Could bee pollen be the answer to ending PMS?

Life


Could bee pollen be the answer to ending PMS?

By Harriet Hall

9 years ago

Ah yes, we’ve all been there – crying at a Halifax advert (they just all seem so happy), while clutching a hot water bottle and wondering what on earth happened to the vim-filled us of better times.

We tend to just get on with life during our period when, inside, our wombs are trying to take it all out of us and our hormones are going wild – but what if there finally was a cure for all the irritability we feel while we’re surfing the crimson wave (that doesn’t include anti-depressants or contraceptive pills)?

Apparently, there might just be. Because the latest research suggests a rather interesting PMS cure: bee pollen.

Serenol, is a non-prescription supplement to be taken twice daily, containing Swedish flower pollen extract, royal jelly, and chromium picolinate.

Supposedly, the product increases serotonin levels and controls those pesky period hunger pangs. Used under a different name – Femal – in Sweden, the flower pollen extract has been tested in a 2002 double blind study on 29 women that saw it improved PMS symptoms of irritability and bloating.

Writing in The Cut, one woman says how after taking the supplements for around a fortnight, she felt: “notably more stable, and the sense of calm persisted.”

Although the product has been on the market for around a year, the supplement has not yet had FDA approval, so it might be some time before we can reap the benefits.

Hopefully the approval comes through before we all start sucking on flowers, though.

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