--- title: Do women with PMS eat differently during their menstrual cycle? description: During the second half of their cycle, all women ate more calories from sweet foods, but women with PMS did not eat more food overall. Birth control pills cha url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/influence-of-premenstrual-syndrome-and-oral-contraceptive-effects-on-food-choice-2009/ --- - [Niyora](https://niyora.com/) - [Research](https://niyora.com/research/) - [Library](https://niyora.com/research/library/) - Do women with PMS eat differently during their menstrual cycle? Study, 2009 # Do women with PMS eat differently during their menstrual cycle? During the second half of their cycle, all women ate more calories from sweet foods, but women with PMS did not eat more food overall. Birth control pills changed these eating patterns. Early or limited evidence 55 women, some with PMS and some without ## What they did Researchers studied 55 women during different parts of their cycle. Some had PMS and some did not. Some were taking birth control pills and some were not. They measured how much sweet and savory food women ate. ## What they found During the second half of the cycle, all women ate more calories from sweet foods. Women with PMS did not eat significantly more calories overall. Women taking birth control pills had a different pattern, eating more sweet foods in the first half of their cycle instead. ## What it means for you Sweet cravings before the period happen in most women, not specifically because of PMS. Birth control pills change when these cravings occur. The study included 55 women but did not specify which country they were from or other details. 55 women studied 2 parts of cycle measured ## About the study Original title [Influence of premenstrual syndrome and oral contraceptive effects on food choice during the follicular and luteal phase of the menstrual cycle] Authors Tucci SA, Murphy LE, Boyland EJ et al. Journal Endocrinologia y nutricion : organo de la Sociedad Espanola de Endocrinologia y Nutricion Year 2009 Study design Study Read the paper [doi.org/10.1016/s1575-0922(09)70981-7](https://doi.org/10.1016/s1575-0922(09)70981-7) ## Topics [Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)[Appetite and food cravings](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-food-cravings/)[Oral contraceptives and drospirenone](https://niyora.com/research/topics/treatment-hormonal-contraceptives/)[Diet and nutrition](https://niyora.com/research/topics/treatment-diet/) 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 Survey study, 2012 Do women with PMS eat more food before their period? Case-control study, 2014 How common is severe period pain and what causes it? Randomised trial, 2011 Does a birth control pill reduce negative emotions, food cravings, and water retention in women with PMDD? Randomised trial, 2010 What treatments work for premenstrual syndrome? Systematic review, 2007 What treatments work for premenstrual syndrome? Study, 2002 Which PMS treatments have good scientific evidence? Ask AI about this page Copy prompt ChatGPT ↗ Claude ↗ Perplexity ↗ Google AI Mode ↗ Grok ↗