Statistics place the percentage of women who suffer noticeable symptoms of PMS at 60%. Furthermore, surveys indicate that one out of three women who suffer PMS end up in hospital wards, psychiatric institutions and even in prison.
E. Abraham, MD, a researcher engaging in studies on PMS stated that this female problem is a vastly unrecognized cause of social problems including divorce and juvenile delinquency.
Going by the above statistics, it is apparent that PMS remains a major issue for many women. PMS was first described in medical literature in 1931. Since then, a lot of research has been undertaken to find solutions to help bring relief to women who suffer from this condition.
A new approach to this problem has been to investigate the cause of sugar cravings during PMS. When a woman with PMS indulges in sugary treats, this influences the PMS symptoms some of which include depression, anxiety, and irritability. In most cases, the effects of sugary foods on PMS symptoms are negative, and as a result they tend to worsen. Researchers have therefore set out to establish how to manage the cravings and hopefully reduce the severity of PMS symptoms.
Some doctors have observed a decrease in blood sugar in the second half of the menstrual cycle of women with PMS. This drop in blood sugar seems to be behind the sugar cravings many women suffering from PMS experience. However, since this dip in blood glucose is not diagnosable as hypoglycemia, it often remains unnoticed.
It is only now that medical researchers recognize that lower levels of blood sugar may be behind some of the problems with PMS. The self-help for this sugar dip is to eat several small meals in a day instead of three large ones, according to some doctors. Five or six small, healthy meals a day will keep blood sugar levels even, without a significant drop and leap, which will reduce the possible sugar cravings.
Sugar cravings in women who experience PMS have also been found by some doctors to be a sign of candidiasis. Even though candidiasis has not been proved to be a cause of PMS symptoms, some doctors believe it to be.
Dr. Northrup, who has a lot of experience in treating PMS symptoms, suggests that women who have PMS should cut out dairy and red meat products as well to avoid candidiasis progress. Unfortunately, most dairy and red meat products nowadays come from animals that have been given antibiotics and hormones. These tend to cause havoc in the physiology of women, which makes PMS much worse. The antibiotic remains that may be still present in products made from such animals worsen candidiasis symptoms, while the hormones contribute to further hormonal imbalances in these women.
