Nutritional
Management of PMS

Premenstrual syndrome affects between 20 and 90% of females of reproductive age (depending on the researcher’s criteria for symptoms and severity). About 40% (12 million women in the U.S.) are affected to a degree that markedly disrupts their lives during the premenstrual phase of their cycle: 80% experience irritability & anxiety; 60% carbohydrate craving; 40% bloating & edema; 20% depression. Variable symptoms include- fatigue, headache, insomnia, breast swelling and mastalgia, constipation, acne, violent behavior and cramping.

Risk factors include:

• Age: late 20s-early 30s
• Low exercise
• Poor diet (excesses of meats, sugar, coffee, alcohol, fats, and preservatives)
• High stress (high estrogen years)
• Toxemia of pregnancy
• Irregular menses
• Poor drug tolerance (birth control pills, antibiotics)
• Postpartum depression
• Obesity