--- title: Does eating starch every 3 hours help severe PMS symptoms? | Niyora description: Yes. 54% of women improved significantly and 19% had complete symptom relief with diet alone, suggesting frequent small meals with starch may help PMS. url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/diet-of-women-with-severe-premenstrual-syndrome-and-the-effect-of-changing-to-a-1992/ --- - [Niyora](https://niyora.com/) - [Research](https://niyora.com/research/) - [Library](https://niyora.com/research/library/) - Does eating starch every 3 hours help severe PMS symptoms? Survey study, 1992 # Does eating starch every 3 hours help severe PMS symptoms? Yes. 54% of women improved significantly and 19% had complete symptom relief with diet alone, suggesting frequent small meals with starch may help PMS. Early or limited evidence 84 women with severe premenstrual syndrome ## What they did Cross-sectional study of 84 women with severe PMS. Women kept food diaries for 7 days, then were advised to eat starch foods every 3 hours instead of their usual eating pattern. ## What they found Before the diet, women ate starch foods an average of 7 hours apart during the day and 13 hours overnight. After switching to 3-hourly starch meals, 54% improved, 20% improved further, and 19% needed no medication for complete relief. ## What it means for you Eating starch regularly might help PMS by keeping blood sugar stable. However, this was a small observational study without a control group, so improvement could come from other factors like attention or placebo effect. 84 Women studied 54% Improved with diet 19% Completely relieved with diet alone ## About the study Original title Diet of women with severe premenstrual syndrome and the effect of changing to a three‐hourly starch diet Authors Katharina Dalton, Wendy M. Holton Journal Stress Medicine Year 1992 Study design Survey study Participants 84 What was tested Three-hourly starch-based diet Read the paper [doi.org/10.1002/smi.2460080109](https://doi.org/10.1002/smi.2460080109) ## Topics [Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)[Diet and nutrition](https://niyora.com/research/topics/treatment-diet/) Research tells you what helps on average. Niyora helps on the day it hits. Calm down, see it another way, and decide what to say, with a PMS and PMDD app built by a doctor. ## Related studies Cohort study, 2026 Do sleep, exercise, and diet quality affect period pain, heavy bleeding, and PMS in midlife? Systematic review, 2025 Do nutritional interventions help with emotional symptoms of PMS? Systematic review, 2025 How common are PMS, PMDD, and painful periods in nursing students, and do they affect their schooling? Systematic review, 2022 Do herbal medicines and nutritional supplements help premenstrual syndrome symptoms? Randomised trial, 2022 Does curcumin with piperine reduce PMS symptoms by lowering inflammation? Randomised trial, 2022 Do herbal medicines and nutritional supplements help relieve PMS symptoms? Ask AI about this page Copy prompt ChatGPT ↗ Claude ↗ Perplexity ↗ Google AI Mode ↗ Grok ↗