New Medical Studies Support Soy for Menopausal Symptom Relief
Publish Date : 11/24/2004 5:36:00 PM Source : Onlypunjab.com Team
Nearly 20 clinical trials now show that soy can help reduce hot flashes and other common symptoms of menopause. A medical review in American Family Physician states that, "Soy has been found to significantly reduce the incidence of hot flashes associated with menopause."
Two recent meta-analysis by soy experts found that soy helps women manage menopausal symptoms (a meta-analysis combines research data results from a large number of smaller studies into a single group to allow a more accurate determination of results): *The first meta-analysis found that soy reduces hot flashes by 30-50%. *The second meta-analysis found that women with frequent hot flashes benefit the most from soy consumption to control menopausal symptoms.
Preliminary results from a menopausal symptom reduction study using Revival Soy at a leading medical hospital shows a 65-70% reduction in hot flashes. Participants experienced significant decreases in frequency and intensity of hot flashes, night sweats, fatigue and other menopausal symptoms after 6 weeks of daily soy use (one serving per day). Based on these initial results, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded a $1.05 million grant to the researchers to confirm the results in a larger study that is presently underway. The National Institute of Health's MedlinePlus website recommends soy for menopausal symptoms. The NIH¹s consumer education site lists eating soy as an HRT Alternative.
Scientists became very interested in soy's potential role for menopause support after demographic studies revealed that only 9% of women living in Asia, where the diet is rich in soy, experienced hot flashes during midlife, in contrast to almost 8090% of Western women who suffer through menopausal symptoms.
Many scientists feel that soy isoflavones, which are similar to the body's estrogen in structure, may support health by lightly binding to estrogen receptors, thus, producing some of the benefits of estrogen without negative side effects.