Most of us have got the message that eating more vegetables is both beneficial for our health and that of the planet, but could following a vegan diet (completely free of all animal-derived foods) reduce troublesome menopausal symptoms? Mounting evidence suggests it just might.
According to figures from YouGov around 2-3% of the UK’s population now follow a vegan diet1 and where once it was thought of as a slightly eccentric and fringe way of eating it is now growing in popularity and becoming increasingly mainstream. Significantly too, it is a diet that some research suggests a vegan diet can help reduce many menopause symptoms and related health conditions.
What exactly is it? A diet where you eat only plant-based foods such as vegetables and fruits, grains, pulses, nuts and nut butters, seeds and soy and where animal products (such as fish, meat, dairy produce like cheese, milk, butter) are off the menu whether for ethical, environmental or health reasons.
Emerging research suggests a well-planned and balanced vegan diet that should be high in fibre, antioxidants, phytochemicals (including phytoestrogens), prebiotics and probiotics:
It can help reduce the severity of Hot Flashes and Night Sweats
Evidence has been around for some time to show that women who eat more fruits and vegetables suffer less severely with vasomotor symptoms like hot flashes and night sweats – a side effect that is thought to affect up to 80 %2 of women going through the menopause3. In a study from 2018 involving over 750 perimenopausal and postmenopausal women some of which followed an omnivore diet (eating some meat and poultry) and others who followed a vegan one found that the perimenopausal vegans reported less bothersome menopausal symptoms than the omnivores4. In the 2021 Women’s Study for the Alleviation of Vasomotor Symptoms (WAVS)5 the research was aimed at assessing how over a 12 week period a low fat vegan diet containing half a cup of soybeans daily could potentially reduce hot flashes and night sweats. The study concluded that the diet reduced the frequency and severity of hot flashes and generally improved quality of life for postmenopausal women. In fact, many of them reported that they stopped having any hot flashes at all by the end of the three months. More recent research published in 2023 appears to confirm these findings – showing that eating a low-fat vegan diet containing soy products could reduce the incidence of moderate to severe hot flashes by as much as 96% in post-menopausal women6. How and why? A well-balanced vegan diet should be high in phytoestrogens (plant compounds that have a similar structure to human estrogen) such as soy, lentils, chickpeas and flax seeds and these have been found to help minimize some common menopausal symptoms like hot flashes and vaginal dryness.7
It can help you manage your weight
Weight gain is one of the most common symptoms of perimenopause and menopause and thought to affect at least half of women8. Declining estrogen levels and accompanying loss of muscle mass during these transitional times can lead to weight gain and how fat is stored. Women, on average, put on around 5lbs around the time of the menopause9 and this weight tends to accumulate and become stored around the abdomen as internal fat -or visceral fat -resulting in the infamous ‘meno-belly’. As we go through perimenopause and menopause it can also become harder to regulate insulin and blood sugar levels and over time this can lead to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and visceral fat – the dangerous fat that accumulates around our organs and puts us at a greater risk of cardiovascular disease. Research, however, shows that menopausal women who were put on a vegan eating plan, without any other dietary restrictions, lost more weight than those following a low fat, restricted eating plan.10
It may help boost libido
In an intriguing piece of research from Stanford University revealed in the 2024 Netflix documentary series You Are What You Eat11, women who ate a vegan diet for two months (compared to an omnivore diet) were found to experience a significant surge in libido. The study was carried out on two sets of identical twins who had their arousal levels recorded whilst watching pornography of their own choosing. The experiment was conducted before two of the twins switched to a well-planned vegan diet, and again eight weeks after they had been on their healthy eating plans. What happened? Both the women who followed a vegan diet were found to have a serious surge in arousal and libido12. This way of eating can also help you lose weight and feeling slimmer and better about your body is more likely to make you feel more like sex. It is also suggested that the isoflavone phytoestrogens found in soybeans and fermented soy products like miso and tempeh may help to relieve vaginal dryness – a common menopausal symptom that can make sex uncomfortable. Eating foods rich in omega 3 fatty acids like flaxseeds and nuts as part of a vegan diet can also act as natural lubricants.
It can support a healthier gut microbiome and could improve your mood
A healthy gut microbiome is fast becoming synonymous with good health generally - with benefits attributed to physical, physiological and psychological well-being. A vegan diet that is rich in antioxidants, fibre and phytonutrients such as phytoestrogen isoflavones can change the composition of your gut microbes, helping to feed and increase levels of the good bugs. These then fight inflammation systemically in the gut and also appear to balance estrogen levels. Research has shown that following a vegan diet for just 16 weeks can significantly boost the health of your gut microbiome and can, over time, lead to improvements in blood sugar management and your weight13. Eating prebiotic foods like onions, garlic, leeks, chicory root and banana as part of a vegan diet can also support the growth of healthy bacteria in the gut. Similarly, having fermented foods like sauerkraut or kimchi as part of vegan meals has also been shown to enhance the balance of beneficial bugs in your gut as the fermentation process creates probiotics which helps support a healthy balance of gut bacteria. We also know that up to 90% of serotonin – the so-called happy hormone which helps to stabilize mood – is produced in the gut. Research carried out on vegetarians and vegans shows that eating a high-quality plant-based diet is associated with lower levels of depression and scientists are keen to investigate this further to find out why14.
It could help boost your heart health
A vegetarian and/or vegan diet has long been associated with improvements in cardiovascular health15. Research published in the European Heart Journal has shown that a vegan diet can reduce levels of unhealthy ‘LDL’ cholesterol and fats in the blood and so reduce the risk of heart disease including heart attacks and stroke16. This is of particular relevance to menopausal women who lose the cardio-protective benefits of estrogen when levels of it decline during perimenopause and menopause. And while the effectiveness of plant-based diets on cardiovascular disease in easing menopause symptoms remains limited at the moment, there is encouraging research to show it could reduce levels of fat in the blood, help balance blood sugar and improve blood pressure in postmenopausal women17.
References:
- https://yougov.co.uk/society/articles/40517-meet-britains-vegans-and-vegetarians?redirect_from=%2Ftopics%2Fsociety%2Farticles-reports%2F2022%2F01%2F20%2Fmeet-britains-vegans-and-vegetarians
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30401547/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6226273/#:~:text=Vasomotor%20symptoms%20(VMS)%20occur%20in,women%20with%20an%20earlier%20onset.
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29704911/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8462449/
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0965229923000894?via%3Dihub
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27327802/
- https://thebms.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/19-BMS-TfC-Menopause-Nutrition-and-Weight-Gain-JUNE2023-A.pdf
- https://zoe.com/learn/menopause-weight-gain
- https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/can-a-vegan-diet-prevent-hot-flashes-at-menopause#Hot-flashes-and-the-gut-microbiome
- https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81133260
- https://nypost.com/2024/01/05/lifestyle/horny-vegans-womens-libidos-surge-up-to-380-after-switching-to-plant-based-diet-study-shows/
- https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190916185819.htm
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8718860/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9963093/#:~:text=Plant%2Dbased%20diets%20can%20lower,medications%20%5B8%2C11%5D.
- https://academic.oup.com/eurheartj/article/44/28/2609/7177660?login=false
- https://www.maturitas.org/article/S0378-5122(21)00293-0/fulltext
