KEPEKAAN INDERA PENGECAP RASA MANIS AKIBAT KADAR ZINC SERUM PADA WANITA DENGAN PREMENSTRUAL SYNDROME (PMS)

Background. Approximately 75-80% of women on reproductive age reported having premenstrual syndrome (PMS). The imbalance between estrogen and progesterone becomes a major risk factor of premenstrual syndrome. One of the symptoms of PMS is the desire to eat sweet foods. Zinc deficiency is often found in women with premenstrual syndrome and may affect the decrease in taste sensitivity. Purpose. To determine the correlations between serum zinc levels and sweet taste sensitivity in women with premenstrual syndrome Method. This type of research is an experimental study. The sample was selected by simple random sampling of 7 peoples who were selected based on criteria, one group consist of women with premenstrual syndrome and another one was normal women (no experience of premenstrual syndrome). Research done in luteal phase of the menstrual cycle. Result. Based on the results of statistical tests, showed that there was no differences of serum zinc levels between the group tested shown with significance value of 0.362 (p> 0.005); there was no differences in the sensitivity of sweet taste between the group tested with significance value 0,079 (p> 0.05); also there was no correlations between sweet taste sensitivity and serum zinc levels shown with significance value of 0,340 (p> 0.005). Conclusion. There is no differences in sweet taste sensitivity between the group tested; there is no differences in serum zinc levels between the group tested; also there is no correlations between sweet taste sensitivity and serum zinc levels. Keyword: PMS, taste sensitivity, sweet, serum zinc levels