Does alcohol cause PMS?

PARIS: Researchers reported a link Monday between PMS and drinking alcohol, but could not conclude whether premenstrual suffering causes women to hit the bottle, or the other way round. A trawl of data from 19 studies in eight countries found a “moderate association” between premenstrual syndrome (PMS) symptoms such as cramps, breast tenderness, fatigue, moodiness, and depression on the one hand, and a tipple on (in) the other. The link was “more pronounced” with heavy drinking — equivalent to one average-sized drink per day or more — the researchers said. This suggested drinking may be the cause, rather than the consequence, of some PMS cases, they said. But the data “cannot strictly rule out that PMS causes women to drink in order to mitigate their symptoms,” study co-author Bahi Takkouche of the University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain told AFP.