It’s not always a bad thing to eat your feelings away: Women with iron-rich diets are 30 to 40 percent less likely to suffer from PMS than those who skimp on the mineral, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
Researchers from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Harvard gave food questionnaires to about 3,000 women over a 10-year period. They found that, even when controlling for other factors like body mass index, age, smoking habits, birth control usage, and calcium intake (which previous research had linked to PMS), women who consumed around the recommended daily allowance of 18 milligrams of iron (or even slightly higher, at 20 mg) experienced the fewest signs of PMS.
Since iron helps you produce serotonin—a neurotransmitter involved in controlling your mood—researchers think a lack of the chemical might be to blame for premenstrual symptoms, says the study’s lead author Patricia Chocano-Bedoya, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard’s School of Public Health. But if you get adequate amounts of iron, this study suggests that you’ll produce enough serotonin to circumvent PMS. Eat that, period!
One caveat: You shouldn’t start bingeing on iron-rich foods at the first sign of a funk. “Iron’s not excreted well in the body,” Chocano-Bedoya says. To avoid overdoing it, she recommends aiming for close to the RDA of 18 mg—but not exceeding it by much.
Send cramps and mood swings packing by hitting your daily quota. These tips will help you get there:
Check your cereal box
Look for the magic word “fortified” or read the back of the box for iron content, and you could knock out more than half of your daily intake before noon. A cup of Multi-Grain Cheerios, for example, contains 45 percent of the RDA for iron, and one ¾-cup serving of Kellogg’s All-Bran Complete Wheat Flakes has all of the iron you need for the day.
Load up on lentils
Each cup of cooked lentils packs 37 percent of your daily iron needs, and the beans are a great way to add bulk and texture to all kinds of foods. Throw some onto salads, soups, meat dishes, or pastas to up your intake.
Switch up your greens
If you always go for iceberg in your salad, give iron-packed spinach a try. Or better yet, sauté some as a side for dinner tonight: According to the Centers for Disease Control, a cup of cooked spinach has 6.4 mg of iron, while a cup of the raw stuff has just 0.81 mg.
More from Women’s Health:
9 Ways to Get Relief from PMS
The PMS Diet
Use Yoga to Pacify PMS
Want a flatter belly, thinner thighs, and toned arms? To transform your body, buy The Spartacus Workout 2-DVD program now!