Drink Up to Help Reduce PMS

Archives of Internal Medicine
(09/2006)

If you are one of the 85 percent of women who experience symptoms of PMS (Premenstrual Syndrome), you may want to grab a glass of lowfat milk. According to research published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, including more calcium and vitamin D in the diet may help women reduce the severity these monthly symptoms.

This prospective study used information gathered from the Nurses' Health Study II which provided health status and eating pattern data from over sixteen thousand nurses ages 24 - 42, over ten years during 1991 to 2001. Researchers screened the participants based on medical diagnosis and self-reported PMS symptoms asking them to report whether they had experienced any of 26 different PMS-related symptoms, when they experienced them and how often. The study selected a group of 1057 women with PMS symptoms and 1968 without symptoms for a comparison of their dietary intake of calcium and vitamin D.

The researchers found that women who had the most calcium and vitamin D from foods in their diet (on average about 1280mg of calcium and 380 IU of vitamin D) experienced fewer PMS symptoms than women who had little calcium or vitamin D. In addition, women who drank at least two servings per day of non-fat or lowfat milk had a significantly lower risk of developing PMS symptoms than those women who had only one serving or less of non-fat or lowfat milk per week. Whole milk was associated with a moderate increase in risk.

PMS causes troubling physical and emotional symptoms between the time of ovulation and the first day of a woman's period. These premenstrual symptoms such as depression, irritability and cramping can interfere with relationships and daily activities and many women are in search of ways to ease these symptoms. Milk is the leading source of both calcium and vitamin D in the American diet - so drink up daily to help ease the monthly pains.

_{Bertone-Johnson ER, et al. Calcium and vitamin D intake and risk of incident premenstrual syndrome. Archives of Internal Medicine.2005; 165:1246-1252.}