pms can it be prevented by a diet change this question came up in sci med nutrition and i m posting my answer here only medical schools in the u s teach courses on human nutrition we have already seen what a lack of nutrition education can do when candida and kidney stones present themselves to the medical community i think that the best example of where u s medicine is really missing the mark when it comes to a knowledge of nutrition is pms so many women and their husbands suffer from this disorder that it is really criminal that most physicians in the u s are not taught that pms is primarily caused by diet and diet changes can prevent it from ever happpening before shooting your flames read the entire article and then decide if flaming is justified from a poster in sci medi nutrition in a psychological anthropology course i am taking we got sidetracked onto a short conversation about pms some rumors shared by several of the students included ideas that vitamin levels sugar intake and caffeine intake might affect pms symptoms is there any data on this or is it just so much hooey many thanks michael i ve wanted to reply to this post ever since i saw it but i got side tracked with candida pms is a lot like candida blooms most physicians don t recognize it as a specific disease entity here is everything that you would ever want to know about pms premenstrual syndrome has been divided into four specific subgroups pmt a anxiety pmt d depression anxiety depression irritability forgetfulness insomnia confusion depression lethargy pmt c craving pmt h hyperhydration craving for sweets weight gain increased appetite breast congestion and tenderness sugar ingestion causes abdominal bloating and tenderness headache edema of the face and extremities palpitations fatigue or fainting pmt a is characterized by elevated blood estrogen levels and low progesterone levels during the luteal phase of a women s cycle pmt c is caused by the ingestion of large amounts of refined simple carbohydrates during the luteal phase of a women s cycle there is increased glucose tolerance with a flat glucose curve after oral glucose challenge the metabolic findings believed to be responsible for pmt c are a low magnesium and a low prostaglandin e this condition of hypoglycemia is not unique to pms but there are a number of different causes of hypoglycemia magnesium and pge seem to be specific to pms hypoglycemia a am j psychiatry unrefined complex carbohydrate should be substituted for sugar magnesium supplementation and alpha linoleic acid supplementation increased to of the total calories using safflower oil or evening primrose oil as sources of alpha linoleic acid pmt d is characterized by elevated progesterone levels during the midluteal phase of a women s cycle another cause of pmt d has been found to be lead toxicity in women without elevated progesterone levels during the midluteal phase effect of metal ions on the binding of estridol to human endometrial cystol fertil steril pmt h is associated with water and salt retention along with an elevated serum aldosterone level salt restriction b magnesium and vitamin e for breast tenderness have all been effective in treating pmt h this general discussion of the pms syndromes came form a management of the premenstrual tension sundromes rational for a nutritional approach a year in nutritional medicine j bland ed keats publishing b nutritional factors in the etiology of premenstrual tension syndromes j reprod med c premenstrual tension prob obstet gynecol treatment has traditionally involved progesterone administration if you can find a doctor who will treat you for pms just about as hard as finding one that will treat you for candida blooms while progesterone will work supplementation with vitamins and minerals works even better there really has been an awful lot of research done on pms much more than candida blooms many of these studies have been what are called experimental controlled studies the type of rigorous clinical studies that doctors like to see done here are a few of these studies carbohydrate experimental controlled study effect of a low fat high carbohydrate diet on symptoms of cyclical mastopathy lancet pts with severe persistent cyclical mastopathy of at least years duration were randomly selected to receive specific training to reduce dietary fat to of total calories and increase complex carbohydrate ingestion or given general dietary advise with no training after months there was a significant reduction in the severity of the breast swelling and tenderness in the trained group as reported by self reported symptoms as well as physical exams which quantitated the degree of breast swelling tenderness and nodularity vitamin a experimental controlled study the use of vitamin a in premenstrual tension acta obstet gynecol scand pts with severe recurring pms received to iu vitamin a daily or a placebo serum retinol levels were monitored and high dose supplementation was discontinued when evidence of toxicity occured serum retinol above ug ml the intent of the study was to load the liver up with vitamin a and get a normal pool size iu to iu and then see if this normal vitamin a pool could prevent pms getting the high dose vitamin a had complete remission of the symptoms of pms only getting the placebo reported getting complete relief of pms sysmptoms of the vitamin a treated group reported no improvement in pms symptoms experimental controlled study premenstrual tension treated with vitamin a j clinical endocrinology pts received iu of vitamin a daily starting on day of their cycle with supplementation continuing until the onset of pms symptoms after months all pts reported a significant improvement in pms symptoms vitamin a supplementation was stopped once evidence of toxicity was demonstrated and all pts were followed for one year after high dose vitamin a supplementation was stopped pms symptoms did not reoccur in any of these pts for upto one year after the vitamin a supplementation was stopped most americans do not have a normal store of vitamin a in their liver these studies and several others were designed to see if getting a normal store of vitamin a into the liver could eliminate pms of all the vitamins given for pms vitamin a b and vitamin e vitamin a has shown the best single effect this is probably because vitamin a is involved in steroid estrogen progesterone metabolism in the liver getting your liver full of vitamin a seems to be one of the best things that you can do to prevent the symptoms of pms but vitamin a is toxic and you don t want to be trying to do this without being seen by a physician who can monitor you for vitamin a toxicity vitamin b experimental double blind crossoverr study pyridoxine vitamin b and the premenstrual syndrome a randomized crossover trial j r coll gen pract women aged with moderate to severe pms