This is Monica Reinagle.

This is Monica Reinagle.

Thanks for tuning in to the Nutrition Devo Podcast this week.

I'm excited to share some new research on diet and PMS with you this week.

Although often the punchline of jokes,

pre-M-S syndrome PMS is a serious business, It affects four out of five women of child-bearing age.

And we're not just talking about a little irritability or the random chocolate craving.

Half of all women have symptoms at some point that are so severe

that they seek medical treatment for them, and one in ten have it so bad that it significantly

interferes with their ability to function.

There are treatments, of course, they range from pain relievers to antidepressants, but some research

that was just published in the Journal of Women's Health opens up an intriguing new pathway for relief.

The researchers found that women who reported PMS symptoms such as moodiness, weight gain,

or bloating, increased appetite, food cravings, cramps, and breast tenderness,

were also significantly more likely to have elevated levels of C-reactive protein or CRP in their blood.

CRP, as you might remember, is a sign of chronic inflammation.

Of all the symptoms that they looked at, only pre-menstral headaches were not associated with elevated

inflammation markers.

And I also found it interesting that the link was just as strong in women who reported only

one or two symptoms as it was in women who reported only one or two symptoms as it was in those who had them all.

This isn't the first study to find a link between PMS and inflammation markers, but it is by far the largest

and also the most diverse population that's been studied

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