Our reductive health care system, a reflection of our society’s penchant for focusing on the trees, not the forest, has fostered the impression that women’s menses are entirely separate from the rest of their body. Women know this is not true, but few of them apply this knowledge in their daily lives, especially when it comes to nutrition.
It is simple: the worst you eat, the worst your periods. And the more difficult your menopausal changes will be, which may point to cognitive and cardiac problems as a woman grows older.
References
Diet plays role in menstrual pain intensity
Healio Minute, October 13, 2022. Sannoh S. Abstract P-68. Presented at: North American Menopause Society Annual Meeting; Oct. 12-15, 2022; Atlanta.
Diets high in foods that cause inflammation, such as meat, sugar and coffee, increased the severity of menstrual pain for adolescents and young adults, according to study findings presented at the NAMS Annual Meeting. According to a press release, 90% of adolescents experience menstrual pain, and many use over-the-counter medication to manage it with limited effectiveness. “I first started researching the effects of diet on menstrual pain to help remedy the pain I was experiencing,” Serah Sannoh, BS, a recent public health graduate from Rutgers University-New Brunswick in New Jersey, told Healio. “I was curious to see if any lifestyle factors, such as diet, could be a contributor to menstrual pain. This search started as something personal, but I wanted to learn more about the science and existing literature supporting that diet influences menstrual pain.” Sannoh reviewed multiple databases for studies with keywords such as “diet,” “dysmenorrhea,” “foods,” “menstrual pain” and “period pain,” as well as terms such as “adolescent,” “college” and “university” to identify research investigating the link between diet and menstrual pain among girls and young women.
Analyses revealed that diets high in meat, oil, sugar, salt and coffee were associated with a greater risk for dysmenorrhea. Additionally, omega-6 fatty acids increased inflammation and omega-3 fatty acids reduced it, studies showed. “This is important because menstrual cramps are triggered by prostaglandins, which are chemical messengers active in inflammatory responses,” Sannoh said. “Diets high in omega-6 fatty acids and the inflammatory foods mentioned increase the presence of pro-inflammatory prostaglandins in your body. This increased presence of prostaglandins leads to more uterine contractions.” Sannoh said people experiencing menstrual pain should avoid foods such as red meat and french fries and adopt a more plant-based diet, such as a vegan diet, to ameliorate the pain. Sannoh also emphasized the importance of looking more closely at the link between diet and dysmenorrhea. “I would like to see more studies on the effects of diet on menstrual pain to evaluate when in the menstrual cycle women should adopt this change for it to be most beneficial,” Sannoh said. “In addition, research on these diet changes in relation to one’s hormonal levels, the long-term benefits of this diet change and whether this diet change could potentially be recommended as a treatment option are research topics I would like to learn more about and possibly conduct in the future.”
Hot flashes, night sweats may be early indicator for cognitive illness
MedPage Today (10/16, D’Ambrosio) reports, “Hot flashes and night sweats, particularly those that happen during sleep, may be an… early marker for cognitive illness, a study found.” According to the findings presented at the North American Menopause Society Annual Meeting and published in Neurology, “Frequent vasomotor symptoms that occurred during sleep were associated with increased white matter hyperintensity volumes…brain lesions that have been linked with cognitive impairment, reported” one researcher.
Irregular menses may signal heart disease, diabetes risk
Healio Minute, December 16, 2021. Women with irregular menstrual cycles are more likely to develop CVD and type 2 diabetes than those with regular menstrual cycles. Data were derived from Kiconco S, et al. Clin Endocrinol. 2021;doi:10.1111/cen.14640.
Women with irregular menses are 20% more likely to develop cardiovascular disease and 17% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes over 20 years compared with women with regular menstrual cycles, according to an Australian database analysis.
Links between menstrual disorders and metabolic conditions are often underappreciated and not considered when assessing cardiometabolic risk in women, Sylvia Kiconco, MSc, a doctoral student at Monash University School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine in Victoria, Australia, and colleagues wrote.
“This limits screening and prevention strategies including lifestyle modification and becomes even more pertinent as women transition through menopause, which is associated with increased visceral adiposity and adverse cardiometabolic changes,” the researchers wrote. “Moreover, premature and early menopause are associated with chronic conditions including diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, arthritis, osteoporosis, breast cancer, depression and anxiety.”
