Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2000 13:58:59 +1200

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From: USSW

Date: Wednesday, 14 January 1998 01:26

Subject: Soy Helps Relieve Hot Flushes

In from the Silicone Angel. . .

January 9, 1998

WESTPORT (Reuters)—Adding soy protein to the diet may be a safe and effective way to combat hot flushes in postmenopausal women, investigators say. Soy supplementation may be an alternative to standard hormone replacement therapy for some women.

The Italian team studied 104 women, aged 45 to 62, with moderate to severe hot flushes. Fifty-one of the patients were given 60 grams of isolated soy protein daily for 12 weeks, while 53 women received a placebo. Dr. Paola Albertazzi of the University of Bologna and colleagues in Ferrara, Italy, report in the January issue of Obstetrics and Gynecology that soy was "...significantly superior to placebo in reducing the mean number of hot flushes per 24 hours after 4, 8, and 12 weeks of treatment." By the end of the study period, women taking soy had a 45% reduction in the number of hot flushes they experienced daily compared with a 30% reduction achieved in placebo-treated women. Similar findings from uncontrolled trials have been reported previously.

Soy was well-tolerated by most women in the study—seven women taking soy and an equal number taking placebo dropped out due to gastrointestinal upset.

Phytoestrogens are abundant in soy. Japanese women consume roughly 200 milligrams per day of phytoestrogens and they get hot flushes, estrogen- dependent breast cancer and osteoporosis significantly less often than women in the Western world, the Italian team notes in the paper. They plan to study the possible protective effects of phytoestrogens in women in future studies.

SOURCE: Obstetrics and Gynecology

(1998;91:6-11)