Diet may improve vasomotor symptoms in postmenopausal women

Eating a healthy diet may help improve vasomotor symptoms in postmenopausal women, according to a new study.

Researchers set out to determine whether a diet that reduced fat intake and increased intake of fruit, vegetables and whole grains, along with resulting weight loss, would improve vasomotor symptoms of menopause, such as night sweats and hot flashes. They examined data from participants in the Women's Health Initiative Dietary Modification Trial who were not taking hormone replacement therapy. Women in the intervention group followed a low-fat diet (20% of energy from fat) with high intake of fruit and vegetables (five servings a day) and whole grains (six servings a day) and received group sessions with a nutritionist or dietitian, while women in the control group received written information on healthy diets. The study results were published online July 9 by Menopause.

Overall, 17,743 women from 50 to 79 years of age were included in the study. At baseline, 74% reported no hot flashes, 19% reported mild hot flashes, 6% reported moderate hot flashes, and 1% reported severe hot flashes. In addition, 73% reported no night sweats while 20% reported mild night sweats, 6% reported moderate night sweats, and 1% reported severe night sweats.

Multivariate-adjusted analyses that were also adjusted for intervention and for weight change found that women in the dietary intervention group who had vasomotor symptoms at baseline were significantly more likely to report symptom cessation than those assigned to the control group (odds ratio [OR], 1.14 [95% CI, 1.01 to 1.28]). Those who had symptoms at baseline but lost at least 10 pounds (OR, 1.23 [95% CI, 1.05 to 1.46]) or at least 10% of their body weight (OR, 1.56 [95% CI, 1.21 to 2.02]) by year 1 were also significantly more likely to report symptom cessation than those who maintained their baseline weight.

When the authors looked at the combined effect of dietary modification and weight loss, they found that women who lost at least 10% of their body weight via the intervention had a better chance of eliminating vasomotor symptoms than women in the control arm who lost the same amount, although the difference was not significant (ORs, 1.89 [95% CI, 1.39 to 2.57] vs. 1.40 [95% CI, 0.92 to 2.13]). An association was seen between large weight loss (i.e., over 22 pounds) and elimination of moderate to severe symptoms, but this association was not seen for dietary changes.

The authors noted that they didn't use objective measures of symptoms and didn't measure frequency, among other limitations. However, they concluded that the type of diet examined in this trial appeared to alleviate vasomotor symptoms in postmenopausal women, “over and above the effect of weight change.” Their findings support the idea that weight loss and changes in diet could be used as alternatives to hormone replacement therapy for vasomotor symptom relief in this population, they said.