Curcumin and PMS

An article by Paul Richard Saunders in the December 2015 issue of the Natural Medicine Journal looks at the impact of curcumin supplementation (which is an extract derived from turmeric) on pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS).  The article looks at a study by Khayat et al. that was published in the Complementary Therapies in Medicine Journal in 2015.  
The study involved 70 (63 at completion) female university students (ages 18-34 years) with PMS (based on having at least 5 of the 19 symptoms required for the DMS-IV diagnosis of PMS).  
The participants rated their mood based, physical based, and behavioural based symptoms for 2 cycles prior to beginning the study and again after their first, second, and third cycles during the study.  
Half of the participants received 100 mg of curcumin every 12 hours from 7 days prior to their period starting until day 3 of their cycle and the other half were dosed with a placebo during this same time.  
The participants who dosed the curcumin had significant decreases in all 3 groups (mental, physical, and behavioural based) of PMS symptom scores.   The placebo group saw a physical based score decrease, but no significant change in their behavioural or mood based scores.  
This study provides great insight into another form of support we can consider for the emotional and physical fluctuations we may experience as we lead up to our menstrual period.