The Diet (And Specific Food) That Might Help With Menopause Symptoms

People going through menopause can generally commiserate over a few shared experiences—such as uncomfortable symptoms like hot flashes. Fortunately, there are natural ways to manage common menopause symptoms.

According to the study, published earlier this month, a low-fat, vegan diet, specifically one that includes ½ cup of cooked soybeans daily, helped postmenopausal women decrease the number of hot flashes they reported by a whopping 79%. But not only that: The numbers showed that the frequency of moderate to severe hot flashes decreased by 84%, so the hot flashes the women were experiencing were less likely to be, well, brutal.

Though it was a smaller study (there were only 38 participants), the results show a strong correlation among that select group.

"About 80% of postmenopausal women have hot flashes in North America," explains Neal Barnard, M.D., FACC, a key author of the study. "But researchers noticed that in Japan, hot flashes were rare when the diet was more rice-based, but they became quite common when meat and dairy products became popular, suggesting a role for diet."

The vegan diet the participants followed looked like many plant-based diets: It emphasized fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes—and of course, the required ½ cup of soybeans per day.

"Soybeans contain isoflavones," explains Barnard, "which appear to be effective against hot flashes [according to previous research]. And one of these isoflavones is called daidzein. It's converted by your gut bacteria into another one called equal, which might be particularly effective against hot flashes.

In a video shared by the researchers, participants were quick to mention how easy this intervention was—and though it was a small study, it has some pretty impressive results for such a straightforward lifestyle shift.