A Low-fat Diet Helps Against Hot Flashes

A low- fat diet and weight loss alleviate the symptoms of menopause in women, a new study shows.

It includes nearly 17,500 members of the fair sex. From the analysis of the data, the team concludes that in 90% of those who lost about 5 kg, the symptoms of menopause are not so intense. The usual signs of menopause are hot flashes , night sweats, bouts of irritability and severe anxiety ...

Ladies who manage to reduce their body weight by 10 kg, there are no complaints of this nature.

Upon entering menopause, women usually gain weight, which is mainly due to hormonal readjustment in their body. It has become a tradition for doctors to advise their patients at this age to pay more attention to their weight and daily habits, especially when it comes to eating. The amount of calories a woman needs is steadily declining after the age of 35. It must be regulated with the onset of menopause.

The author of the study, Betty Kaan from the Northern California consortium "Kaiser Permanent", emphasizes that the emphasis in the women's menu was whole grains and low-fat products., as they have not undergone hormone replacement therapy. The beneficial effects of hormone replacement therapy have been questioned in recent years. In principle, its application in medical practice in our country has never been widespread. Recently, Western experts have reservations about prescribing female sex hormones to improve the condition of their menopausal patients.

With the onset of the period and the decline of female sex hormones in the body of women there are changes that predispose them to no less than that of men to cardiovascular disease. That is why the number of heart attacks among women over 60 is not inferior to that of men of this age.

Estrogensin the female body have a beneficial effect on fat metabolism. With the cessation of the menstrual cycle in the blood vessels of the fairer sex begins to show the same tendency as in men to accumulate fat deposits. Increased cholesterol in the blood and body fat cause the symptoms of menopause to worsen, the researchers explain. Reducing fat in the diet allows the body to more easily cope with the release of heat, explains the author of the study.  

The benefits of the diet to improve the condition of menopausal women are shown by the following data: in those who lost about 5 kg without adhering to this regime, the complaints of hot flashes are limited to only 23%.

The author of the study points out that the focus of the study was not on weight reduction. The data were taken from other studies of women between 1993 and 1998 to determine the effect of a low-fat diet on the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer . Losing weight from this regimen is only an additional achievement.

Doctors recommend that women enter the menopause to increase their consumption of whole grains, fruits and vegetables at the expense of fatty foods.

The analysis of the study was published in the journal Menopause this month.