Why Soy Products For Menopause Relief Is Not Recommended

By Naomi Waters


Almost all health-related magazines, documentaries and TV shows have hitherto, shouted out the myriad benefits of soy and its products in a wide range of health complications, spanning from breast cancer, osteoporosis, and the heart illness. Examples of soy products include soy milk, soy beans, soy cheese, and soy protein, among others. Some companies have also developed some soy pills and powders from soy phytochemicals, and have widely pronounced them to be natural healers for menopausal discomforts, and also other illnesses. It is not however not authenticated that soy products for menopause relief play a vital role in managing menopause symptoms.

Soy is extremely rich in isoflavones, some types of phytoestrogen. Phytoestrogens are simply chemicals embedded in plants that are characterized as having similar functions with estrogens. It is argued that the body can synthesize them to work similarly with estrogens.



Menopausal-related disorders such as night sweats and hot flashes have originally been treated using conventional medicines. However, the inference that soy and its various forms is rich in phytoestrogen which acts like estrogen in reducing the wrath of menopausal discomforts has made many people prefer it to the previous treatment methods, most especially because it is natural. Soy food industries as well as other supplement industries have since embarked on developing alternative treatment methods of menopause symptoms, by dint of soy.

What people do not actually comprehend is that these isoflavones do not precisely play equivalent roles with estrogens, thereby not confirming their essence in the treatment process. The famous norm that soy products aid affected persons alleviate the consequences of menopausal is therefore invalidated and unjustifiable.

That said, it is also worth noting that soy phytoestrogens do not have many positive effects on vasomotor signs, for example vaginal dryness, hot flashes and also night sweats. Recent researches carried out by multiple organizations and health agencies revealed that women who utilized phytoestrogen-rich soy products noticed a reduction in the ramifications of their hot flashes, by up to fifty percent.

However, while these soy estrogens diminish the effects of these hot flashes, they are clearly incomparable to conventional estrogens, which more often than not, eliminate hot flashes completely, and quicker. The isoflavones in soya, it has been confirmed by several recent studies, are inhibitors of aromatase, and this thereby lowers the estrogen levels made in the body. This is counterproductive in the control of vasomotor symptoms.

New studies however reveal that the consumption of soy products does not effectively hot flashes, bone loss and other uncomfortable symptoms associated with menopause. Isoflavones, hormonal mimics, instead disrupt the delicate hormonal systems in the body and also act as goitrogens- substances that end up suppressing the thyroid function.

Conclusively, though there has been a speculation that the use of soy and its products helps in the managing of menopause discomforts, there is no valid proof for this.




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