Soybeans for menopause

Menopause is a stage in which all women have to spend. It is defined as the end of the menstrual period. Usually occurs around age 50; however, a determining factor is the age at which women had their first menstruation. Some of the symptoms associated with menopause: hot flashes, night sweats, insomnia, irritability, depression and anxiety, among others.

The exact mechanism by which produce hot flashes in menopause remains unclear, but se cree que a decrease in levels of estrogen is what causes that. For this reason, women could benefit from estrogen effect of soy.

According to the Association of American Dietetics, a dose of 70 to 100 mg / day of isoflavones extract can reduce by 40% - 60% severity of hot flashes caused by menopause. In conclusion, soybeans could help reduce the intensity of symptoms, but not the incidence thereof.

Also se cree que soy may help prevent some problems that are heightened after menopause, such as osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease and cancer.

In the case of osteoporosis, phytoestrogens from soy could help reduce bone loss, because their health depends on several factors related to estrogen.

With regard to cardiovascular disease, the data indicate that the mortality rate from this disease is lower in Asia than in countries americas. It is known that the diet rich in soy that lead people in Asia plays an important role as it has shown that this vegetable has beneficial effects on cholesterol levels in blood. However, it has not been precisely identified the compound responsible for these changes.

It is likely that the benefits attributed to isoflavones, but also other components may be involved. Also se cree que soy has a preventive effect against cancer because the incidence of this disease is also much lower in Asia than in americas. However, there is always the question of whether the benefits are due to consumption of soy or even more influence if genetics and lifestyle in general of the Asian race.

Some suggestions to include soy into your diet:

You can find a variety of soy-based products such as soy beverages (soy milk), tofu or soy cheese, roasted soybeans, beef and soybeans, fruit juices with soy, etc.. The advantage is that you can mix with other foods and seasoning in different ways very easily. For example, tofu can replace the chicken in a salad. The soy milk can be mixed with frozen fruit to make a smoothie high in protein and antioxidants. The soy meat can be mixed with a little ground beef to turkey burgers.