The relationship between alcohol consumption and menstrual cycle: a review of the literature

Abstract

Alcohol use affects men and women differently, with women being more affected by the health effects of alcohol use (NIAAA, 2011). Yet, a dearth of information investigating the alcohol use in women exists (SAMSHA, 2011). In particular, one dispositional factor hypothesized to contribute to alcohol consumption in women is the menstrual cycle. However, only 13 empirical papers have considered the menstrual cycle as related to alcohol consumption in women. These studies fall out with somewhat mixed findings suggesting that the premenstrual week is associated with increased, decreased, or no change in alcohol consumption, likely due to methodological differences in menstrual cycle determination and measures of alcohol consumption. These methodological differences and possible other contributing factors are discussed here with recommendations for future research in this area. Understanding the contribution of the menstrual cycle to alcohol consumption is one step in addressing an important women’s health concern.

Do Food Intake and Food Cravings Change during the Menstrual Cycle of Young Women?

“…It is the only time during the cycle in which progesterone is unopposed by estrogen. 3 The normal alteration in estrogen and progesterone hormone levels in the menstrual cycle appear to act on the serotonergic function, leading to manifestations of the symptoms of the syndrome. 1 According to Reid (2017), 4 during the reproductive years, up to between 80 and 90% of the women who menstruate feel some change during the premenstrual period, such as breast pain, bloating, acne and constipation.…”

Changes in coping and social motives for drinking and alcohol consumption across the menstrual cycle

“…The menstrual cycle (MC) may be a useful model for examining self‐medication processes in women based on variations in affect (e.g., Dreher et al., ; Symonds, Gallagher, Thompson, & Young, ) and addictive behaviors (Franklin et al., ; Hudson & Stamp, ; Pearson & Schipper, 2013) across the MC. In normally cycling women, the MC has a duration of 21–35 days ( mean = 28; Carroll, Lustyk, & Larimer, ). Fluctuations in ovarian hormones across the MC allow for its subdivision into five phases: menstrual (days 1–5), follicular (days 6–12), ovulatory (days 13–16), luteal (days 17 to premenstrual), and premenstrual (5 days prior to menstrual bleeding) (Evans, Haney, Levin, Foltin, & Fischman, ; Johannes et al., ; Pastor & Evans, ).…”

“…Studies of alcohol consumption (AC) across the MC have produced mixed findings: AC either increases, decreases, or remains constant across the premenstrual/menstrual verses other phases (see review by Carroll et al., ). However, majority indicates increases in AC during the premenstrual/menstrual phases (Carroll et al., ). Moderate‐drinking women consumed larger quantities of alcohol menstrually versus other phases (Pastor & Evans, ).…”

“…Our use of time‐varying effects models (TVEMs; Tan, Skiyko, Li, Li, & Dierker, ) permitted an examination of how drinking motives varied over time, and how drinking motives differentially predicted AC across the MC. Based on previous research suggesting increases in AC (Carroll et al., ) and negative affect (Collins et al., ) during the premenstrual/menstrual phases, we hypothesized that CM would increase in the premenstrual/menstrual relative to other phases. Correspondingly, CM were hypothesized to predict increases in daily alcohol quantity during these two phases.…”

Maternal care‐related differences in males and females rats’ sensitivity to ethanol and the associations between the GABAergic system and steroids in males

“…Moreover, certain ethanol use-related behaviors are sex-specific, partly due to sex-differences in gonadal hormone levels (Almeida et al, 1998). Gonadal hormone levels also vary across the female estrous cycle (Haim, Shakhar, Rossene, Taylor, & Ben-Eliyahu, 2003) and mediate estrous cycle-dependent variations in ethanol-use related behaviors (Carroll, Lustyk, & Larimer, 2015; Epstein et al, 2006; Ford, Eldridge, & Samson, 2002). Thus, altering endogenous levels of male progesterone, testosterone, and corticosterone may be a mechanism by which, maternal care modulates sensitivity to ethanol-induced hypnosis.…”