Soy Product Consumption Seems to Protect Against Hot Flashes
Those of us following natural medicine didn’t exactly drop our jaws at this study. I would like to take this opportunity to explain something that most people would find very shocking. During perimenopause, it has been shown that women’s estrogen levels are actually high. That seems to run totally contrary to what the medical dogma says, huh? Symptoms such as hot flushes actually result from a rapid change in estrogen levels. So, the goal of a woman in perimenopause is NOT to fall into the knee jerk HRT therapy, but rather to work on lowering the highs and raising the lows so that these rapid shifts of estrogen levels do not occur. Phytoestrogens such as those found in soy can help raise the lows as well as lower the lows. Progesterone cream can help to lower the highs as well. Hopefully you can start to see a nice program that can reduce or eliminate hot flushes safely and quickly.
Am J Epidemiol 2001;153:790-793 A dietary survey of Japanese women indicates that intake of soy products correlates inversely with menopausal hot flashes. Dr. Chisato Nagata and colleagues, from Gifu University School of Medicine, in Japan, report the results of a prospective study analyzing the association between soy intake and the onset of hot flashes in 1106 women between the ages of 35 and 54 years who were premenopausal at baseline. During the study period, 101 women experienced new moderate or severe hot flashes according to the Kupperman test of menopausal distress. After controlling for age, total energy intake, and menopausal status, hot flashes were significantly inversely associated with soy product consumption and isoflavone intake. Hazard ratios for hot flashes were 0.47 and 0.42 for high versus low tertiles of soy product and isoflavone intake, respectively, the team reports. “Although traditional hormone replacement therapy is effective in controlling hot flashes, compliance with this therapy is not great, and there is a desire for a more natural approach to the management of menopausal symptoms,” Dr. Nagata and colleagues say. “Our findings suggest that consumption of soy products is a practical strategy for preventing hot flashes.