Cycle-Based Nutrition: Eating What Your Body Needs in Every Phase
Your metabolism is not the same every day of the month. But there are worlds between honest physiology and Instagram hype. This article shows you what is truly worth it and what only sounds good.
Hardly any topic mixes so much clever physiology with so much marketing as cycle-based nutrition. I find the core idea right: across the month, your body is not a still image but a rhythm. But this rhythm justifies no complicated rulebook and no expensive powders. What counts is a stable, nutrient-rich base, plus a few honest fine-tunings. The rest we may classify calmly.
Maybe you have noticed it yourself. In one half of your cycle you crave light food and have energy for long walks. In the other, the cravings arrive, the chocolate calls, and you feel heavier. This is not imagination and not a lack of discipline. It is biology. Across the cycle, estrogen and progesterone change, and they speak with your metabolism, your appetite and your mood.
This is exactly where cycle-based nutrition comes in. The idea: instead of eating the same every day, you loosely adapt your food to the phase you are in. Sounds good. And there is indeed a lot that is plausible in it. But the internet has turned this sober idea into a promise the evidence does not support. This article sorts both. We look at what is truly understandable physiologically, such as iron around your period, blood sugar and the slightly higher calorie need in the second half of the cycle. And we look honestly at the hype, above all the much-promoted seed cycling.
The cycle is a rhythm, not a still image
Imagine your cycle like four seasons in a single month. The bleed is winter, a time of letting go. The first half of the cycle before ovulation is spring, estrogen rises, energy returns. Ovulation is high summer. And the second half after it, the luteal phase, is autumn, progesterone rises, the body grows quieter and needs a little more.
These images are not esoteric. They reflect real hormonal shifts. Estrogen acts rather stimulating and can dampen appetite. Progesterone acts rather calming and is linked with a slightly higher metabolism and more hunger. That is the solid ground on which any sensible cycle nutrition stands.
Proportion matters. We are not talking about dramatic differences that require four completely separate meal plans. We are talking about fine-tunings on a stable foundation. And now you know why good cycle nutrition begins with calm, not with pressure.
Cycle-based nutrition is not a new diet with four phase plans you must follow perfectly. It is an invitation to listen to your body and to give it something a little different in different phases. The foundation stays the same: eat enough, eat varied, eat nutrient-rich. The phase is the fine-tuning, not the corset.
What happens across the cycle at the cellular level
So that the fine-tunings make sense, it helps to look at four levels through which we view the cycle in clinical psychoneuroimmunology. Each explains a part of why your needs shift across the month.
Metabolism and energy
In the second half of the cycle progesterone rises, and with it often resting energy expenditure, even if only slightly. Measurements point to roughly 40 kilocalories per day more. In parallel, leptin and the active thyroid hormone T3 rise a little. This explains why some women feel hungrier in this phase. It is a real metabolic effect, not a discipline problem.
Blood and iron
With every bleed the body loses iron. Over years this makes menstruating women the group at highest risk of iron deficiency. Iron sits in every red blood cell and in many enzymes that supply energy. When it is missing, this can promote tiredness, hair loss and concentration problems, often before anemia is even measurable.
Brain and serotonin
In the luteal phase the availability of serotonin, the mood-lifting messenger, shifts. Carbohydrates can trigger serotonin formation via the amino acid tryptophan. This explains physiologically why many women crave more carbohydrates before their period. The body seeks a kind of self-regulation of mood.
Insulin and blood sugar
Insulin is itself a hormone and reaches into the sex hormone balance. Unstable blood sugar with constant spikes and crashes burdens the system. Stable blood sugar relieves it. This applies across the whole cycle, but is especially noticeable in the craving-prone second half, when sugar appetite and the rollercoaster easily come together.
These four levels show: the fluctuating need is real, but moderate. The sensible answer is not a rigid four-phase program but an alert sense for a few adjusting screws. And now you know which ones.
The second half of the cycle: a little more need, more hunger, more warmth
The luteal phase, the time after ovulation until the next bleed, is the phase in which many women feel the clearest changes. More hunger, more craving for sweets, sometimes a slightly raised body temperature. Behind this feeling sits measurable physiology.
In the luteal phase resting energy expenditure rises slightly
Comparison study, n=38 Ida Löfberg and colleagues measured resting energy expenditure in 2024 in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise in 38 naturally cycling women across two cycle phases. In the second half of the cycle, expenditure was around 40 kilocalories per day higher than in the first, and after excluding a few outliers around 44 kilocalories. At the same time, leptin, the active thyroid hormone T3 and fat intake were higher in this phase. In women taking the pill, this difference did not appear. This argues that the natural sex hormones help drive this small effect.
