Relationship between dietary patterns and menstrual cycle among Hungarian women
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Studies conducted on foreign samples confirm a correlation between dietary habits and menstrual cycle-related issues. The two most commonly studied areas are dysmenorrhea, which refers to menstrual cramps, and premenstrual syndrome, abbreviated as PMS. The topic is highly relevant because menstruation affects every woman of reproductive age, with dysmenorrhea and PMS affecting 50–90% of the population depending on demographics. The examination of the relationship between food and the menstrual cycle is considered a relatively new research area, and surveys have so far been conducted only on foreign samples. Therefore, we aim to enrich the scientific discourse by conducting a study using a Hungarian sample. Our goal is to move closer to addressing menstrual difficulties at the lifestyle level and to draw attention to therelevance of the topic in our country as well.
METHODOLOGY: The study extracted its results through questionnaire-based data collection, followed by statistical analysis using chi-square, Pearson, and Spearman correlation. The sample size of the study was n =508. The age of the participants ranged from 16 to 61 years, with a mean age of 24,4 years. In the sample, the prevalence of dysmenorrhea was 88.6%, while that of PMS was 90.4%.
RESULTS: Dysmenorrhea negatively correlates with regular exercise, vegetable and fluid intake, as well as more frequent consumption of nuts. Menstrual cramps, along with PMS, can be positively associated with alcoholconsumption, meaning that in the sample, those who consumed alcohol more frequently had a higher occurrenceof cramps and PMS. The length of menstrual bleeding negatively correlates with olive oil and fluid intake, so frequent or larger intake of these substances can reduce the duration of menstruation. Conversely, the length of bleeding shows a positive correlation with frequent consumption of pasta and rice, suggesting that excessiveintake of these foods appears to have the opposite effect. In our sample, participants also evaluated the similarityof their dietary habits to those of their female relatives. The results show that the more similar participant’s eating habits are to those of their female relatives, the higher the proportion of cramps they experience, and the stronger they are. Additionally, among participants who diverge more from the habits of their ancestors, theprevalence of dysmenorrhea was lower.
CONCLUSIONS: Dietary habits may have a close relationship with the development of menstrual difficulties. Based on the significant results extracted from the responses, healthier patterns are typically associated with more favourable cycle characteristics.
References
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