Gerry Gajadharsingh writes:

“This research, which focuses on a vegan diet (soya beans), suggests that significant changes in the gut Microbiome can lead to significant reductions in vasomotor symptoms in postmenopausal women, such as hot flushes.

I think the key is that dietary change (vegan or otherwise and other factors that can manipulate and support a healthy gut microbiome can be beneficial for menopausal symptoms.”

Medscape

Megan Brooks

TOPLINE:

A 12-week low-fat vegan diet with soybeans led to significant changes in the gut microbiome that correlated with significant reductions in vasomotor symptoms in postmenopausal women.

METHODOLOGY:

  • For this exploratory analysis, postmenopausal women with two or more moderate to severe hot flashes daily were randomly assigned in two successive cohorts to consume a low-fat vegan diet with cooked soybeans or their usual diet.
  • Over a 12-week period, frequency and severity of hot flashes were recorded on a mobile application.
  • Researchers used deep shotgun metagenomic sequencing to analyze the gut microbiome at baseline and 12 weeks in a subset of 11 women in the dietary intervention group.

TAKEAWAY:

  • In the subset receiving microbiome analysis, total hot flashes decreased by 95%, moderate to severe hot flashes decreased by 96%, and severe hot flashes disappeared during the dietary intervention.
  • The relative abundance of Porphyromonas and Prevotella corporis decreased in participants on the diet intervention, and this correlated with a reduction in severe daytime hot flashes.
  • The relative abundance of Clostridium asparagiforme also decreased in participants on the low-fat vegan diet, and this change correlated with a reduction in total severe and severe nighttime hot flashes.
  • However, after correction for multiple comparisons, these associations were no longer significant.

IN PRACTICE:

“The targeted and untargeted gut microbiome analysis was robust and revealed important changes in the gut microbiome composition in response to a low-fat vegan diet and large correlations with symptomatic changes,” the authors write. “Larger randomized clinical trials are needed to further investigate these findings.”