Survey study, 2012
Does eating more calcium reduce premenstrual symptoms?
Calcium supplements above recommended amounts may help reduce physical PMS symptoms in women with moderate symptoms, but may not help mood symptoms.
What they did
Healthy women aged 19-45 recorded symptoms over 2 menstrual cycles, then took calcium supplements to reach 1200mg per day and recorded symptoms for 2 more cycles.
What they found
Average calcium intake increased from 614mg per day to 1133mg per day. There was no clear link between dietary calcium and mood or physical stress symptoms. After taking supplements, women with moderate to high physical symptoms showed a clear improvement.
What it means for you
Extra calcium may help with physical PMS for some women, but the benefit for mood symptoms is unclear. The main limit is the study had no control group taking a placebo, so we cannot be sure calcium caused the improvement.
614
Average daily calcium at start (mg)
1133
Average daily calcium after supplements (mg)
1200
Target daily calcium intake (mg)
About the study
- Original title
- Effect of calcium intake on premenstrual symptoms
- Authors
- Catherine Ko, Bonny Burns‐Whitmore, Thomas W. Spalding et al.
- Journal
- The FASEB Journal
- Year
- 2012
- Study design
- Survey study
- What was tested
- Calcium supplementation to reach 1200mg per day
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1096/fasebj.26.1_supplement.1021.7
Topics
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