Löfberg IE, Karppinen JE, Laatikainen-Raussi V, et al. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2024;56(12):2285-2295. doi:10.1249/MSS.0000000000003518 · PMID: 39086066
The honest order of magnitude matters. 40 kilocalories are roughly a small handful of nuts, not a free pass for a second plate. And the evidence is not entirely uniform.
On energy need there is a tendency, but no certainty
Comparison study, n=18 Miranda Smith and colleagues examined in 2025 in Appetite in 18 healthy women the energy expenditure, appetite and actual food intake in the late first and the mid second half of the cycle, both in the lab and in daily life. Resting energy expenditure tended to be higher in the luteal phase, by about 104 kilocalories, but the difference was not statistically clear. In measured eating behavior they found no clear differences between phases. This calls for modesty: the effect is genuinely discussed, but small and individual.
Smith M, Aghayan M, Little J, et al. Appetite. 2025;216:108314. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2025.108314 · PMID: 41005066
An older controlled study by Sharon Allen and colleagues from the year 2000 in Addictive Behaviors also found, in women in the late luteal phase, a higher calorie intake and a higher energy expenditure, measured under strict laboratory conditions (doi:10.1016/s0306-4603(00)00074-5, PMID: 10972447). And now you know why more hunger before your period is no failure. Your body is simply working a little more.
"In the luteal phase I may eat much more." The measured extra need lies in the range of about 40 to 100 kilocalories per day, that is a small portion. Anyone who reads this as permission for much larger amounts overestimates the effect. It is more sensible to listen to real hunger and to meet it with satiating, nutrient-rich meals, rather than with bans or with feasting.
Iron around your period: the best-supported lever
If there is one point where cycle-based nutrition is truly anchored physiologically, it is iron. With every monthly bleed your body loses blood, and with the blood iron. Over months and years this adds up. That is why menstruating women are the group at the highest risk of iron deficiency worldwide.
Iron deficiency causes complaints, even without anemia
Intervention study, n=35 Cristina Fernandez-Jimenez and colleagues followed women of childbearing age with iron deficiency in 2020 in Women's Health Reports. Many suffered from complaints that do not sound directly like iron deficiency: hair loss in around 56 percent, restless legs, cracked corners of the mouth, changes in the nails and problems with concentration and working memory. Under an eight-week iron therapy, many of these complaints improved markedly. This shows how far an iron deficiency can reach, long before the classic picture of anemia appears.
Fernandez-Jimenez MC, Moreno G, Wright I, et al. Womens Health Rep. 2020;1(1):26-35. doi:10.1089/whr.2019.0011 · PMID: 33786470
A review by Jane Coad and Cathryn Conlon from the year 2011 in Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care summarizes that even a depletion of iron stores without anemia can have negative consequences, especially for mental performance (doi:10.1097/MCO.0b013e32834be6fd, PMID: 21934611). In practice this means: around and after your period it is worth deliberately reaching for iron-rich foods. Legumes, dark leafy greens, pumpkin seeds, oats and, if you like, a little red meat. A vitamin C source at the same meal, such as bell pepper or a squeeze of lemon, may improve the uptake of plant iron. Coffee and black tea directly with the meal tend to hinder it.
Iron is the point where the cycle phase influences nutrition most clearly. But be careful: taking iron on suspicion is not a good idea, because too much iron can harm. Whether you really have a deficiency is shown by a blood test with the storage marker ferritin, not by a gut feeling and not by an online quiz. Supporting iron through food is safe. Iron as a supplement belongs in medical hands.
Blood sugar and carbohydrates: smarter, not less
The cravings of the second half of the cycle have a bad reputation, yet they are partly well explained. In the luteal phase many women seek carbohydrates and sweets. This is more than mere appetite.
Why the body calls for carbohydrates before your period
Review article Susanne Møller summarized in 1992 in Pharmacology and Toxicology the research on serotonin, carbohydrates and mood. The thought: eating carbohydrates raises the ratio of the amino acid tryptophan to other amino acids in the blood and with it the formation of serotonin in the brain. In premenstrual complaints, the stronger reach for carbohydrates could therefore be a kind of self-regulation, an attempt to raise mood-supporting serotonin through food. This explains the craving without turning it into a flaw.
