Menopause is a natural part of life, but it sometimes comes with frustrations. The stereotype is mood swings and hot flashes. These are annoying, but usually temporary, and the symptoms taper off in the first year.
Conditions like osteoporosis, however, may not become apparent for many years after the start of menopause. These long term issues are an important issue when women decide whether to treat the symptoms of menopause. Hormone replacement therapy is one treatment option, but some women prefer to look to alternative or natural methods for relief.
What is in Soy?
Soy is a good source of phytoestrogens. These plant-based chemicals function in the human body in the same way as natural estrogen. The loss of estrogen during menopause contributes to the physical and emotional symptoms, and some scientists believe that replacing the body's natural estrogen with phytoestrogens can help alleviate those symptoms.
Soy Extracts and Bone Loss
The website for the National Osteoporosis Foundation reported on a study presented at the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research meeting in 2009. Researchers looked at two studies that had examined bone loss in postmenopausal women. The studies compared women taking placebos to women that were taking high-dose soy extracts.
Both studies were made up of groups of roughly 250 women, who were followed for two years. During the study, measurements were made to determine the amount of bone loss. At the end of the two years of study, researchers found that that the degree of bone loss was almost identical between the groups, leading them to conclude that it does not appear that soy phytoestrogens have the same bone-protective effects as natural estrogen.
Treating Hot Flashes With Soy
In 2000, a report was published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology examining a double-blind clinical trial of postmenopausal breast cancer survivors. Over 150 women that had reported significant hot flashes took part in the nine-week trial. Patients had a week with no treatment to establish a baseline, and then were randomly assigned to four weeks of either soy tablets or placebo. After four weeks, they were then switched to the opposite side. During the entire study, they completed a daily questionnaire about the frequency and intensity of their hot flashes, as well as any side effects they experienced.
At the end of the nine weeks, the results were mixed. Patients preferred the soy pills 33% of the time, compared to the placebo 37% of the time. A full 31% of the time, there was no preference reported. The study concluded that the soy tablets did not reduce hot flashes in the breast cancer survivors.
Are Phytoestrogens Useless in Controlling Menopause Symptoms?
Although the studies do not support the theory that soy supplements can help with common menopause symptoms, there are some indications that eating soy foods may have some benefit. In 2005, an article published in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that a diet high in soy can help prevent bone fractures, especially in the early years after menopause.
The authors looked at a study of almost 25,000 conducted in China, where soy is a normal part of the daily diet. The study found that women who ate little or no soy had almost twice the risk of a fracture as the women who consumed the most soy.
This is similar to results in Japan, where women are only a third as likely to complain of menopausal symptoms as in the United States. These findings lead some researchers to speculate that it is the combination of isoflavones and phytoestrogens in soy foods that protect bone, rather than just the phytoestrogens extracted for soy pills.
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