Soy menopause therapy discredited
Source: Agencies |
August 10, 2011, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
WOMEN seeking relief for menopause symptoms may have suffered a setback after a US study found that taking soy supplements may not help ease the symptoms or prevent the bone changes that start at that time of life.
Women have been without a clear treatment for menopause since a Women's Health Initiative (WHI) study of hormone therapy reported that there were heart and cancer risks with estrogen and progestin use - risks soy supplements do not have.
But the most recent study, reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine, found that women who take soy supplements every day for two years experienced no improvement in their symptoms compared with those who took a soy-free placebo - and they suffered more hot flushes by the end of the study.
Silvina Levis, of the Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, the study's lead author, said: "What prompted us to do this study was in the wake of the WHI, when many of our patients stopped using hormone therapy.
"Many of them had gone to a health food store and started on soy supplements. The study tried to answer a simple question - will these soy isoflavone tablets (which have a weak estrogen effect) help women?"
Levis and her team split 248 recently menopausal women into two groups. For two years, half of them took 200mg of soy isoflavones daily - about twice the level of a soy-rich diet. The other half took a placebo.
None of the participants, most of whom were Hispanic, knew whether they were getting the real or the placebo treatment. About 182 completed the study.
At a two-year review, women in both groups had lost the same amount of bone density in their spine and hip. They also reported similar menopause symptoms, except that more women in the soy group said they had hot flushes.
Women taking the daily soy supplement also reported some of the stomach and digestion problems, such as constipation, that have previously been linked to soy, but there were no serious side-effects, according to Levis.
She said: "When we started the study we wanted this to work, because it would provide an easy and healthy way to help women in the initial stages of menopause."
However, after this, "maybe women will reconsider."
Medications, including certain anti-depressants, may provide relief for menopause symptoms in some women, Levis said. For bone health, other doctors have recommended regular physical activity, combined with calcium and vitamin D supplements.
William Wong, a nutritionist at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, who did not participate in the study, said: "The scientific evidence is telling them that they might not receive any benefit from extra soy."
But he said that does not mean soy could not have health benefits over a longer period of time - for example, if girls started getting more of it during puberty.
Women have been without a clear treatment for menopause since a Women's Health Initiative (WHI) study of hormone therapy reported that there were heart and cancer risks with estrogen and progestin use - risks soy supplements do not have.
But the most recent study, reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine, found that women who take soy supplements every day for two years experienced no improvement in their symptoms compared with those who took a soy-free placebo - and they suffered more hot flushes by the end of the study.
Silvina Levis, of the Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, the study's lead author, said: "What prompted us to do this study was in the wake of the WHI, when many of our patients stopped using hormone therapy.
"Many of them had gone to a health food store and started on soy supplements. The study tried to answer a simple question - will these soy isoflavone tablets (which have a weak estrogen effect) help women?"
Levis and her team split 248 recently menopausal women into two groups. For two years, half of them took 200mg of soy isoflavones daily - about twice the level of a soy-rich diet. The other half took a placebo.
None of the participants, most of whom were Hispanic, knew whether they were getting the real or the placebo treatment. About 182 completed the study.
At a two-year review, women in both groups had lost the same amount of bone density in their spine and hip. They also reported similar menopause symptoms, except that more women in the soy group said they had hot flushes.
Women taking the daily soy supplement also reported some of the stomach and digestion problems, such as constipation, that have previously been linked to soy, but there were no serious side-effects, according to Levis.
She said: "When we started the study we wanted this to work, because it would provide an easy and healthy way to help women in the initial stages of menopause."
However, after this, "maybe women will reconsider."
Medications, including certain anti-depressants, may provide relief for menopause symptoms in some women, Levis said. For bone health, other doctors have recommended regular physical activity, combined with calcium and vitamin D supplements.
William Wong, a nutritionist at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, who did not participate in the study, said: "The scientific evidence is telling them that they might not receive any benefit from extra soy."
But he said that does not mean soy could not have health benefits over a longer period of time - for example, if girls started getting more of it during puberty.
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