Comparison of Vegetable Intake in Nurses with and without Premenstrual Syndrome: A Case-Control Study

Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is a common cyclic disorder in women, which is characterized by multiple emotional or physical symptoms. The protective effect of vegetable intake against PMS was not completely investigated. Thus, in the current study, we compared vegetable intake in nurses with and without PMS.

In this case-control study, 307 female nurses with PMS (n = 156) and without PMS (n = 151) were participated from eight hospitals affiliated to the Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran. This study was performed from March to October 2014. Anthropometric measurements were performed for all nurses using standard methods. International physical activity questionnaire (IPAQ) was used for the physical activity assessment. The premenstrual symptoms screening tool (PSST) was applied to identify women who suffer from PMS. A validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) was used for dietary intake measurement during the past years.

Across increasing total vegetable quartiles, individuals had a significantly higher energy intake (P < 0.001). A significant difference was found in job duration, working shift, and physical activity, according to quartiles of total vegetable intakes (P < 0.05). A significant difference was observed in the mean intake of cruciferous vegetables between cases and controls (P = 0.001). Healthy women had significantly more cruciferous vegetable intakes compared to PMS women (6.8 ± 3.9 vs 4.0 ± 3.3). After adjusting for the confounders such as total vegetables, cruciferous vegetables, green leafy vegetables, dark yellow vegetables, and other vegetables, subjects in the highest quartile of cruciferous vegetables had lower odds (ratio OR) of PMS compared with those in the lowest-quartile (P = 0.002; OR = 0.33; CI = 0.16 - 0.67).

Our findings showed that higher consumption of cruciferous vegetables might be associated with a lower OR of PMS.