The FDA approved the first contraceptive option for women over half a century ago, known as ‘the pill’; this medication, along with other contraceptive devices, implants, and injections contain a cornucopia of varying hormones which evoke many benefits that extend beyond their initial intention to prevent pregnancy. Other benefits include reducing acne, bloating, and infections, but its greatest use revolves around menstrual regulation. However, the menstrual side effects and irregularities that contraceptives solve are the same problems caused by hormonal imbalances. Researchers have found that stress and diet heavily impact the cycle by which specific hormones are produced, and professionals have thus proposed that certain foods evoke the secretion of certain hormones.

My project will compare the diets of women in the United States with those in a country where Mediterranean diets are prevalent to see how their menstrual symptoms and irregularities compare. Specifically, the ubiquity of this eating style in Spain, as well as the country’s relatively low contraception access, pins it as a suitable international focus for this project. Similarly, there have been conversations in the city of Girona surrounding menstrual leave for women because of their menstrual symptoms, so administrators have already begun thinking about this issue. Thus, comparing the menstrual symptoms and diets of women in the United States and Spain would serve as both an interesting and progressive project.

I will first identify the specific hormones that—directly or indirectly—lead to pinpointed menstrual symptoms, and then work to decipher specified foods can potentially secrete those hormonal discrepancies. Then I will survey women across the United States on their diet and their menstrual symptoms, also taking into account their stress levels. During my second summer I will survey women in Spain on the same topic and observe their eating habits as it pertains to their cycle. Then, I will compare the results of the two countries, drawing ties between each country’s diets and menstrual abnormalities.

I plan to work with Nicole Jardim, a certified women’s health coach and author of “Fix your Period”: the book discusses the mechanism by which hormonal imbalances are linked to both period symptoms and specific foods. I also plan to talk with employers in Channel Medsystems: the biotech company studies women’s menstrual health to learn more about menstrual irregularities. Agile Therapeutics and Femasys are two biotech companies studying how contraceptives impact women’s health, and by speaking with them I can get a broader view of the medication’s physiological impact. As well, I hope to have conversations with Maria Angels Planas, the deputy major in Girona who actively continues to speak out against the taboo topic of period pain.

This research can potentially lead to non-medicative alternatives that can recuperate one’s menstruation cycle by directly tackling the hormonal imbalance, all in a more natural way. This product can serve as an extremely helpful resource for women residing in countries where contraceptives are not easily accessible, and women are thus continually undergoing menstrual irregularities and pain without any solution. In particular, given Maria Planas' pioneering discussions surrounding this issue, I foresee that women in Spain will be looking for this type of solution. In addition, women who cannot take birth control for reasons other than inaccessibility can resort to this food as a means to more intentionally and naturally mitigate their hormonal imbalances. Thus, not only will this project serve as insight into how diet impacts women’s menstrual health and potentially develop a product that millions of women can utilize, but also it will induce conversations surrounding issues pertaining to menstrual wellbeing and liberate the health of marginalized women.