Møller SE. Pharmacol Toxicol. 1992;71 Suppl 1:61-71. doi:10.1111/j.1600-0773.1992.tb01630.x · PMID: 1480561
The answer to this is not to cut carbohydrates, but to choose the right ones. Complex, fiber-rich carbohydrates such as whole grains, oats, legumes or sweet potatoes deliver the mood-supporting effect but keep blood sugar much calmer than sugar and white flour. That way you avoid the rollercoaster of a sugar spike and crash that often intensifies PMS. A review on PMS treatment by Andrea Rapkin from the year 2003 in Psychoneuroendocrinology also names a complex carbohydrate drink among the non-pharmacological approaches with hints of effectiveness (doi:10.1016/s0306-4530(03)00096-9, PMID: 12892989).
Stable blood sugar is not a purely luteal topic. It supports the whole hormone system across the month. This shows especially clearly in polycystic ovary syndrome, where insulin resistance sits at the center.
Low-glycemic nutrition may favorably influence metabolic markers
Umbrella review of meta-analyses Nazanin Moslehi and colleagues evaluated in 2023 in Nutrition Reviews 28 meta-analyses of randomized trials on nutrition in PCOS. Result: lower-carbohydrate or low-glycemic diets could favorably influence some body and metabolic markers, although with low to very low certainty of the evidence. For some supplements such as inositol or probiotics, somewhat more robust evidence was found. The authors stress the honesty: diet alone showed no high-certainty effects, but may be a sensible building block.
Moslehi N, Zeraattalab-Motlagh S, Rahimi Sakak F, et al. Nutr Rev. 2023;81(5):555-577. doi:10.1093/nutrit/nuac075 · PMID: 36099162
And now you know why the question is not "carbohydrates yes or no" but "which ones and combined how". Protein and fiber at every meal are the calmest lever for blood sugar there is.
Seed cycling: a lovely idea, a thin evidence base
Hardly any concept of cycle-based nutrition is as popular as seed cycling. The idea sounds almost too good: in the first half of the cycle you eat flax and pumpkin seeds daily to support estrogen, in the second sesame and sunflower seeds to promote progesterone. An elegant system. Only, unfortunately, the proof that exactly this scheme works is missing.
I do not say this to talk the idea down. I say it because honesty belongs to the matter. To this day there is no controlled study that has tested the full seed cycling protocol. What exists are individual hints about single components, above all about flaxseed.
Flaxseed may lengthen the second half of the cycle
Controlled study, crossover, n=18 William Phipps and colleagues tested in 1993 in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism in 18 normally cycling women the effect of daily flaxseed powder. Across the cycles with flaxseed, the luteal phase was on average somewhat longer than without, and during all flaxseed cycles ovulation occurred, while in the control cycles some ran without ovulation. The ratio of progesterone to estrogen in the second half was also more favorable. This is an interesting hint about the lignans in flaxseed, but a small study, and it tests only flaxseed, not the whole seed cycling scheme.
Phipps WR, Martini MC, Lampe JW, Slavin JL, Kurzer MS. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1993;77(5):1215-1219. doi:10.1210/jcem.77.5.8077314 · PMID: 8077314
"Seed cycling brings my hormones into balance." This statement goes beyond the evidence. There is no proof for the full four-seed scheme, and the hints about flaxseed come from small studies. This does not mean seeds are bad, on the contrary. Flax, pumpkin, sesame and sunflower seeds are rich in fiber, magnesium, zinc and good fats. Eating them daily is a good idea. Selling them as a hormonal control system is not.
My sober conclusion on seed cycling: eat the seeds. They are healthy, cheap and simple. But do not expect from them a hormonal control that no one has yet proven. And now you know why good skepticism and healthy nutrition are no contradiction.
Three levers for honest cycle nutrition
When I boil the topic down to the essentials, three levers remain that are physiologically anchored and that you can put into practice without pressure. They are a beginning, not a rigid plan. The individual path you find with medical or nutritional guidance.
Support iron around your period
In the days of the bleed and shortly after, it is worth deliberately reaching for iron-rich foods, combined with a vitamin C source. Legumes, dark leafy greens, pumpkin seeds, oats. This may help to cushion the cyclical iron losses through food. With persistent exhaustion, the ferritin value belongs checked, rather than taking iron on suspicion.
