If you're a pre-menopausal woman, what you eat can affect not only your menstrual period, but also your fertility. Eating a healthy diet while you're young can also directly impact your health during your post-menopausal years. Consuming too few or too many calories can impact your overall body weight, which can affect your overall weight and menstrual cycle. Certain foods can also have an effect on your periods.
Menstruation
During your menstrual period, your body releases certain hormones to aid in the fertility process. Ovulation occurs when your ovaries release an egg for fertilization. This causes your uterine lining to thicken. If fertilization does not occur, then your uterus sheds this lining and dispels it through your vagina. What defines a normal period is highly subjective. What is normal for you is not necessarily normal for someone else. A typical menstrual period lasts three to five days, but can be longer or shorter. Consult with your physician if you notice any abnormalities, such as heavy bleeding, bleeding between periods or the cessation of your periods.
Caffeine
Consuming beverages that contain caffeine, such as colas or coffee, can increase your pre-menstrual syndrome, or PMS symptoms. PMS symptoms can include headache, bloating, cramping, joint pain, depression or mood swings. In her book, "Nutrition Through the Life Cycle," Judith E. Brown writes that women who consume coffee experience more severe PMS symptoms compared to women who do not drink coffee. Brown is a registered dietitian and a professor emerita of the Division of Epidemiology and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Minnesota.
Nutrients
Consuming foods with certain nutrients can reduce the severity of PMS symptoms. Eat beans, vegetables, fruit and other foods that can supply you with calcium, vitamin D, vitamin E and magnesium. Avoid refined grains, sugar and fatty foods and eat more lean meat, fish.
Fat
Body weight and fat composition affects your menstrual cycle. In her book, "Fertility Demystified," Dr. Susan Warhus writes that your body fat composition must be at least 22 percent for the normal ovulation process to occur. Female athletes who consume very low-fat diets can experience amenorrhea, the complete absence of menstrual periods. Conversely, being just 10 percent over your normal body weight can affect estrogen production and the ovulation process sometimes does not occur in obese women, according to Dr. Warhus. She advises eating a well-balanced diet of 2,200 calories per day if you are trying to become pregnant. Dr. Warhus is board-certified in obstetrics and gynecology and practices in Arizona.
Soy Isoflavones
In the July/August 2009 issue of "Human Reproduction Update," Lee Hooper and other researchers from the University of East Anglia School of Medicine in Norwich, England, published a review of past research studies analyzing soy and its affect on fertility. The researchers found that women who consumed isoflavone-rich soy products added one day to the time between their periods and had lower levels of certain hormones that influence fertility. Isoflavones are an organic compound found in plants. Researchers still must determine what actual effect, if any, the hormonal differences have on fertility.
References
- National Institutes of Health: Osteoporosis - Peak Bone Mass in Women
- Department of Health and Human Services Office on Women's Health: Menstruation and the Menstrual Cycle Fact Sheet
- Department of Health and Human Services Office of Women's Health: Premenstrual Syndrome Fact Sheet
- "Nutrition Through the Life Cycle"; Judith E. Brown, R.D., M.P.H., Ph.D, et al.; 2011
- University of Maryland Medical Center: Menstrual Pain
- "Fertility Demystified"; Susan Warhus, M.D.; 2007
- "Human Reproduction Update"; Effects of Soy Protein and Isoflavones on Circulating Hormone Concentrations in Pre- and Post-Menopausal Women: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis; Lee Hooper, Ph.D., et al.; July/August 2009
