Dietary Soy, Fiber Found Not to Prevent Menopausal Symptoms

No clinically significant effect seen, although some dietary quartiles were statistically significant

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 7 (HealthDay News) -- Dietary phytoestrogen and fiber intake do not appear to prevent vasomotor symptoms (VMS), including hot flashes and night sweats, according to a study published online Oct. 29 in Menopause.

Ellen B. Gold, Ph.D., from the University of California Davis, and colleagues analyzed data from the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation, which included 3,302 premenopausal and early perimenopausal women, with 1,651 reporting no VMS at baseline who were followed with annual visits for 10 years. A food frequency questionnaire was used to assess dietary intakes of isoflavones, coumestrol, lignans, and fiber at baseline and in annual visits 5 and 9 and interpolated for intervening years. Annual self-reports were noted for the number of days experiencing VMS in the past two weeks.

The researchers found that there were no consistent monotonic relations observed between any dietary phytoestrogen or fiber and incident VMS. However, adjusted odds ratios for some individual quartiles were statistically significant.

"For certainty of any effect of dietary phytoestrogens or fiber on the prevention of incident VMS, a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-masked trial with sufficient numbers of women in different racial/ethnic, menopausal status, and metabolic groups over years of follow-up is required, but our results suggest that a clinically significant or large effect is improbable," the authors write.

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