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.
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
Topics
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