So, look, I’ve said this a million times if I’ve said it once: Soy has been shown to work for some women looking for relief from hot flashes in menopause and perimenopause. I am one of those women.
I’ve also said a million times that there have been studies which say soy does not work for hot flashes and night sweats in menopause. But, for some reason, this issue seems to be a bone of contention among researchers and practitioners. I honestly do not understand why.
Those who are against soy for hot flashes and night sweats seized on a recent study which said that it finally proved that soy does not work. I disagree, of course. But, whatever.
The Chinese have just released another studywhich says that soy does appear to help some women with hot flashes and night sweats. Of course, those who do not want to believe that soy actually helps are taking issue with the study.
One Dr. Wong, (ironically enough, an Asian researcher) from Baylor University in Texas does not like the study and says he does not believe the results. I don’t quite understand why Dr. Wong or any male physician or medical researcher would really care so strongly one way or the other, except perhaps their medical researcher ego is on the line?
This whole debate seems pretty simple to me. If soy works for your hot flashes and night sweats (as it did mine), then take it, or drink it, or eat it – however you like your soy. If it doesn’t help you, well, how about you don’t use it?
I’ve printed a portion of the study below. Click through the link at the bottom to read the rest of the article:
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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Jan 30 – Middle-aged women may find some relief from hot flashes and other menopause problems with soy supplements, according to Chinese researchers.
They found daily supplements of soy germ isoflavones reduced the sudden sweats more than inactive placebo pills after six months.
But a U.S. expert wasn’t convinced by the results, which run counter to other published studies.
“The majority of them are showing no benefit,” said Dr. William W. Wong, a nutrition researcher at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston who wasn’t involved in the new work.
The new study, published online January 24 in Menopause, is based on 90 Chinese women. A third of them received placebo pills, while the rest took soy germ isoflavones, either 84 or 126 mg a day. They all kept diaries of their hot flashes and filled out questionnaires about various other symptoms of menopause.
At six months, their Kupperman scores — a measure of symptom severity that ranges from 0 to 63 — had dropped by more than 40% from an initial value of about 25 in the soy groups.
The number of hot flashes also fell from about 20 a week to less than 10.
While the same pattern was seen in the placebo group, it was less pronounced. Their symptom score dropped by 29% and the number of hot flashes by 35%, according to Dr. Yan-bin Ye of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou.
The work was supported by Frutarom Netherlands, which also donated the supplements.
Magnolia Miller is the founder and owner of Pink Zinnia Publishing & Health Communications, LLC, where she is a freelance health & medical writer.
She holds a professional certification as a healthcare consumer advocate in women's health, and is currently conducting graduate research in the field of healthcare consumer advocacy with a focus on women's health issues in perimenopause, menopause & post menopause.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for this update Magnolia!
I’m currently doing an experiment where I’m removing all soy products from my diet for 3 months. I’m a life long vegetarian (until the last 5 years where I’ve included small amounts of chicken and fish) who has consumed soy all my life and now presents with Hashimoto’s Hypothyroidism in perimenopause, I’m especially concerned and interested in the controversy around consumption of soy on women’s hormone health and particularly on the thyroid.
Mary Shomen has an excellent article here regarding this: http://thyroid.about.com/cs/soyinfo/a/soy.htm
I’ll keep you updated on my experience. I’m observing both any changes in my thyroid levels due to the removal of soy, as well as any subjective changes in my experiences with hormonal balance re. mood, PMS, periods, insomnia and energy levels.
Cheers!
Dorothy
Hi Dorothy,
I’ve another reader here who also has Hashimoto’s. I just might have to do a little research on it myself. I find the entire soy debate tiring and frustrating.
I remember the debate over coffee for years. It’s good for you. It’s not good for you. It’s good for you. It’s not good for you.
I think given all of our individual DNA, family history and biology, it’s safe to say that each person needs to evaluate what works for them and what doesn’t. I know there are concerns with the phytoestrogens in soy that can cause issues for young people and their cycles and can also cause issues for women with breast cancer history.
So, I say, once again, each person needs to make the decision for themselves. Soy worked for me. It doesn’t work for others. And what’s the problem?
Magnolia
So, I’m 1 1/2 months into my no-soy experiment. I haven’t had my thyroid/auto-immune blood tests yet and will probably get them in another month or so.
But, interestingly, since I cut out tempeh which I ate every day or at least several times a week, I am experiencing aggravated PMS symptoms and hormonal fluctuations (increase in night sweats, mood swings, insomnia and so on). Could this be because eating soy actually maintained estrogen and hormone balance or replacement in my body? I don’t know.
I’ll keep you posted!
Hi Dorothy,
Given that estrogen is tied to hot flashes, and soy provides phytoestrogens, I would suspect you could be on to something in your theory.
Magnolia