Keep blood sugar calm, especially in the second half
Protein and fiber at every meal, complex rather than fast carbohydrates, sweets rather with food than on an empty stomach. This may cushion the cravings of the luteal phase and smooth the premenstrual rollercoaster. You do not have to cut carbohydrates. Choose the ones that keep you full and stable longer.
Eat enough and listen to real hunger
The slightly higher need of the second half of the cycle is real. Meet it with satiating, nutrient-rich meals, not with restriction. Too little energy over a long time can even bring the cycle to a standstill. Eating enough is the foundation on which any fine-tuning first makes sense.
I take this third point seriously, because it is often overlooked. When the body receives too little energy over a longer time, for example through strict diets or a lot of sport with too little food, it can power down reproduction. In sports medicine this is described as relative energy deficiency.
Too little energy can shut down the cycle
Review article Alexandra Coelho and colleagues described in 2021 in the Revista Brasileira de Ginecologia e Obstetrícia relative energy deficiency in sport and the female athlete triad. Their core: when energy intake does not suffice for sport and body functions over a longer time, the interplay of energy availability, bone metabolism and cycle falls out of balance. Ovulation can fail, the period becomes irregular or disappears. This is the important flip side of any cycle nutrition: it must never become a pretext for restriction.
Coelho AR, Cardoso G, Brito ME, Gomes IN, Cascais MJ. Rev Bras Ginecol Obstet. 2021;43(5):395-402. doi:10.1055/s-0041-1730289 · PMID: 34077990
For premenstrual complaints, individual micronutrients may also play a role. A systematic review by Anne Marie Whelan and colleagues from the year 2009 in the Canadian Journal of Clinical Pharmacology found the best evidence base for calcium in PMS, with weaker but present hints for vitamin B6 and magnesium (PMID: 19923637). A smaller study by Larissa dos Santos and colleagues from the year 2013 in Nutrición Hospitalaria found low calcium levels in the luteal phase in many young women and links between minerals and premenstrual symptoms (PMID: 24506401). Calcium-rich foods such as yogurt, almonds or green leafy vegetables are therefore a sensible building block. And now you know why honest cycle nutrition has more to do with variety than with bans.
Listen to your rhythm, not to the hype
Your body changes across the month, and it is wise to respond to that. But the effective levers are unspectacular: iron around your period, calm blood sugar, eating enough. This is no expensive phase diet and no magic seed scheme. It is listening with reason. Exactly that gives your body the chance to find its own rhythm.
Frequently asked questions about cycle-based nutrition
What is cycle-based nutrition?
Cycle-based nutrition means loosely adapting your food to the phases of your menstrual cycle instead of eating exactly the same every day. The idea behind it: across the cycle, estrogen and progesterone change, and with them your metabolism, appetite and need for certain nutrients. In the first half of the cycle energy is often higher, around your period the body loses iron, and in the second half the calorie need rises slightly. The honest framing matters: some of this is physiologically well grounded, other parts are more trend than evidence. A stable, nutrient-rich base diet remains the foundation. Cycle adaptation is a fine-tuning, not a rigid rulebook.
Does your calorie need change across the cycle?
Probably yes, but only slightly. A 2024 study in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise found that in naturally cycling women, resting energy expenditure was around 40 to 44 kilocalories per day higher in the second half of the cycle than in the first. A newer 2025 study in Appetite found a similar tendency, but it was not statistically clear. The difference is roughly a small handful of nuts. This means you may feel a bit hungrier in the second half of your cycle, and that is physiologically understandable. It does not mean you need much larger amounts in this phase. Listening to your body is often more sensible here than strict calorie counting.
Why is iron important around your period?
With every monthly bleed the body loses blood and therefore iron. Over the years this makes menstruating women the group at highest risk of iron deficiency. What is striking is that iron deficiency can cause complaints before anemia is even measurable. Research suggests that iron deficiency without anemia can also go hand in hand with fatigue, hair loss, concentration problems and restless legs. That is why it makes sense to focus on iron-rich foods around and after your period, such as legumes, dark leafy greens, pumpkin seeds or, if you like, a little red meat. Vitamin C at the same meal may improve the uptake of plant iron. Whether a real deficiency exists, however, is shown by a blood test with ferritin, not by a nutrition trend.
What is seed cycling and can it really help?
