Eat a Candy Bar to Treat PMS?

I know the above headline sounds like a joke, but it isn't. The Wonder Bar, produced by New Jersey based Ecco Bella, caught the attention of a Washington Post reporter covering this week's Fancy Food Show in New York, an expo for companies hoping to find space for some 160,000 products in specialty grocery stores.

At almost $4 and weighing in at less than 2 ounces, the Wonder Bar contains, among other things, Swiss chocolate probably of the processed kind and soy, two ingredients you should stay far, far away from.

A closer look at the listing of ingredients inside the wrapper claims the pure soy powder along with flaxseed contains phytoestrogens that allegedly "relieve the symptoms of PMS and menopause." Just a reminder, it's the presence of phytoestrogens -- plant-derived, estrogen-like compounds that interact with estrogen receptors -- that makes soy so harmful in the first place.

Three ways you can treat PMS safely, naturally and without a candy bar:

• Get your vitamin D through regular sun exposure.
• Increase your calcium intake, ideally by drinking raw milk.
• Learn an effective energy psychology tool like the Emotional Freedom Technique.

MSNBC July 13, 2006

New York Times July 12, 2006 Registration Required