Soy and Menopause Symptoms in Japanese

Soybean, the genus Glycine, belonging to the family Fabaceae, one of the legumes contains twice as much protein per acre than any other major vegetable or grain crop, native to Southeast Asia. Now, it is grown worldwide with a suitable climate for commercial profits.
Nutrients
1. Carbohydrates
2. Dietary fiber
3. Fat
4. Protein
5. Essential amino acid
6. Vitamin A
7. Vitamin B6
8. Vitamin B12
9. Vitamin C
10. Vitamin K
11. Calcium
12. Iron
13. Magnesium
14. Phosphorus
15. Potassium
16. Sodium
17. Zinc
18. Etc.
Phytochemicals
1. Isoflavones
2. Genistein
3. Saponins
4. Beta-sitosterol
5. Daidzein


A. The Japanese population
Japan, an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea, and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south(1c). According to Moriyama, Japanese women and men live longer and healthier than everyone else on Earth, it may be a result of healthier Japanese diet and lifestyle. According to the World Health Organization, the Japanese have an average of 75 years healthy living with disability-free, it may be due to average soy intake 10 to 70 times higher than in Western people(1a)(1b).

A5. Soy and menopause symptom in Japan
Menopause is defined as a condition in which women have not had a menstrual period in a minimum of 12 months period as a result of the inactive ovaries, assuming the women are not pregnant and experience the ease of visible symptoms of menopause such as hot flashes and night sweats but not the invisible effects of menopause. During postmenopause, any bleeding or spotting should be reported to your doctor immediately, because it may be caused by tumors rarely but it is possible. Symptoms may include Bleeding or spotting, Vagina itching and dryness, Hot flash, Bone pain, and fracture, Bladder infection, Skin wrinkle, Hypertension, Bone density loss, etc.

Epidemiological studies, linking soy effects on menopause symptoms have been inconclusive(1)(2)(3)(4). In Japanese women, phytochemicals in soy found effectively in reduced vasomotor symptoms of menopause. In the study of a supplement containing equol on the menopausal symptoms in Japanese, researchers at the Tokyo Medical and Dental University, showed that the equol-ingesting group, not only significantly reduces severity and frequency of hot flashes, neck or shoulder but also exhibited trends of improvement in sweating and irritability and a significant improvement in the somatic category symptoms(5). Administration of 10-mg natural S-(-)equol supplement consumed daily for 12 weeks also indicated a reduction of hot flushes and neck or shoulder muscle stiffness, in postmenopausal Japanese women(6). And fermented soy products have been also showed to alleviate the severity of hot flushes(14).
Some researchers suggested that the effectiveness of soy isoflavone in relieving symptoms of menopause may link to equol-producing status. In a 1-year double-blind, randomized trial in comparison of the effects of isoflavone (75 mg of isoflavone conjugates/day) in early postmenopausal equol-producer phenotype Japanese women, found that isoflavones exhibit the preventive effects on bone loss and fat accumulation in early postmenopausal women, depending on an individual's equol-producing capacity(7) and S-equol supplement improved mood-related symptoms in perimenopausal/postmenopausal even in equol nonproducers in Japan women, in total of 127 participants completed the trial(8).

Soy isoflavone extracts on testing on the lumbar spine or hip BMD in menopausal women of controlled trials published in English, Japanese, or Chinese, showed a result of varying effects on spine BMD(9). In comparing the symptom of hot flash and chilliness in menopause women, Dr. Melby MK. suggested that Japanese women experience important vasomotor symptom than hot flushes and sweats, it may be a result of dietary high in soy(10).

In Osteoporosis, menaquinone-7, the major chemical compound found in Japanese fermented soybeans, showed to prevent postmenopausal bone loss(11) and promote bone formation(13)(15) as well alleviating early postmenopausal women symptoms, such as in palpitation and backaches(15). Another study also suggested that intake of supplementation of isoflavones (ISO) regular associates to risk reduction of osteoporosis in middle-aged Japanese and menopausal Japanese women(12).

In fact, according to the study of cross-sectional relationships of dietary and other lifestyle variables to menopause by the Gifu University School of Medicine, such as smoking, calcium, and soy product intakes, intakes of fat, cholesterol, and coffee were significantly associated with the onset menopause in Japanese women(16).

Taken altogether, High soy food intakes are associated to reduce symptoms of menopause in Japanese women, especially in the major menopausal symptom of chilliness. Intake of a supplement containing equol is effective in symptom reduction even in nonequol producers in these population as well. According to the Royal Hospital for Women, the highest soy consumption in Japan lowered the rates of diseases, including breast, endometrial, colon and prostatic cancers atherosclerotic, etc. The induced extremely high urinary levels of phytoestrogen metabolites may be a result of isoflavones in exhibited bioactivity when intake of high concentrations. (17)

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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.

