Study phytochemicals relieve menopausal symptoms

Phytoestrogens, such as those found in soybeans and red clover, can improve menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes and vaginal dryness. Night sweats should not be alleviated. This is the conclusion of a JAMA-published mega-analysis of a research team from the Netherlands.

The meta-analysis included data from a total of 62 randomized clinical trials involving 6,653 women who studied the effects of herbal versus placebo or no therapy on the symptoms of hot flashes, night sweats and vaginal dryness. Thirty-six of these studies analyzed the effects of phytoestrogens (isoflavones from soybeans, red clover, etc.), 16 the effects of black cohosh, and another 10 the effects (including Chinese) of medicinal herbs. The participants were on average between 52 and 53.5 years old.

Red clover relieves symptoms during the menopause. Picture: Photo-SD - fotolia

The analysis showed that the use of phytoestrogens led to a significant, albeit only slight, reduction in the number of daily hot flashes as well as the severity of vaginal dryness. The number of daily sweats reduced by a factor of 1.31, the vagina dryness on the Vaginal Dryness Score by 0.31 points. The night sweat was unchanged.

For the black cohosh no positive effects could be observed. This astonishes the authors, since the effectiveness is already evasive evidence. The scientists suspect that this result is due to the great heterogeneity of the individual studies. Overall, they sum up that further studies are necessary due to the generally improved quality and the heterogeneity of the current findings. The study can be found here.