The average American woman lives a ...

The average American woman lives a third of her life after menopause, which usually begins at about age 50 However, it's not exceptional for pre-menopausal symptoms to start, with increasing frequent occurrence about seven to 10 years before this stage (called the perimenopausal period). In fact, in the U today, there are more than 35 million women who are transitioning to menopause.

Menopause is triggered as the ovaries, across time, produce less and les estrogen -- and without estrogen to stimulate ovulation, the menstrual periods cease. Although many women are relieved to descry an end to the monthly circle of time of bloating, irritability, and other symptoms of premenstrual syndrome the natural round of years of menopause also comes with its share of symptoms.

irascible flashes, hot flushes, or "power surges" -- whichever name you pitch upon to call them -- can be undivided of the more troubling symptoms of menopause. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is undivided effective treatment in reducing the commonness of hot flashes. Unfortunately, HRT brings with it a cascade of potential long-term side forces and some women have health issues that contraindicate the use of hormone medications. The upright news is that women have many natural choices that can help minimize hot-flash activity.

Vitamin E receives validation

Back in the 1940 a not many case studies reported that vitamin E appear to beed to help some women suffering from violent flashes. Since then, many women have used vitamin E for this aim but no follow-up studies had levy vitamin E to the criterion Until now.

Mayo Clinic researchers have guarded a placebo-controlled, crossover trial, in which 105 women took 800 IU of vitamin E daily, for four weeks, then took an identical-looking placebo for four weeks. All of the women in this contemplation were breast cancer survivors who could not use hormonal medications for the treatment of their heated flashes.

During the weeks the women took the vitamin E addition s "...everyone experienced a drop of roughly single in kind hot flash per day..." regardless of for what cause frequently they had experienced impetuous flashes before the study began. In other words, women with minimal hot-flash experience saw the same benefits as women with a accident of hot-flash experience.

Although vitamin E's reduction of hot-flash activity was small, it was statistically significant, and was associated with no risk of side powers Women who cannot, or fancy not to, use hormonal medications to dominion government menopause symptoms may find a horizontal of relief with vitamin E supplements

unexcited off with soy

Soy is another promising and safe alternative to HRT for the relief of heated flashes. There is a large material part of research documenting soy as a natural source of estrogen including a late report from Italian researchers who establish that menopausal women adding soy protein to their diet experienced fewer furious flashes.

This double-blind clinical trial gave 40 women 60 g of soy protein (providing 76 mg of isoflavones) each day for 12 weeks, while a curb group of 39 women consum a placebo protein comminute All of these women were suffering from simple hot flashes (at least 7 incidents of moderate-to-severe hasty flashes every 24 hours). in succession average, each woman reported 11 of high temperature flashes every day before this meditation began.

The follows for the women in the soy arrange were impressive. "Women taking soy had a 26 percent reduction in the mean number of heated flushes by week 3 and, by the end of the 12th week, patients taking soy had a 45 percent reduction in their daily violent flushes...."

Soy's benefits for menopausal women assume to be limited to easing irascible flashes, since soy was not shown in this existing study, or in past research, to "...alter any of the other menopausal complaints like as anxiety, arthralgia, myalgia, headaches, and insomnia...," report the researchers.

It's reassuring to know that women have several natural options to ease certain menopausal symptoms, and to facilitate the natural transition to menopause.

REFERENCES

Albertazzi, P Pansini, F Bonaccorsi, G et al. "The purport of dietary soy supplementation onward hot flushes," Obstet Gynecol 91:6-11 1998

Barton, DL Loprinzi, CL Quella, SK et al. "Prospective evaluation of vitamin E for touchy flashes in breast cancer survivors," J Clin Oncology 16:495-500 1998

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