Diet quality, body weight, and postmenopausal hot flashes: a secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial

Authors

Haley Brennan, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, 5100 Wisconsin Ave, NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC, 20016, USA.
Tatiana Znayenko-Miller, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, 5100 Wisconsin Ave, NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC, 20016, USA.
Macy Sutton, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, 5100 Wisconsin Ave, NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC, 20016, USA.
Richard Holubkov, School of Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
Neal D. Barnard, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, 5100 Wisconsin Ave, NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC, 20016, USA.
Hana Kahleova, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, 5100 Wisconsin Ave, NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC, 20016, USA. hkahleova@pcrm.org.

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

11-23-2024

Journal

BMC women's health

Volume

24

Issue

1

DOI

10.1186/s12905-024-03467-4

Keywords

Diet quality; Hot flashes; Nutrition; Plant-based; Vegan

Abstract

BACKGROUND: A low-fat vegan diet, supplemented with soybeans, has been shown effective in reducing postmenopausal hot flashes. This secondary analysis assessed the association of a plant-based index (PDI), healthful (hPDI), and unhealthful (uPDI), with changes in hot flashes in postmenopausal women. METHODS: Participants (n = 84) were randomly assigned to a low-fat vegan diet supplemented with soybeans (n = 42) or a control group (n = 42) for 12 weeks. Three-day dietary records were analyzed and PDI indices were calculated. A repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: All three scores increased in the vegan group, compared with no change in the control group; the effect sizes were: PDI + 9.8 (95% CI + 5.8 to + 13.8; p < 0.001); hPDI + 10.9 (95% CI + 6.4 to + 15.3; p < 0.001); and uPDI + 3.6 (95% CI + 0.5 to + 6.6; p = 0.02). The change in all three scores negatively correlated with change in body weight (PDI: r=-0.48; p < 0.001; hPDI: r=-0.38; p = 0.002; and uPDI: r=-0.31; p = 0.01). The changes in PDI and uPDI were negatively associated with changes in severe hot flashes (r=-0.34; p = 0.009; and r=-0.43; p < 0.001, respectively), and associations remained significant after adjustment for changes in body mass index (r=-0.31; p = 0.02; and r=-0.41; p = 0.001, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that minimizing the consumption of animal products and oil may be an effective strategy to reduce hot flashes in postmenopausal women, and that categorization of plant foods as "healthful" or "unhealthful" may be unwarranted. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04587154, registered on Oct 14, 2020.

APA Citation

Brennan, Haley; Znayenko-Miller, Tatiana; Sutton, Macy; Holubkov, Richard; Barnard, Neal D.; and Kahleova, Hana, "Diet quality, body weight, and postmenopausal hot flashes: a secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial" (2024). GW Authored Works. Paper 5977.
https://hsrc.himmelfarb.gwu.edu/gwhpubs/5977

Department

Medicine