Sorry Gals, Your Period No Longer Justifies Eating 3 Bars of Chocolate

A new study found that women actually don't crave more or less chocolate before their period

By Jessica Chou, Editor

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Jul 30, 2012 @ 11:10 AM

OK, you caught us. A small study published in the journal Appetite suggests that females may not crave chocolate more before a period, meaning all that chocolate we ate? That was just us wanting chocolate.

Of course, the study was fairly small, surveying 35 women with regular periods and no eating disorders. Past studies suggested that a women's menstrual cycle did affect chocolate cravings before menstruation, but researchers say that the study included women with eating disorders, which may skew the results.

The new study found that their subjects did not crave more cocoa or high-fat foods before menstruation; in fact, the stage of their cycle had no effect on their cravings. Since their sample size was so small, however, the researchers suggest the study be replicated before you nix chocolate off your monthly grocery list. "Further research is needed to determine the role of food cravings in response to emotions across the menstrual cycle," researchers said. Cocoa is supposedly good for you, after all.