Nutrition and Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS)
Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) affects millions of women worldwide. There is no cure for PCOS, but symptoms can be managed. The main symptoms of PCOS include:
- Irregular periods or the absence of a period
- Excessive hair growth (usually on the face, chest, back or buttocks)
- Difficulty getting pregnant
- Weight gain
- Thinning hair/ hair loss from the head
- Oily skin
If you have PCOS and are overweight, eating a balanced diet and even a 5% weight loss could significantly improve symptoms!
What's the best diet for PCOS?
To date there is no evidence to suggest that there is one best type of diet for those diagnosed with PCOS. However research has shown that some people do see a positive impact on symptom reduction and weight loss when they eat lower glycemic index (GI) foods.
What is the Glycemic Index?
The glycemic index is a measure of how quickly blood glucose levels rise after eating foods that contain carbohydrates.
- High GI foods – are quickly digested and absorbed, resulting in a quick spike in blood glucose levels.
- Low GI foods – are more slowly digested and absorbed, producing a more gradual rise in blood glucose levels.
Reducing the amounts of high GI foods in your diet and focusing on low GI foods could lead to benefits such as improvement in blood fats, reduction in blood sugars, reduced hunger or cravings and possibly weight loss.
Low GI foods
- Breakfast cereals: All Bran, muesli, oat bran, porridge oats,
- Starchy foods: Buckwheat, pearl barley, bulgur wheat, sourdough bread, chapattis, rice, pasta, quinoa, pita bread
- Vegetables: All vegetables except white potatoes and parsnips
- Dairy products: Milk, soy milk, yogurt, cottage cheese
- Beans/pulses/lentils: Black beans, butter beans, chickpeas, kidney beans, baked beans
Tips for reducing the GI in your diet
- Try swapping out white bread for whole grain bread.
- Choose pasta, noodles, or basmati rice instead of precooked or long grain rice.
- Choose sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes.
- Have more beans and pulses in your meals (eg. lentil curry, hummus made from chickpeas).
- Snack on fruit, yogurt, or trail mix made from nuts instead of snacks made from refined sugars.
- Swap out high GI beverages such as pop, juice and sweetened coffee and tea drinks with sparkling water, unsweetened flavoured waters etc.
Other strategies that can slow down the breakdown of carbohydrate in meals include:
- Serving carbohydrates with a protein and fat source
- Increasing the fiber content of your meals. A good guide is to fill ½ your plate with vegetables and fruit
- Reheating some starches can slow down how quickly they break down and increase blood glucose. This seems to be most impactful for rice and pasta!
If you have any questions or you want to experiment with glycemic index in your own diet please let your Constant Health Dietitian know.