Survey study, 2014
Is there a link between diet and premenstrual syndrome?
Yes. Women with PMS ate less dairy products. Eating more milk and dairy was linked to less pain and fewer overall symptoms.
What they did
Cross-sectional study of 86 university students in Iran. Researchers diagnosed PMS using standard criteria, had students rate their symptoms daily, and recorded their food intake using an Iranian food pyramid.
What they found
Pain scores were lower with more milk (P=0.038, r=-0.224) and more total dairy (P=0.019, r=-0.253). Overall symptom scores were also lower with more dairy (P=0.024, r=-0.243). All differences between healthy students and those with PMS were statistically significant (P<0.001).
What it means for you
Eating more dairy products might help reduce PMS pain and symptoms. The main limits are that the study was small, only done in one country, and cannot prove dairy causes improvement. Women who eat more dairy might differ in other ways too.
86
university students studied
0.038
P-value for milk and pain (significant)
-0.253
correlation between dairy and pain
About the study
- Original title
- The Relationship Between Premenstrual Syndrome and Food Patterns in University Student Girls
- Authors
- Forough Darabi, Niloufar Rasaie, Sima Jafarirad
- Journal
- Jentashapir Journal of Health Research
- Year
- 2014
- Study design
- Survey study
- What was tested
- None - observational study of food patterns
- Open access
- Yes
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.5812/jjhr.26656
Topics
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