If you’ve been wondering, can magnesium help with period cramps, the answer may come from a medical study that took place at a university in Brazil called The Universidade Federal Fluminense in the nutrition department.

At first thought, this is a good thing, because out of all the researchers who could possibly get the study done correctly, it would be the ones in the nutrition department of a university or college. They would know what it’s like to have low magnesium and/or calcium levels, what is the dosage of a magnesium supplement, and a lot of other facts about magnesium.

The researchers followed the progress of 93 women with PMS who had cramps and other symptoms, for three months, monitoring their symptoms. Interestingly, they used the women’s BMI as evidence of nutritional status, when they could have used blood levels of nutrients instead.

Nevertheless, they found that certain symptoms happened in different phases of the menstrual cycle. For example, anxiety, edema (swelling), depression and inflammation of the breasts were more prevalent during the menstrual cycle itself. Only 1.4% of the volunteers had low levels of calcium in the blood while 80% had lower calcium levels; 4.22% had low levels of sodium, while 7% had high levels of sodium. Twenty-four percent of the women were anemic.

They found that the regulation of the calcium level appears to occur in the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle.

But here’s the relationship to the question, what does magnesium do for menstrual cramps that you may be thinking of: a significant association was seen between magnesium and depression, as well as nausea and constipation.

Surprisingly, they didn’t even check out the answer to the question, does magnesium help with menstrual cramps, and if so, how much magnesium should be taken for menstrual cramps.

Well, at least it’s good to find out that magnesium can alleviate your PMS depression, nausea and constipation.

Another study, this one in Iran checked out the magnesium levels of patients who had thoughts of suicide during their menstrual cycle to see whether magnesium or magnesium plus vitamin B6 could benefit a woman with PMS.

A researcher named Abraham proposed the idea that magnesium deficiency was a major cause of PMS, and if it didn’t cause PMS, it certainly aggravated it. He found that the symptoms were relieved once magnesium was administered, and believed this occurred because magnesium controlled neuromuscular stimulation. Red blood cell magnesium is lower in women who have PMS compared to those who don’t.

About 150 women were in their study and the magnesium group only received 250 mg magnesium. Another group of women received 250 mg magnesium plus 40 mg vitamin B6. And a last group of women received only the placebo.

Those who received the magnesium and the Vitamin B6 did the best and had fewer symptoms of depression, migraines, anxiety, breast pain, bloating (edema), headache, and muscle cramps. The vitamin B6 decreased the severity of the symptoms.

So should you take magnesium for PMS cramps? Well, it certainly may help. But don’t get overzealous and take more than two capsules of 300 or 400 mg magnesium daily, as too much magnesium can also throw the body out of whack as too little can.

Another way to take magnesium is to rub it into the skin via magnesium gel or magnesium oil. This is a good way if you don’t like taking supplements, but can we be honest here? The fact is that if you are deficient in one nutrient, you will be deficient in many others so sooner or later you’re going to have to get used to taking them!

You could start out with a period vitamin, though, as this is like a multivitamin specifically for women who still have their periods and need to prevent PMS. A period vitamin contains vitamins, minerals and herbs that support your body during the ups and downs of the different hormones during your cycle.

Source:

Dos Santos, L.A., et al. Seric ion level and its relationship with the symptoms of premenstrual symptoms in young women. Nutr Hosp 2013 Nov 1; 28(6): 2194-200. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24506401

Fathizadeh, Nahid, et al. Evaluating the effect of magnesium and magnesium plus vitamin B6 supplement on the severity of premenstrual syndrome. Iran J Nurs Midwifery Res 2010 Dec; 15 (Suppl 1): 401-405. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3208934/