Science News Archive

Cure for Pre-menstrual Syndrome (pms)

If you suffer from premenstrual syndrome (PMS or PMT) then you might find relief in a glass of wine, according to scientists from New York. Sheryl Smith and her team gave rats a drug to make them pre-menstrual and found that the animals developed abnormally high levels of a brain receptor that is activated both by alcohol, and by a 'feel-good' hormone called allopregnanalone, the levels of which plummet before menstruation. The researchers suggest that alcohol does the same job as the depleted hormone, and has a greater effect during periods, because the brain increases the number of receptors in an attempt to capture what little of the hormone there is available. So the answer is…just before a period crack open a nice bottle of Southern Right Pinotage (2000)…

20th Jul 2002