Section archive

Menopause

Food

Avoid hormone therapy, instead use soy to fight hot flashes - studies suggest

Pooling 19 studies of more than 1,200 women, researchers found soy isoflavones cut the frequency and severity of hot flashes by up to 26% compared with placebo. At least 54 mg a day for six weeks to a year reduced hot flash frequency by 20.6%.

Lifestyle

Physical activity, polyunsaturated fat linked to early onset of menopause

Among 3,115 Japanese women followed for 10 years, those in the top quartile for physical activity were 17 percent more likely to reach menopause early and those eating the most polyunsaturated fat 15 percent more likely. Other fats showed no link. The effects were small but significant.

Sep 23, 2011

Supplements

Soy supplements as effective as hormone therapy in easing menopausal symptoms

In a double-blind trial, 60 postmenopausal women took a 90 mg soy isoflavone supplement or hormone therapy for 16 weeks. Both eased hot flashes and muscle pain, by 49.8 and 45.6 percent, and vaginal dryness. Placebo matched them except on urogenital symptoms.

Sep 20, 2010

Drug

Blood test may predict timing of menopause

Researchers built a model that predicts when menopause will arrive from a single blood test for anti-Mullerian hormone, using samples from 266 women aged 20 to 49. Average error was under four months and the maximum three to four years; larger studies are needed to confirm it.

Jun 27, 2010

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