---
title: Does eating more B vitamins help prevent PMS? | Niyora
description: Women eating more riboflavin and thiamine from food had lower PMS risk, but B vitamin pills did not help.
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/dietary-b-vitamin-intake-and-incident-premenstrual-syndrome-2011/
---

- [Niyora](https://niyora.com/)
- [Research](https://niyora.com/research/)
- [Library](https://niyora.com/research/library/)
- Does eating more B vitamins help prevent PMS?

Case-control study, 2011

# Does eating more B vitamins help prevent PMS?

Women eating more riboflavin and thiamine from food had lower PMS risk, but B vitamin pills did not help.

 Moderate study design

1057 women who developed PMS and 1968 women who did not, from the Nurses' Health Study II.

## What they did

Researchers followed nurses for 10 years starting in 1991. They compared women who developed PMS with women who didn't, and reviewed what B vitamins they ate in 1991, 1995, and 1999 using food questionnaires.

## What they found

Women eating the most riboflavin from food had a 35% lower risk of PMS compared to those eating the least. Women eating the most thiamine from food also had lower risk. Niacin, vitamin B-6, folate, and vitamin B-12 from food made no difference. B vitamin supplements did not reduce PMS risk.

## What it means for you

Eating foods with riboflavin and thiamine might help prevent PMS, but supplements did not. The study was large and covered 10 years. The main limit is that this was an observation study, so we cannot say B vitamins prevent PMS, only that eating more was linked to lower risk.

1057

women who developed PMS

35% lower

PMS risk with high riboflavin intake

10 years

length of follow-up

## About the study

Original title Dietary B vitamin intake and incident premenstrual syndrome Authors Chocano-Bedoya PO, Manson JE, Hankinson SE et al. Journal The American journal of clinical nutrition Year 2011 Study design Case-control study Participants 1,057 What was tested Varied B vitamin intake from food and supplements. Open access Yes Read the paper [doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.110.009530](https://doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.110.009530)

## Topics

[Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)[Diet and nutrition](https://niyora.com/research/topics/treatment-diet/)[Vitamin B6](https://niyora.com/research/topics/treatment-vitamin-b6/)

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

Systematic review, 2025

Do nutritional interventions help with emotional symptoms of PMS?

Systematic review, 2007

What treatments work for premenstrual syndrome?

Study, 2002

Which PMS treatments have good scientific evidence?

Randomised trial, 2000

Which dietary supplements help PMS?

Review, 2026

Can diet and nutrition help reduce PMS symptoms?

Review, 2025

Do yoga and dietary changes help with PMS symptoms?

Ask AI about this page

Copy prompt

ChatGPT

↗

Claude

↗

Perplexity

↗

Google AI Mode

↗

Grok

↗