Phytoestrogens in Menopausal Hot Flashes: A Review Article

Background: Menopause is a biopsychosocial phenomenon in a woman’s life, and it occurs at about the age of 48-55 years. Factors such as smoking, the number of children, early puberty, and social class can cause early natural menopause. Symptoms that occur during menopause include headache, mood disorders, insomnia, distraction, hot flashes, vaginal dryness, and sweating. The most common symptom is hot flashes, which affect 85% of women with menopause. Recently, people are showing more tendencies toward alternative therapies and herbs phytoestrogens. Objective: This review aims to introduce the mechanism of herbal phytoestrogens controlling hot flashes during menopause. Methods: Our searches were performed in the databases of PubMed, Scopus, and Cochrane. English clinical trials, that investigated the effects of phytoestrogen plants individually or in combination on the treatment of hot flashes in menopause were analyzed. After reviewing articles and meeting the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 18 articles were selected. Results: In this study, 18 clinical trials of 2351 female patients were analyzed. The phytoestrogen plants studied include soy, red clover, cohosh, hops, flax, pomegranate, anise, and Vitex Agnus. Conclusion: Studies have shown the beneficial effects of phytoestrogens in controlling hot flashes, but in some cases, including soybeans, there are contradictory effects. Therefore, more clinical trials are needed to achieve reliable results to confirm the phytoestrogen effects of herbal medicines.