Low-Fat Diet Reduces Cramps and PMS - Brief Article

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), Oct, 2000

Women following a low-fat, vegetarian diet can expect significant reductions in menstrual pain and PMS symptoms, according to a study conducted by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine in conjunction with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Georgetown University Medical Center, both located in Washington, D.C. "Approximately 10% of all women suffer such severe pain during their menstrual cycles that they are forced to miss work and other activities," Neal D. Barnard, PCRM president and a nutrition researcher, points out.

Among the main causes of their pain are chemicals called prostaglandins, made from traces of fat stored in cell membranes. Barnard and his colleagues hypothesized that, if women reduced their fat consumption, they would decrease their estrogen levels as well, which would, in turn, reduce cell growth and prostaglandin production. "Our goal was to smooth out the hormonal roller coaster many of them experience each month," says Barnard, who had noticed that former patients overcome terrible menstrual pain after changing to a low-fat diet.

"We also hypothesized that high-fiber diets, especially vegetarian diets, would increase a protein in the blood called sex-hormone binding globulin, which binds and inactivates estrogen in the bloodstream until it is needed. In essence, it calms down the hormone swings." The hypothesis proved correct. Besides a decrease in the intensity of menstrual pain, participants in the study experienced an average of one and a half fewer days of pain each month. "For some women, the change was profound. Their pain was gone or dramatically reduced, something they had not experienced for years. If they needed any pain medicine at all, they needed much less than before."

Many of the women experienced a significant relief from PMS symptoms, most notably with water retention and concentration problems. Research participants noticed increased energy levels, lower cholesterol, and weight loss. Some of them were so pleased that, when it became their turn to go off the vegetarian diet for two months (after two months on it), they refused to give it up.

The diet is not likely to work for everyone, cautions Barnard, but it does seem to help most women, and rather quickly, too. "I would encourage women to try it carefully for one month. That's enough time to see its effects."