A: Many studies have found American women report craving chocolate around menstruation, often with an increase beginning a few days before its onset. There’s a popular idea that these chocolate cravings are linked to fluctuating hormones during the menstrual cycle. But the data has not been so clear cut.
Researchers now think cravings around menses are culturally driven rather than a purely biological phenomenon. In fact, more American women tend to crave chocolate than in other countries.
A 2006 survey of over 300 Cornell University students found 91% of the female students surveyed craved chocolate. For the women, chocolate was also the most craved food overall.
But in other parts of the world, chocolate cravings can be less common. The 2006 study also surveyed Spanish college-aged women and found of about 260 students at a university in Spain, 28% of women endorsed chocolate cravings specifically related to their menstrual cycle, compared with 49% of American women.
Also, a 2019 study found the most craved food among Japanese women was rice and only about 19% of Japanese women crave chocolate in general.
Cravings are complex – they’re not related to how hungry you may be and they can be driven by many factors, including habits we create around eating.
But the reasons cravings occur may be less important than evaluating how those foods make you feel. Many women report eating chocolate and other sweets or carbohydrates around their menstrual cycle helps boost their mood, while others find the cravings troublesome.
If you want to curb cravings, think about when they occur and how to disrupt the habit. Do you crave chocolate at night? One of my favourite suggestions came from a reader who recommended brushing your teeth right after dinner. Besides the overwhelming flavour profile that can come from the toothpaste, we’re conditioned to not eat after brushing by a habit formed in early childhood.
Do you crave chocolate at night? Photo / 123rf
The science on periods and cravings
Women’s caloric intake does increase shortly before the start of a period – at the same time insulin resistance may decrease – so the idea that fluctuating hormones would influence cravings feels logical. For years, it was hypothesised that the fall in progesterone, which typically occurs a few days before the start of a period, is what induced chocolate cravings.
However, when scientists directly measured hormone levels and tried to correlate them with cravings, no such link was found. Another study found oral progesterone treatment was no better than a placebo in reducing chocolate or sweet cravings among menstruating women.
Also, if chocolate cravings were truly tied to the menstrual cycle, you might expect that after menopause, they would go away – or at least drop by the per cent accounted for by premenopausal women who specifically reported period cravings.
University of Pennsylvania researchers found postmenopausal women did crave chocolate less than premenopausal women, but that difference was only a small fraction and not enough to pin it on periods. Most postmenopausal women (about 77%) still craved chocolate and often linked it to their mood.
These studies have led some scientists to think eating chocolate is more likely to be a culturally sanctioned and conditioned response to various forms of stress, especially in the United States (and having a period every month can certainly be a big stressor).
A 2017 US study compared menstrual chocolate cravings among women born outside the United States to those born in the country. The study found women born outside the US were significantly less likely to endorse menstrual chocolate cravings. But, interestingly, the ones who did experience them reported greater US acculturation and lower identification with their native culture than those who didn’t experience menstrual chocolate cravings.
Cravings tend to happen among people who are suffering from severe symptoms related to their periods. A study published in PLOS One this year found women who tended to crave high-fat and sweet foods were more likely to suffer from premenstrual syndrome or have irregular or painful cycles.
If you have strong cravings, pause a moment and take stock of what else is happening around your period. Are your cramps so severe it’s hard to go about your day? Do you suffer from upsetting mood swings, bloating or anxiety?
If you have any of these symptoms, it’s a good idea to speak with your doctor about the entire picture and strategise the best way to cope. I always tell my patients not to “dismiss” anything about your period as “normal” without checking in with a physician. Suffering during your menstrual cycle is not normal, but we too often treat it like it is.
