A study from Australia suggests that women with a diet rich in fruits, certain vegetables, pasta and red wine are less likely to suffer from hot flashes and night sweats during menopause.
After studying 6.000 women for nine years, the authors found that those who ate lots of strawberries, pineapple and melon, and had a diet similar to the Mediterranean diet were a 20 percent less likely to mention those symptoms.
Instead, menopausal women with a diet rich in sugar and fat were a 23 percent more likely to feel hot flashes and night sweats.
The study does not prove that certain foods prevent or cause hot flashes, but it is one of the first to associate eating patterns, not only certain supplements, with menopausal symptoms.
“The study is well designed, but I not thrill me much because we do not find an explanation”, said Teresa Fung, research specialist in nutrition Simmons College, Boston. “Biological mechanisms involved ignore”, he added.
The team interviewed 6.040 women between 50 Y 55 years on what they ate and how often, and whether they smoked, drinking alcohol or exercised. All had reached menopause naturally.
At baseline, he 58 percent had hot flashes, night sweats or both. In the next nine years, women who ate fruits and foods of the Mediterranean diet (it, Leafy vegetables, pasta and red wine) They had fewer hot flashes, after adjusting for other lifestyle habits.
But the vegetables in general, meat and milk were not associated with higher or lower chance of developing menopausal symptoms, Gerrie-Cor as published Herber-Gast and Gita Mishra, University of Queensland, en American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Hormone therapy is the only known effective treatment for hot flashes. But since these drugs were associated with an increased risk of developing heart disease, Stroke and breast cancer in the Women's Health Initiative, researchers and women have been seeking safer alternatives.
For Herber-Gast and Mishra, reduced-fat and high-fiber diets could stabilize estrogen levels and relieve hot flashes and night sweats. Or that the Mediterranean diet keep blood sugar levels within the optimal range, which could also reduce the risk of women suffering from bothersome symptoms.
“We do not yet have many studies to make recommendations”, Fung said, who was not involved in the study.
Said that given the changes, physical and psychological, that occur at menopause, It would be an ideal for women to think about improving your diet and your overall health time.
Source: dietamediterranea.com
