Menstruation and the Variability of Food Intake in Female College Students

Abstract

This study aimed to elicit the variability of appetite and food intake patterns in female college students during different menstrual phases. The craving for certain foods and physiological and psychological symptoms of menstrual phase (pre-and post-menstrual) were investigated by self-administered questionnaire. Three hundred and sixty six students who were 20.9 years old and had 19.8 kg/m 2 of BMI volunteered to participate in this study. Most of the subjects (89.5%) experienced the premenstrual syndrome (PMS) such as irritation, bodily fatigue, nervosity. Symptoms such as tiredness, stomachache, changes in taste and increased appetite were pointed out to be experienced at the onset of the menstrual cycle. The variability of food intake in premenstrual phase, 11.0% of subjects had decreased food intake where as 68.8% had experienced increased intake. The postmenstrual phase, 20.1% had decreased food intake while 45.2% had experienced increased intake due to changes in the appetite. Before starting menstruation, most of the subjects craved for sweets. The group who had experienced abnormal appetite during menstrual phase was significantly high ratio in overweight and obese students (p < 0.05). We also observed an association between the PMS score and the variability of eating patterns during the menstrual phase. The students who experienced changing appetite and food intake had significantly high PMS score in the premenstrual phase (p < 0.01) and postmenstrual phase (p < 0.05). These results suggested a need for future study related to changes in the actual nutrient intake and activity level during the menstrual phase. (Korean J Community Nutr 18(6) : 577~587, 2013)

Premenstrual Syndrome Is Associated with Dietary and Lifestyle Behaviors among University Students: A Cross-Sectional Study from Sharjah, UAE

“…A qualitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) for specific food groups/items was also used. The FFQ included foods with plausible effects on PMS as reported by Cheng et al (2013) [22], and other published research [26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39]. These included: starchy foods (e.g., bread, rice, pasta, pastries), milk and dairy products, caffeinated beverages (e.g., coffee, tea, energy drinks), leafy green vegetables (e.g., parsley, coriander, spinach, collard, Swiss chard), cruciferous vegetables (e.g., broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts), other non-starchy vegetables (e.g., tomato, cucumber, bell peppers, green beans), fruit (e.g., bananas, apples, citrus fruit, melons, grapes), animal foods (e.g., red meats, poultry, fish, shrimp), herbal teas (e.g., cinnamon, black and green tea, sage, peppermint, thyme, ginger, chamomile) and high calorie/fat/sugar/salt foods that contribute high calories but have little nutritional value, e.g., high fat, sugar, and/or salt foods, fried foods, high-fat dairy products, eggs, refined grains, potatoes, corn and high-fructose corn syrup, and high-sugar drinks).…”

“…The rate of PMS is known to be high among this group, and adversely affects their quality of life and academic performance [11,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29]. The reported prevalence of PMS among female university students varies between different countries; for example, 33.82% in China [30], 37% in Ethiopia [11], 39.9% in Taiwan [22], 39.4%–56.9% in Iran [26,31], 65% in Egypt [18], 72.1%–91.8% in Turkey [6,21], 79% in Japan [23], 80% in Pakistan [25], 89.5% in South Korea [29], and 80.2%–92.3% in Jordan [27,28]. This geographical variability in the prevalence of PMS may be attributable to differences in genetic, dietary, and lifestyle factors among the young adult females examined.…”

Purification and characterization of a levanbiose‐producing levanase from Pseudomonas sp. No. 43

“…We have already screened and characterized strains producing levanoctaose-and levanheptaose-accumulating levanase [16,17]. Recently we isolated another levanase-producing strain, identified as Pseudomonas sp., and reported that the enzyme produced levanbiose only from levan [18]. Here we report the purification process and some properties of the extracellular levanase from Pseudomonas sp.…”

“…The enzyme hydrolysed two levans to produce only one kind of saccharide, and from a determination of its molecular mass by using fast atom bombardment MS and fructo-oligosaccharide standards it was identified as levanbiose. We have previously shown [18] that Pseudomonas sp. No.…”

“…No. 43 [18] screened from soil samples was used as the levanase producer throughout the present study. Levan-producing Z. mobilis ATCC 10988 was a gift from the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology.…”