While a diet of tofu and soy-based products may not seem appetizing to many people, there have been many studies that connect soy and menopause symptom relief. The theory stems from the fact that menopausal women in many Eastern cultures, who subsist on a diet of soy products, rarely suffer hot flashes as well as some of the other symptoms of menopause as women in western cultures. It is believed that the phytoestrogens present in soy mimics estrogen and fools the body into believing its loss due to menopause in inconsequential.
Menopause hot flashes are being blamed on a busted internal thermostat that controls the body temperature. There is no obvious reason for the woman's temperature to go up causing the flushing feeling but studies have shown that if women consume more products based on soy and menopause symptoms decrease. While there is no cure for menopause, alleviating some of the suffering related to its symptoms is a continuing effort in the medical community.
Hormone replacement therapies have been developed for women in menopause and while some of them have shown promise, some of the side effects associated with synthetic hormones make many doctors reluctant to prescribe them. Individuals may choose a more natural way to make their bodies think they have enough estrogen and when taking soy and menopause treatment therapies, many of symptoms simply disappear.
Soy Not Considered Silver Bullet For Menopause Symptoms
While some manufacturers are pointing out how soy based products are fighting off the symptoms of menopause, they may not be telling the whole story. In recent studies that showed women using soy and menopause hot flash sufferers showed a significant reduction in the intensity of their hot flashes. The report said hot flashes were diminished in up to 50 percent of the trial patients. However, it did not announce that another 35 percent showed improvement when taking a placebo.
While the health benefits of adding soy to the diet is undeniable, insinuating that increasing the consumption of soy and menopause symptoms will disappear may not be true for all menopause sufferers. The logic that the phytoestrogens in soy, as well as in some other plants can replace the estrogen lost during menopause may lose some of its luster when women realize they are may also be related to an increased risk of breast cancer. Studies show continued estrogen therapy may increase that risk and the phytoestrogens mimicking estrogen may have the same effect.