References
(a) The Science of Soy: What Do We Really Know? by Julia R. Barrett
(b) Guideline for healthy soy intake(the Unite Soybean board)
(1c) Japan, Wikipedia
(1a) Erdman JW Jr. AHA Science Advisory: soy protein and cardiovascular disease: a statement for healthcare professionals from the Nutrition Committee of the AHA. Circulation. 2000; 102: 2555–2559
(Soy protein and cardiovascular disease)
(1b) van der Schouw YT, Kreijkamp-Kaspers S, Peeters PH, Keinan-Boker L, Rimm EB, Grobbee DE. Prospective study on usual dietary phytoestrogen intake and cardiovascular disease risk in Western women. Circulation. 2005; 111: 465–471(Cardiovascular diseases in women)
(1) S-equol and the fermented soy product SE5-OH containing S-equol similarly decrease ovariectomy-induced increase in rat tail skin temperature in an animal model of hot flushes by Yoneda T1, Ueno T, Uchiyama S.(PubMed)
(2) A pilot study on the effects of S-equol compared to soy isoflavones on menopausal hot flash frequency by Jenks BH1, Iwashita S, Nakagawa Y, Ragland K, Lee J, Carson WH, Ueno T, Uchiyama S.(PubMed)
(3) Extracted or synthesized soybean isoflavones reduce menopausal hot flash frequency and severity: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials by Taku K1, Melby MK, Kronenberg F, Kurzer MS, Messina M.(PubMed)
(4) Treatment of vasomotor symptoms of menopause with black cohosh, multibotanicals, soy, hormone therapy, or placebo: a randomized trial by Newton KM1, Reed SD, LaCroix AZ, Grothaus LC, Ehrlich K, Guiltinan J.(PubMed)
(5) Equol improves menopausal symptoms in Japanese women by Aso T.(PubMed)
(6) A natural S-equol supplement alleviates hot flushes and other menopausal symptoms in equol nonproducing postmenopausal Japanese women by Aso T1, Uchiyama S, Matsumura Y, Taguchi M, Nozaki M, Takamatsu K, Ishizuka B, Kubota T, Mizunuma H, Ohta H.(PubMed)
(7) Possible role of equol status in the effects of isoflavone on bone and fat mass in postmenopausal Japanese women: a double-blind, randomized, controlled trial by Wu J1, Oka J, Ezaki J, Ohtomo T, Ueno T, Uchiyama S, Toda T, Uehara M, Ishimi Y.(PubMed)
(8) New equol supplement for relieving menopausal symptoms: randomized, placebo-controlled trial of Japanese women by Ishiwata N1, Melby MK, Mizuno S, Watanabe S.(PubMed)
(9) Effect of soy isoflavone extract supplements on bone mineral density in menopausal women: meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials by Taku K1, Melby MK, Takebayashi J, Mizuno S, Ishimi Y, Omori T, Watanabe S.(PubMed)
(10) Chilliness: a vasomotor symptom in Japan by Melby MK.(PubMed)
(11) Intake of fermented soybeans, natto, is associated with reduced bone loss in postmenopausal women: Japanese Population-Based Osteoporosis (JPOS) Study by Ikeda Y1, Iki M, Morita A, Kajita E, Kagamimori S, Kagawa Y, Yoneshima H.(PubMed)
(12) Soy isoflavone tablets reduce osteoporosis risk factors and obesity in middle-aged Japanese women by Mori M1, Aizawa T, Tokoro M, Miki T, Yamori Y.(PubMed)
(13) Promotion of bone formation by fermented soybean (Natto) intake in premenopausal women by Katsuyama H1, Ideguchi S, Fukunaga M, Fukunaga T, Saijoh K, Sunami S.(PubMed)
(14) Hot flushes and other menopausal symptoms in relation to soyproduct intake in Japanese women by Nagata C1, Shimizu H, Takami R, Hayashi M, Takeda N, Yasuda K.(PubMed)
(15) Soy intake related to menopausal symptoms, serum lipids, and bone mineral density in postmenopausal Japanese women by Somekawa Y1, Chiguchi M, Ishibashi T, Aso T.(PubMed)
(16) Association of diet and other lifestyle with onset of menopause in Japanese women by Nagata C1, Takatsuka N, Inaba S, Kawakami N, Shimizu H.(PubMed)
(17) Phytoestrogens and the menopause by Mackey R1, Eden J.(PubMed)