Genistein Is the Proven Safe and Effective Menopause Relief Supplement

Hot flashes and night sweats are the most common symptom of menopause in 50-70% of menopausal women in developed countries and estrogen hormone replacement therapy is a highly effective hot flashes treatment. However, in recent years the use of estrogen hormone therapy has been substantially reduced due to the finding in the large Women's Health Initiative study that it increases risk of stroke and breast cancer.? Thus, there is a need for a safe and non-hormonal alternative for hot flashes treatment.? One of the most highly studied alternatives is soybean isoflavones. It was suspected that soybeans contain compounds that provide menopausal relief since Asian countries where soybean consumption is much higher than in Western counties only 20-25% of postmenopausal women experience hot flashes and night sweats.

Soy isoflavones are naturally occurring in soybeans and consist of three compounds called genistein,daidzein, and glycitein which make up approximately 50, 40, and 10% of the total soybean isoflavone content, respectively. Since the mid 1990s, dozens of studies have been conducted with isoflavones to determine if they will alleviate menopausal symptoms. However, the findings have been very mixed and it was observed only recently those soy products with genistein as the major isoflavone were consistently effective and those with daidzein as the major isoflavone were mostly ineffective.? This observation has now been confirmed in three published clinical intervention studies in Italy and one recent clinical study in Canada with postmenopausal women given pure genistein that taken together prove its value in hot flash treatment.

In the first study by Crisafulli (2004) 98 postmenopausal women had hot flash reductions greater than placebo of 22, 29 and 24% after 3, 6 and 12 months, respectively. In a second study by D'Anna (2007, 2009) 389 postmenopausal women were given 54 mg/day of genistein or a placebo over 2 years.? Hot flashes and night sweats were reduced in the genistein group after one month and reached 56.5% after 12 months but did not decrease further in the second year. A third study by Albertazzi (2005) gave 90 mg/day of genistein or placebo to 100 postmenopausal women for 6 weeks.? Women who had more than 9 hot flashes per day had a 31.25% reduction in the genistein group compared to a 20% reduction in the placebo group.

A fourth clinical intervention study was conducted by Elliott (2009) with 84 Canadian postmenopausal women who received 30 mg of pure synthetic genistein or a placebo for 12 weeks.? After 12 weeks the women on genistein had a 51% reduction on hot flashes and night sweats compared to only 27% for the women in the placebo, a highly significant difference.? Compared to placebo, this reduction in hot flashes at 12 weeks was a net reduction of 24% which is very similar to the 29% net reduction seen in the Crisafulli (2004) study after 12 weeks.? What is particularly noteworthy about this study is that the dose was 30 mg versus 54 mg in the Italy studies and a daily genistein intake of 30 mg falls well within the range consumed by Asians who eat traditional soy foods.The genistein used in this study is branded as geniVida, a product of DSM Nutritional Products. It is 99% pure, soy-free, allergen-free and has an extensive package of safety studies in animals and humans which demonstrate it is safe for daily use.

The geniVida used in the above study is now available in a new product for hot flash relief called i-cool.? To learn more about i-cool and purchase go to SupplementFirst.com.

References Cited:

Crisafulli A, Marini H, Bitto A, Altavilla D, Squadrito G, Romeo A, Adamo EB, Marini R, D'Anna R, et al. Effects of genistein on hot flushes in early postmenopausal women: a randomized, double-blind EPT- and placebo-controlled study. Menopause 2004;11:400-4.

D'Anna R, Cannata ML, Atteritano M, Cancellieri F, Corrado F, Baviera G, Triolo O, Antico F, Gaudio A, et al. Effects of the phytoestrogen genistein on hot flushes, endometrium, and vaginal epithelium in postmenopausal women: a 1-year randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Menopause 2007;14:648-55.??

D'Anna R, Cannata ML, Marini H, Atteritano M, Cancellieri F, Corrado F, Triolo O, Rizzo P, Russo S, Gaudio A, Frisina N, Bitto A, Polito F, Minutoli L, Altavilla D, Adamo EB, Squadrito F. Effects of the phytoestrogen genistein on hot flushes, endometrium, and vaginal epithelium in postmenopausal women: a 2-year randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Menopause 2009;16:301-6.

Albertazzi P, Steel SA, Bottazzi M. Effect of pure genistein on bone markers and hot flushes. Climacteric 2005;8:371-9.

Elliott J, ?Evans M,? Sharma P, Berman B, Guthrie N. Genistein reduces the number and duration of hot flashes in peri/post menopausal women in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multi-center trial. Experimental Biology 2009, L8471, 4/09.