Seed cycling is the idea of eating flax and pumpkin seeds in the first half of the cycle and sesame and sunflower seeds in the second half to support estrogen and progesterone. It sounds elegant, but the honest answer is: there are so far no good studies that have tested exactly this scheme. What exists are individual hints about single components. An older controlled study found that daily flaxseed may lengthen the luteal phase and shift the progesterone-to-estrogen ratio. That is interesting, but it does not prove the seed cycling scheme as a whole. My sober conclusion: seeds are healthy, rich in fiber, magnesium and good fats. Eating them does no harm. But selling them as a hormonal control system goes beyond the evidence.
Can cycle-based nutrition help with PMS?
Partly, and indirectly. For individual nutrients there are hints: calcium has the best evidence base for premenstrual syndrome in a systematic review, while for vitamin B6 and magnesium the evidence is weaker but present. Complex carbohydrates may support premenstrual mood somewhat through the serotonin system. This argues for eating regular, balanced meals with complex carbohydrates, calcium sources and magnesium in the second half of the cycle instead of slipping into cravings and sugar spikes. A special cycle diet is not a therapy for PMS, but a stable diet may support the system. For severely burdensome PMS or PMDD, treatment belongs in medical hands.
Should I eat more carbohydrates in the luteal phase?
Many women feel a stronger urge for carbohydrates and sweets in the second half of the cycle. This is not a character flaw but has a biological trace: carbohydrates can raise the availability of tryptophan in the brain and with it the formation of serotonin, the mood-lifting messenger. The sensible approach is therefore not to forbid carbohydrates, but to choose the quality. Complex, fiber-rich carbohydrates such as whole grains, legumes, oats or sweet potatoes keep blood sugar calmer than sugar and white flour. That way you get the mood-supporting effect without the rollercoaster of a sugar spike and crash. It is not about less, but about smarter.
Why is stable blood sugar important across the whole cycle?
Insulin is itself a hormone and reaches into the sex hormone balance. In polycystic ovary syndrome, insulin resistance is regarded as a central driver. A comprehensive review on nutrition in PCOS found that lower-carbohydrate or low-glycemic diets may favorably influence some metabolic markers. Stable blood sugar therefore relieves not only the metabolism but indirectly also the hormone system. This applies across the whole cycle, not just in one phase. In practice this means: enough protein and fiber at every meal, not snacking constantly, and sugar rather with food than on an empty stomach. That is unspectacular, but more effective than any cycle gadget.
Can eating too little disrupt your cycle?
Yes, and this is often underestimated. When the body receives too little energy over a longer time, for example through strict diets, a lot of sport with too little food or a disturbed relationship with eating, it can power down reproduction. Ovulation fails to happen, the cycle becomes irregular or disappears entirely. In sports medicine this is described as relative energy deficiency or the female athlete triad. It is an important reminder: cycle-based nutrition should never be misused as a pretext for restriction. Eating enough is the foundation on which any fine-tuning is built. If your cycle stops, this belongs in medical evaluation.
Do I have to track my cycle precisely to eat by phase?
No, you do not have to turn it into science. It is entirely enough to roughly know which phase you are in: bleeding, first half before ovulation, or second half after it. Even this rough sense allows sensible adjustments, such as focusing on iron around your period and on stable, satiating meals in the second half. If you like, you can follow your cycle with an app or temperature tracking, but that is optional, not required. More important than perfect timing is to eat enough, varied and nutrient-rich at all. The cycle phase is the fine-tuning on a solid foundation.
Does cycle-based nutrition replace medical treatment?
No. Cycle-based nutrition is a supportive building block, not a therapy. It may support the system, cushion fluctuations and improve well-being. But behind cycle disorders, heavy bleeding, pronounced PMS or absent periods, treatable causes may hide, such as a thyroid disorder, PCOS, iron deficiency or endometriosis. These need to be diagnosed and accompanied medically. Good nutrition and good diagnostics are not opposites, they complement each other. For persistent, new or unusual complaints the rule is: get it evaluated first, then adjust in a targeted way.
All topics in the cluster "Hormone Guide"
This article is a spoke in the cluster. The overview and the connection of all topics you find in the pillar.
- Hormonal Imbalance in Women (overview/pillar)
- Estrogen Dominance: recognizing symptoms and addressing them naturally
- Xenoestrogens: hormone disruptors in everyday life
- Coming off the pill: what happens in your body
- Progesterone deficiency: symptoms and testing
- PMS: symptoms and what could help
- PMDD: when PMS hits the mind
- Perimenopause: symptoms and from when
- Menopause: symptoms and what could help
- PCOS: causes and symptoms
- Hormonal acne from within
- Endometriosis: an integrative view
- Hormone-free contraception compared
- Loss of libido in women
- Testing hormones: which test, when
- Lowering estrogen naturally (liver)
- Cycle-Based Nutrition
- The thyroid and female hormones
- Insulin resistance and hormones
- Cortisol, stress and female hormones
- Chasteberry and herbal hormone helpers
Connections to other topics
When food alone is not enough: why iron deficiency around the cycle is so common and when a targeted treatment may make sense.
