2024 Do women with severe premenstrual disorders have higher risk of relationship breakup? Randomised trial, 2023 Does taking sertraline when PMDD symptoms start improve how well women function? Cohort study, 2021 Are low antioxidant vitamins or high oxidative stress linked to premenstrual syndrome? Systematic review, 2021 Are women with PMS or PMDD more likely to think about or attempt suicide? Ask AI about this page Copy prompt ChatGPT ↗ Claude ↗ Perplexity ↗ Google AI Mode ↗ Grok ↗