Emotional variables and food craving: Influence of the menstrual cycle
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.19230/jonnpr.4429Keywords:
Menstrual cycle; follicular phase; premenstrual phase; luteal phase; food craving; emotionsAbstract
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Background. The female reproductive cycle which involves interactions between the brain, the uterus and the ovaries, is made up of the follicular or proliferative phase (also called pre-ovulatory), later, ovulation takes place, after which the luteal or secretory phase begins and, finally, the menstrual phase takes place. During the menstrual cycle, the woman experiences hormonal changes that can cause physical, psychological and behavioral symptoms such as changes in appetite, thus affecting her food intake. A phenomenon observed during menstruation is food craving, defined as an irresistible need to consume food ("craving"), predominantly wanting to consume processed foods during the premenstrual phase, a behavior that, is also associated with a negative mood. However, numerous and diverse eating patterns, as well as fluctuations in emotional state, have been observed in women during the various phases of the menstrual cycle. Therefore, further research is needed in this area.
Objectives and method. The present work aims to observe the variation of food craving in function of the different phases of the menstrual cycle and to observe the influence of emotional variables (anxiety-negative mood) in the “craving to eat” (food craving). For this, a bibliographic search was carried out in the databases PubMed, Scopus and other sources such as Wiley Online Library and ResearchGate, to obtain and contrast the ideas of the authors of previous studies regarding the topic.
Discussion. It has been observed that there is a tendency to a higher energy-food pattern during the luteal phase together with an experience “food craving” also increased during this stage, in comparison with other phases of the menstrual cycle. On an emotional level, it has been observed that during the premenstrual phase, women consume ultra-processed foods such as chocolate in the belief that this will reduce the symptoms associated with this period. However, it should be mentioned that in the studies analyzed, there is high variability in relation to hormonal levels, food intake and emotional state of the woman during the various stages of the menstrual cycle, which has made it difficult to interpret the results.
Conclusion. The analyzed results are inconclusive. It is clear that the menstrual cycle affects both food intake and the emotional state of women but more studies are needed to analyze the relationship between diet, food craving, the menstrual cycle and emotions in a more precise and concrete way.
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