---
title: Is there a link between diet and premenstrual syndrome? | Niyora
description: Yes. Women with PMS ate less dairy products. Eating more milk and dairy was linked to less pain and fewer overall symptoms.
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/the-relationship-between-premenstrual-syndrome-and-food-patterns-in-university-2014/
---

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- Is there a link between diet and premenstrual syndrome?

Survey study, 2014

# Is there a link between diet and premenstrual syndrome?

Yes. Women with PMS ate less dairy products. Eating more milk and dairy was linked to less pain and fewer overall symptoms.

 Early or limited evidence

86 university student girls in Iran

## What they did

Cross-sectional study of 86 university students in Iran. Researchers diagnosed PMS using standard criteria, had students rate their symptoms daily, and recorded their food intake using an Iranian food pyramid.

## What they found

Pain scores were lower with more milk (P=0.038, r=-0.224) and more total dairy (P=0.019, r=-0.253). Overall symptom scores were also lower with more dairy (P=0.024, r=-0.243). All differences between healthy students and those with PMS were statistically significant (P<0.001).

## What it means for you

Eating more dairy products might help reduce PMS pain and symptoms. The main limits are that the study was small, only done in one country, and cannot prove dairy causes improvement. Women who eat more dairy might differ in other ways too.

86

university students studied

0.038

P-value for milk and pain (significant)

-0.253

correlation between dairy and pain

## About the study

Original title The Relationship Between Premenstrual Syndrome and Food Patterns in University Student Girls Authors Forough Darabi, Niloufar Rasaie, Sima Jafarirad Journal Jentashapir Journal of Health Research Year 2014 Study design Survey study What was tested None - observational study of food patterns Open access Yes Read the paper [doi.org/10.5812/jjhr.26656](https://doi.org/10.5812/jjhr.26656)

## Topics

[Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)[Pain and headache](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-pain/)[Relationships and partners](https://niyora.com/research/topics/life-area-relationships/)[Students and academic performance](https://niyora.com/research/topics/life-area-education/)[Adolescents and young people](https://niyora.com/research/topics/life-area-adolescents/)

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.

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