---
title: Does depression, stress, or unhappy relationships cause food cravings during the menstrual cycle?
description: Depression is very strongly linked to food cravings in all cycle phases. Stress and relationship unhappiness have little or no effect once depression is accou
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/food-craving-during-the-menstrual-cycle-and-its-relationship-to-stress-happiness-1995/
---

- [Niyora](https://niyora.com/)
- [Research](https://niyora.com/research/)
- [Library](https://niyora.com/research/library/)
- Does depression, stress, or unhappy relationships cause food cravings during the menstrual cycle?

Survey study, 1995

# Does depression, stress, or unhappy relationships cause food cravings during the menstrual cycle?

Depression is very strongly linked to food cravings in all cycle phases. Stress and relationship unhappiness have little or no effect once depression is accounted for. Food cravings without depression still show a cycle pattern, peaking premenstrually.

 Moderate study design

5,546 women

## What they did

Cross-sectional study of 5,546 women examining retrospective ratings of food craving and depression during the premenstrual, menstrual, and postmenstrual phases, and their relationship to stress levels and relationship happiness.

## What they found

The severity of food craving was very strongly related to the severity of depression in each cycle phase examined. Overall food craving was inversely related to happiness of relationship. However, once depression was accounted for, neither stress nor relationship happiness had any effect on the cycle-related pattern of food craving. The effect of these psychosocial variables was very small compared with that of depression. Food cravings occurred even without depression, showing a cycle-related pattern maximal premenstrually, declining during menstruation and further postmenstrually.

## What it means for you

Depression is the main driver of food cravings across the menstrual cycle. There is a biological cycle-related pattern to cravings independent of depression, but it's unclear whether this pattern is biological or psychological. The study used retrospective ratings from memory, which is a limitation, so findings are preliminary.

5,546

women studied

## About the study

Original title Food craving during the menstrual cycle and its relationship to stress, happiness of relationship and depression; a preliminary enquiry Authors Dye L, Warner P, Bancroft J Journal Journal of affective disorders Year 1995 Study design Survey study Participants 5,546 What was tested None Read the paper [doi.org/10.1016/0165-0327(95)00013-d](https://doi.org/10.1016/0165-0327(95)00013-d)

## Topics

[Menstrual cycle and mood](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-cycle-mood/)[Low mood and depression](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-depression-mood/)[Appetite and food cravings](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-food-cravings/)[Stress](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-stress/)[Relationships and partners](https://niyora.com/research/topics/life-area-relationships/)

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, 2021

Are low antioxidant vitamins or high oxidative stress linked to premenstrual syndrome?

Study, 2026

What are premenstrual syndrome and premenstrual dysphoric disorder?

Survey study, 2024

Are menstrual cycle symptoms related to sleep problems and mental health in female athletes?

Survey study, 2023

Does stress cause women with PMDD to eat emotionally?

Case-control study, 1997

Do women with PMS perceive and handle stress differently at different times of their cycle?

Case-control study, 1994

Do women with PMS respond to stress differently than other women?

Ask AI about this page

Copy prompt

ChatGPT

↗

Claude

↗

Perplexity

↗

Google AI Mode

↗

Grok

↗