Purpose Cognitive decline is commonly reported during the menopausal transition, with memory and attention being particularly affected. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of a commercially available soy drink on cognitive function and menopausal symptoms in post-menopausal women. Methods 101 post-menopausal women, aged 44-63 years, were randomly assigned to consume a volume of soy drink providing a low (10 mg/day; control group), medium (35 mg/day), or high (60 mg/day) dose of isoflavones for 12 weeks. Cognitive function (spatial working memory, spatial span, pattern recognition memory, 5-choice reaction time, and match to sample visual search) was assessed using CANTAB pre-and post-the 12 week intervention. Menopausal symptoms were assessed using Greene's Climacteric Scale. Results No significant differences were observed between the groups for any of the cognitive function outcomes measured. Soy drink consumption had no effect on menopausal symptoms overall; however, when women were stratified according to the severity of vasomotor symptoms (VMS) at baseline, women with more severe symptoms at baseline in the medium group had a significant reduction (P = 0.001) in VMS post-intervention (mean change from baseline score: − 2.15 ± 1.73) in comparison to those with less severe VMS (mean change from baseline score: 0.06 ± 1.21). Conclusions Soy drink consumption had no effect on cognitive function in post-menopausal women. Consumption of ~ 350 ml/day (35 mg IFs) for 12 weeks significantly reduced VMS in those with more severe symptoms at baseline. This finding is clinically relevant as soy drinks may provide an alternative, natural, treatment for alleviating VMS, highly prevalent among western women.

Objective: Dietary soy may improve menopausal symptoms, and subsequently mediate mood. This novel study examines various does of dietary soy drink on everyday mood stability and variability in postmenopausal women. Methods: Community dwelling women (n=101), within 7 years post menopause consumed daily either a low (10mg, n=35), medium (35mg, n=37) or high (60mg, n=29) dose of isoflavones, for twelve weeks. Menopausal symptoms and repeated measures of everyday Mood (Positive (PA) and Negative (NA) affect) (assessed at four time points per day for four consecutive days, using PANAS) were completed at baseline and follow up. Results: The dietary soy intervention had no effect on everyday mood stability (for PA (F(2,70) = .95, p = .390) and NA (F(2,70) = 0.72, p = .489) or variability (for PA (F(2,70) = .21, p = .807) and for NA (F(2,70) = .15, p=.864) or on menopausal symptoms (for vasomotor (F (2,89) = 2.83, p = .064), psychological (F (2,88) = 0.63, p = .535), somatic (F (2,89) = 0.32, p =.729) and total menopausal symptoms (F (2,86) = 0.79, p = .458)). There were between group differences with the medium dose reporting higher PA (low, mean: 24.2, SD: 6 and medium, mean: 29.7, SD: 6) and the low dose reporting higher NA (P = 0. 048) (Low, mean: 11.6, SD: 2 and high, mean: 10.6, SD: 1) in mood scores. Psychological (baseline M = 18 and follow up M = 16.5) and vasomotor (baseline M = 4.2 and follow up M = 3.6) scores declined from baseline to follow up for the overall sample. Conclusions: Soy isoflavones had no effect on mood at any of the doses tested. Future research should focus on the menopausal transition from peri to post menopause as there may be a window of vulnerability, with fluctuating hormones and increased symptoms which may affect mood.

Cognitive function may be impaired during the menopausal transition, with attention and working memory being particularly affected (1) Healthy cognitive ageing studies suggest that dietary intake of B-vitamins, omega 3 fatty acids, antioxidants as well as adherence to a Mediterranean dietary pattern may protect against cognitive decline in older adults (2). Further research however is required to substantiate these findings and few studies have focused on dietary patterns and cognitive function in post-menopausal women. This study aimed to investigate the association between dietary patterns and cognitive function in early postmenopausal women. This study was conducted using baseline data from an ongoing intervention study to assess the effects of soya isoflavones on cognitive function. Dietary intake of postmenopausal women, within 7 years of their last menses (n = 104), was assessed using the validated EPIC food frequency questionnaire (3) from which dietary patterns were identified using principal component analysis. Cognitive function was assessed using the validated Cambridge neuropsychological automated test battery (CANTAB), using tests to assess working memory, recognition memory and measures of attention. Demographic information including age, time since last menstrual period, education and smoking and alcohol use was collected via a health and lifestyle questionnaire. Factor analysis identified four dietary patterns; 'dairy, fruit and veg', 'fats, potatoes and sugars', 'nuts and cereals' and 'potatoes, fish and alcohol', none of which were significantly associated with any of the cognitive function measures assessed (P > 0•05). Age was a significant predictor of pattern recognition memory [β = 0•30 (95% CI: 0•002, 0•013), P < 0•01]. Further research on the effects of diet on cognitive function in menopausal women is needed with the aim of identifying a natural approach for the alleviation of cognitive problems associated with the menopause.

No abstract

No abstract