How stable blood sugar and the liver together help decide how much estrogen comes to bear relative to progesterone.
Fiber acts not only through blood sugar. Through the microbiome, the gut also influences estrogen metabolism.
Why women respond differently to fasting and how the cycle and the energy need may play a role.
Sources and further reading
- Löfberg IE, Karppinen JE, Laatikainen-Raussi V, et al. Resting Energy Expenditure, Metabolic and Sex Hormones in Two Phases of the Menstrual and Hormonal Contraceptive Cycles. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2024;56(12):2285-2295. doi:10.1249/MSS.0000000000003518 · PMID: 39086066 [Cohort, n=38]
- Smith M, Aghayan M, Little J, et al. Energy intake and appetite in laboratory and free-living conditions may be consistent across menstrual cycle phases. Appetite. 2025;216:108314. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2025.108314 · PMID: 41005066 [Cohort, n=18]
- Maury-Sintjago E, Rodríguez-Fernández A, Parra-Flores J, Ruíz-De la Fuente M. Obese Women Have a High Carbohydrate Intake without Changes in the Resting Metabolic Rate in the Luteal Phase. Nutrients. 2022;14(10):1997. doi:10.3390/nu14101997 · PMID: 35631136 [Cohort, n=30]
- Allen SS, Hatsukami D, Christianson D, Brown S. Energy intake and energy expenditure during the menstrual cycle in short-term smoking cessation. Addict Behav. 2000;25(4):559-572. doi:10.1016/s0306-4603(00)00074-5 · PMID: 10972447 [RCT]
- Fernandez-Jimenez MC, Moreno G, Wright I, et al. Iron Deficiency in Menstruating Adult Women: Much More than Anemia. Womens Health Rep. 2020;1(1):26-35. doi:10.1089/whr.2019.0011 · PMID: 33786470 [Cohort, n=35]
- Coad J, Conlon C. Iron deficiency in women: assessment, causes and consequences. Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2011;14(6):625-634. doi:10.1097/MCO.0b013e32834be6fd · PMID: 21934611 [Review]
- Møller SE. Serotonin, carbohydrates, and atypical depression. Pharmacol Toxicol. 1992;71 Suppl 1:61-71. doi:10.1111/j.1600-0773.1992.tb01630.x · PMID: 1480561 [Review]
- Rapkin A. A review of treatment of premenstrual syndrome and premenstrual dysphoric disorder. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2003;28 Suppl 3:39-53. doi:10.1016/s0306-4530(03)00096-9 · PMID: 12892989 [Review]
- Phipps WR, Martini MC, Lampe JW, Slavin JL, Kurzer MS. Effect of flax seed ingestion on the menstrual cycle. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1993;77(5):1215-1219. doi:10.1210/jcem.77.5.8077314 · PMID: 8077314 [RCT, Crossover, n=18]
- Moslehi N, Zeraattalab-Motlagh S, Rahimi Sakak F, et al. Effects of nutrition on metabolic and endocrine outcomes in women with polycystic ovary syndrome: an umbrella review of meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials. Nutr Rev. 2023;81(5):555-577. doi:10.1093/nutrit/nuac075 · PMID: 36099162 [Systematic Review]
- Coelho AR, Cardoso G, Brito ME, Gomes IN, Cascais MJ. The Female Athlete Triad/Relative Energy Deficiency in Sports (RED-S). Rev Bras Ginecol Obstet. 2021;43(5):395-402. doi:10.1055/s-0041-1730289 · PMID: 34077990 [Review]
- Whelan AM, Jurgens TM, Naylor H. Herbs, vitamins and minerals in the treatment of premenstrual syndrome: a systematic review. Can J Clin Pharmacol. 2009;16(3):e407-e429. PMID: 19923637 [Systematic Review]
- dos Santos LA, de Azeredo VB, Eloy Chaves Barbosa D, Augusta de Sá S. Seric ion level and its relationship with the symptoms of premenstrual syndrome in young women. Nutr Hosp. 2013;28(6):2194-2200. PMID: 24506401 [RCT]