randomly received mg b daily or placebo after months the groups were switched and followed for another months b had a significant effect on the emotional aspects of pms depression irritability and tiredness other symptoms of pms were not significanttly affected by b supplementation experimental double blind study the efects of vitamin b supplementation on premenstrual sysmptoms obstet gynecol pts with moderate to severe pms received mg b daily or placebo for months analysis of convergence showed that b significantly improved premenstrual symptoms related to the autonomic nervous system dizziness and vomiting as well as behavior changes poor mental performance decreased social interaction anxiety depression and water retention were not improved by b supplementation vitamin b is below the rda for both american men and women birth control pills and over different drugs increase the b requirement in man women on birth control pills should be supplemented with mg of b per day the dose should be increased if symptoms of pms appear dr david r rubinow who heads the biological psychiatry branch of nimh was quoted in clin psychiatry news december as stating that b should be considered the first line drug for pms over progesterone and if the patient does not respond then other treatments should be tried vitamin b can be toxic nerve damage if consumed in doses of mg or more each day vitamin e experimental double blind study efficacy of alpha tocopherol in the treatment of premenstrual syndrome j reprod med pts received iu vitamin e daily for cycles or a placebo vitamin e treated pts had who reported a significant reduction in physical symptoms weight gain and breast tenderness while the placebo group had who reported a significant reduction in physical symptoms the vitamin e group reported that had a significant reduction in anxiety versus for the placebo group for depression the vitamin e group had with a significant decrease in depression compared with for the placebo group experimental double blind study the effect of alpha tocopherol on premenstrual symptomalogy a double blind study j am coll nutr pts with benign breast disease and pmt randomly received vitamin e at iu iu or iu daily or placebo after months of supplementation iu of vitamin e or higher significantly improved pmt a and pmt c the iu dose was needed to significantly improve pmt d no dose of vitamin e significantly improved pmt h other studies have shown that a higher vitamin e doses will relieve pmt h symptoms magnesium experimental double blind study magnesium prophylaxis of menstrual migraine effects on itracellular magnesium headache pts with perimenstrual headache received mg daily of magnesium as magnesium pyrrolidone carboxylic acid or a placebo treatment was started on the th day of the cycle and continued until menstruation after months the pain total index was significantly lower in the magnesium group magnesium treatment was also assocoiated with a significant reduction in the menstrual distress questionnaire scores pretreatment magnesium levels in lymphocytes and polymorphonuclear leukocytes were significantly lower in this group of pts compared to control women who did not suffer from pms after treatment magnesium levels in these cells was raised into the normal range experimental double blind study oral magnesium successfully relieves premenstrual mood changes obstet gynecol pts aged randomly received either magnesium carboxylic acid mg of mg per day or a placebo from the th day of the cycle to the onset of the menstrual flow after cycles both groups received magnesium the menstrual distress questionnaire score of the cluster pain was significantly reduced during the second cycle month for the magnesium treatment group as well as the placebo group once they were switched to magnesium supplementation in addition the total score on the menstrual distress questionnaire was significantly decreased by magnesium supplementation the authors suggest that magnesium supplemenation should become a routine treatment for the mood changes that occur during pms there are numerous observational studies that have been published in the medical literature which also suggest that pms is primarily a disorder that arises out of a hormone imbalance that is dietary in nature but since observational studies are considered by most physicians in sci med to be anecdotal in nature i have not bothered to cite them there are also over a half dozen good experimental studies that have been done on multivitamin and mineral supplementation to prevent pms i ve chosen the best specific studies on individual vitamins and minerals to try to point out that pms is primarily a nutritional disorder but doctors don t recognize nutritional disorders unless they can see clinical pathology beri beri pellagra scruvy etc pms is probably the best reason why every doctor being trained in the u s should get a good course on human nutrition pms is really only the tip if the iceberg when it comes to nutritional disorders it s time that medicine woke up and smelled the roses here s some studies which show the importance in multivitamin mineral supplementation and or diet change in preventing pms experimental study effect of a nutritional programme on premenstrual syndrome a retrospective analysis complement med res pts were given dietary instructions and supplemented with optivite r plus additional vitamin c vitamin e magnesium zinc and primrose oil the dietary instructions were to take the supplements and switch to a low fat complex carbohydrate diet on a retrospective analysis of the pts reported an improvement in their pms symptoms with of the sample stating that they no longer suffered from pms experimental double blind study role of nutrition in managing premenstrual tension syndromes j reprod med a low fat high complex carbohydrate diet along with optivite supplementation significantly decreased pms scores compared with diet change and placebo after months on the experimental program the vitamin mineral supplementated group had significantly decreased estradiol and increased progesterone in serum during the midlutel phase of their cycle experimental double blind study clinical and biochemical effects of nutritional supplementation on the premenstrual syndrome j reprod med pts randomly given optivite tablets per day or a placebo the treated groups showed a significant decrease in pms symptoms compared to the placebo another group of pts got optivite tablets per day or placebo for this second group of patients no significant effect of supplementation on pms symptoms was observed martin banschbach ph d professor of biochemistry and chairman department of biochemistry and microbiology osu college of osteopathic medicine w th st tulsa ok without discourse there is no remembering without remembering there is no learning without learning there is only ignorance
