A recent study examined the connection between diet, gut microbiome, and postmenopausal symptoms uncovered the intriguing associations that could potentially reshape the understanding of symptom management. The findings were published in Complementary Therapies in Medicine.
This study involved 84 postmenopausal women with moderate-to-severe hot flashes and focused into the impact of a specific dietary intervention. The participants were randomly assigned either a low-fat, vegan diet with cooked soybeans or instructed to maintain their usual diet. The study spanned over 12 weeks, in which the frequency and severity of hot flashes were meticulously tracked using a mobile application.

In a subset of 11 women, deep shotgun metagenomic sequencing of the gut microbiome was conducted at both baseline and after the 12-week dietary intervention. While alpha and beta diversity showed no significant differences, certain families, genera, and species exhibited changes in abundance. Also, families like Enterobacteriaceae and Veillonellaceae, genera including Fusicatenibacter and Intestinimonas, and species like Clostridium asparagiforme and Prevotella corporis were differentially abundant.
The results showed a remarkable 95% reduction in total hot flashes during the dietary intervention. Severe hot flashes disappeared entirely, and both daytime and nighttime hot flashes decreased significantly. While exploring the microbiome's role this study found associations between changes in specific bacteria and the reduction in severe day and night hot flashes. These changes in the relative abundance of Porphyromonas and Prevotella corporis were linked to reduced severe day hot flashes, while Clostridium asparagiforme was associated with a reduction in total severe hot flashes and severe night hot flashes.

This exploratory analysis suggests a potential link between changes in postmenopausal symptoms and alterations in the gut microbiome due to dietary shifts. Further research in this direction could revolutionize approaches to women's health in the postmenopausal stage.
Source:
Kahleova, H., Holtz, D. N., Strom, N., La Reau, A., Kolipaka, S., Schmidt, N., Hata, E., Znayenko-Miller, T., Holubkov, R., & Barnard, N. D. (2023). A dietary intervention for postmenopausal hot flashes: A potential role of gut microbiome. An exploratory analysis. Complementary Therapies in Medicine, 79(103002), 103002. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ctim.2023.103002