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The Human Effect Matrix looks at human studies to tell you what supplements affect PMS.
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Grade | Level of Evidence [show legend] |
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Robust research conducted with repeated double-blind clinical trials |
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Multiple studies where at least two are double-blind and placebo controlled |
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Single double-blind study or multiple cohort studies |
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Uncontrolled or observational studies only |
Level of Evidence
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The amount of high quality evidence. The more
evidence, the more we can trust the results.
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Supplement |
Magnitude of effect
?
The direction and size of the supplement's impact on
each outcome. Some supplements can have an increasing effect, others have a decreasing effect, and others have no effect.
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Consistency of research results
?
Scientific research does not always agree. HIGH or
VERY HIGH means that most of the scientific research agrees.
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Notes |
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Very High See all 11 studies |
It appears to be quite potent in numerous placebo-controlled trials, and studies are overwhelmingly in agreement. However, the studies are generally at notable risk for bias, and publication bias was found in one meta-analysis from 2017, suggesting the possibility that its efficacy is inflated.
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Very High See all 4 studies |
Studies are supportive a notable improvement in symptoms, largely psychological but even physical. However, the current research is of fairly low quality and largely conducted by many of the same authors, thus more research is needed.
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- See study |
One study assessing saffron on PMS symptoms noted that supplementation caused 76% of the participants to have more than a halving of overall symptoms (placebo reaching 8%), suggesting relatively potent effects.
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