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Randomised trial, 2020

Does zinc supplementation improve quality of life and sleep in young women with PMS?

Zinc improved the physical aspects of quality of life significantly but overall quality of life improvement wasn't significantly better than placebo. Sleep quality showed a small improvement in the zinc group but it wasn't statistically significant.

Moderate study design 60 university women diagnosed with premenstrual syndrome.

What they did

A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial with 60 university women. Half took 30 mg of zinc daily and half took placebo for three months. Researchers measured quality of life and sleep quality before and after using standard questionnaires.

What they found

The zinc group's quality of life score increased by 9.185 ± 7.29 (p<0.001). Physical aspects of quality of life improved much more with zinc (+5.55 ± 3.71) than placebo (+0.13 ± 2.87, p<0.001). Sleep quality improved slightly in the zinc group but not significantly (p=0.07).

What it means for you

Zinc may help the physical aspects of quality of life in young women with PMS, but doesn't clearly help overall quality of life or sleep. The study was small and limited to university women, so results may not apply to all women with PMS.

30 mg/day

zinc dose

60

women studied

3 months

treatment duration

About the study

Original title
Effect of zinc supplementation on quality of life and sleep quality in young women with premenstrual syndrome: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial
Authors
Jafari F, Tarrahi MJ, Farhang A et al.
Journal
Archives of gynecology and obstetrics
Year
2020
Study design
Randomised trial
Participants
60
What was tested
30 mg daily elemental zinc for 12 weeks.

Topics