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Women''s health issues have gradually attracted a lot of public as well as health professionals'' attentions in many developed countries in the North American and European areas. The related literature has revealed that most women were influenced by the menstrual cycle in terms of their daily lives. Additionally, it is confirmed that dietary has impacts on many women''s lives, however, few research has been conducted to understand relationship between the menstrual health and dietary. Therefore, the purpose of this study first attempted to understand women''s dietary behaviors during the menstrual cycle in terms of categories and contents of dietary; secondly, to investigate the factors resulting in some of women''s dietary behaviors during the menstrual cycle, and third, to explore how different dietary behaviors influence women''s health during the menstrual cycle.
There are more and more studies focusing on specifically using the qualitative research methods to show the importance of how women''s menstrual health can be improved by their voices and actions. Using the focus group technique in this study can actually obtain an abundant of experiences and information concerning women''s experiences in menstruation and dietary behaviors in a short period of time, from October 1999 to February 2000. Seven different working style groups were interviewed for data collection.
The results showed：
i. Women experience the physical and mental changes and have different dietary behaviors during the menstrual cycle, such as good spirit, abdominal pains, and changes of appetite and dietary habits.
ii. The menstrual cycle and dietary behaviors are reciprocal and during the menstrual cycle, women did specifically take advantage of various dietaries for different purposes, both the western and folk dietaries.
iii. In regard to the traditional taboo of menstruation, women in this study reflected their true experiences and actions on such a regime with other alternatives.
iv. The menstrual regime has been traditionally offered and taught by female elderly to those young through experiences sharing; thus, menstruation is considered as by most people and in our society.
v. Although a variety of information offered women more useful ways of taking care of their health during the menstrual cycle, inconsistency of the information is recognized as difficulties in promoting menstrual health.
In our society, menstruation is a symbolized as a healthy sign of woman, but when facing the menstrual cycle, there are differences in women''s attitudes. From feminism perspectives, women are encouraged to learn from and cherish their own experiences, and it is important for health care professionals to seriously take into account women''s personal experiences. The current study showed that women have various menstrual dietary behaviors. In additions, it''s necessary to consider menstruation from women''s own views instead of merely from medical perspectives in the future. Further suggestions include: planning multifaceted menstrual dietary education by taking consideration of women''s experiences and opinions; re-designing gender education to emphasize menstrual health; establishing a friendly environment for menstrual women and forcing the policy making for menstruation care in order to maintain the high quality of women health.
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