WEDNESDAY, March 6 (HealthDay News) -- Intake of specific minerals seem to be associated with the risk of premenstrual syndrome (PMS), with high intake of nonheme iron linked to reduced risk of PMS, according to research published online Feb. 26 in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
To examine the association between iron, potassium, zinc, and other mineral intake with the development of PMS, Patricia O. Chocano-Bedoya, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, and colleagues conducted a case-control study nested within the Nurses' Health Study II involving 1,057 women with PMS and 1,968 controls.
The researchers found that women in the highest versus the lowest quintile of nonheme iron intake had a significantly reduced risk of PMS (relative risk, 0.64). For women in the highest versus the lowest intake of potassium, the relative risk of PMS was 1.46 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.99 to 2.15). There was a marginal correlation between high intake of zinc from supplements and PMS (intake of ≥25 mg/day versus none, relative risk, 0.69; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.46 to 1.02).
"The present study suggests that high intakes of nonheme iron and perhaps zinc may be associated with a lower risk of PMS, whereas a high potassium intake may be associated with a higher risk," the authors write. "As this is among the first studies to evaluate mineral intake and the development of PMS, additional studies are warranted to confirm these findings and to determine whether mineral supplementation may hold promise for the prevention of PMS."
The study was partially funded by GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare.
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