Although soya and the menopause have gone hand-in-hand in many Asian countries for thousands of years, in the United States and Europe there continues to be debate.

Typically, Asian women consume things such as tofu, miso, tempeh, soya sauce etc., taking in on average 200 milligrams daily. Research has shown that Asian woman tend to have fewer symptoms of the menopause and less severe symptoms and studies have been performed to determine if soya and menopause are indeed linked. What they have discovered is that the isoflavones in soya do have a hormone balancing effect. They can not only take the place of natural oestrogen and increase oestrogen levels when they are too low, but they can also reduce them when they are too high. This particular process is not fully understood but what is known is that regular consumption of soya can help ease or minimise menopause symptoms.

It is important to bear in mind that some of the studies performed indicate that the effect of the soya depends on the woman’s level of natural oestrogen while being consumed. For example, for a woman still having a normal menstrual cycle, the effects of soya showed little change. On the other hand, for women going through the change of life, it showed that the intake of soya increased the level of oestrogen. The result was fewer and less severe symptoms associated with menopause. With this, it appears soya and menopause is a good match.

In addition to the consumption of soya helping with hot flashes, it appears to have a protective effect on the heart. For instance, LDL, or bad cholesterol is also lowered. Again, the reason is not yet understood but somehow, soya helps by keeping the cholesterol within a range considered healthy. With this, a woman’s risk of stroke and heart attack is also reduced. However, there is more regarding soya and menopause. Other studies show that the isoflavones in soya keeps muscle cells strong, which reduces the woman’s risk of developing atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries and other research shows that soya may contain compounds that can inhibit breast and endometrial cancer (often due to excess oestrogen), fibroids, high blood pressure and osteoporosis.

With so many potential health benefits for women including soya in your diet is a sensible option for women, particularly if you are approaching menopause. If you’re going to include soya in your diet make sure you include good sources. There’s been some concern in recent years about aluminium levels in soya which have been linked to Alzheimer’s disease. However, this is only when soya is eaten in excess.

Eaten in moderation — say four or five times a week – soya can reduce cholesterol levels, protect against heart disease and encourage hormonal balance in women going through menopause or peri-menopuase. The best way to eat soya is in its traditional form, avoid snack bars which may contain raw soya and avoid any soya products which contain soya isolate as these are not made from the whole soya beans. Also make sure you only buy soya products which are organic otherwise they could be genetically modified.

We generally trust that ‘health foods’ will benefit us in the way they claim to, but just how good for us are they?

• Cereals: We’re often told to start the day with a nutritious bowl of cereal. While breakfast cereals contain vital vitamins and minerals, what the brightly coloured packaging or glossy advertising campaigns don’t always tell us is that they can also be laden with sugar, salt and saturated fats. Cereals can be a great way to start the day, but be careful to avoid high sugar varieties. Instead, go for an oat-based cereal or sugar free muesli to help stabilise your blood sugar.
• Breakfast/cereal bars: Like breakfast cereals, these are full of sugar and saturated fats, shattering their image as a nutritious, low-fat and low-salt nibble. They can sometimes have the same fat and sugar content as a chocolate bar so best to snack on fruit and nuts or seeds instead.
• Fruit juices: Fruit juice drinks tend to be full of sugar – there can be less than 10 per cent real fruit juice, the rest is sugar (or even artificial sweeteners), water and flavourings. If a ‘fruit juice’ has the word ‘drink’ in the title, then it should be avoided as otherwise it will not be 100% fruit juice. Look out for ‘100 per cent fruit juice’ on the label. This means it contains no added sugar, but you should still be aware of the natural sugars found in fruit, so don’t go overboard, or dilute the juice with half water. In the same way, fruit yoghurts contain little in the way of real fruit pieces and are often packed with sugar, additives and preservatives so go for organic, natural yogurt, preferably with a live culture to aid your digestion. A seemingly ‘healthy’ fruit yogurt, even an organic one, can contain up to eight teaspoons of sugar.
• Canned soups: Canned soups are often packed full of salt and high in fat, especially the creamy and cheesy varieties. A diet too high in salt is linked with an increased risk of high blood pressure. Just one cup of soup can contain a third of your recommended daily salt allowance. Even supposedly low-salt canned soup contains a substantial amount of salt. Your best bet is to avoid completely and go for homemade soups instead. They are so easy to make. Also some soups, like tomato soup, can contain a fair amount of sugar, not what you would expect in a savoury food. Also sugar can be added to spaghetti sauces, tomato ketchup and baked beans so read the labels, as there are alternative products without sugar. .
• Pre-prepared salads: Pre-prepared and ready-washed salads are often washed in chlorine, not water. The chlorine is used to disinfect the salad and kill bacteria, but it also destroys the vitamins and minerals. It can be rinsed in up to 200 times the amount of chlorine found in tap water, although most of the residue is removed to ensure it meets government safety regulations. Organic salads cannot be washed using chlorine, so try to buy these if you can. Watch out too for any dressings enclosed; some can be very high in calories.

It’s well known that cranberries can help protect against cystitis but there are other foods for women with disease fighting properties:

1. Papaya. This tropical fruit packs about twice the vitamin C of an orange. After analyzing the blood of over 13,000 people, scientists from the University of California, San Francisco, found that women who had lower levels of vitamin C were more likely to have gallbladder illnesses. One medium papaya (about ten ounces), with its 188 mg of vitamin C and a mere 119 calories, is a good source of the vitamin. The once exotic fruit now can be found in most supermarkets.
2. Flaxseed. Rich in oestrogen-like compounds called lignans which are a potential weapon against that lady killer breast cancer. You can add flaxseeds (also called linseeds) to cakes and bread, but the easiest and healthiest way to get the beneficial lignans is to sprinkle a few tablespoons of ground flaxseed on your morning cereal. Look for the seeds in health food stores or in supermarkets and buy organic ones. They’re easy to grind in a blender or coffee grinder or you can get them ready ground in a vacuum pack and then store them in the fridge. Buy the seeds if you want the lignan-effect as there are no lignans in the oil.
3. Tofu. Foods high in soya protein can lower cholesterol and may minimize menopausal hot flushes and strengthen bone. Isoflavones, plant chemicals in soya beans that have a structure similar to oestrogen, may be the reason. A half-cup of tofu contains about 25 to 35 mg of isoflavones. Other beans like lentils, chickpeas, kidney beans etc are a good source of isoflavones too.
4. Collard Greens. This humble vegetable may help fight osteoporosis, which afflicts many women late in life. In addition to getting adequate amounts of calcium and vitamin D, some studies suggest that vitamin K may have a bone-protective effect as well. Based on data from one of the largest studies of women, the Nurses’ Health Study, researchers discovered that women who ate enough vitamin K-rich foods (at least 109 micrograms of the vitamin daily) were 30 percent less likely to suffer a hip fracture during ten years of follow-up than women who ate less. The researchers stated that dark-green leafy vegetables — Brussels sprouts, spinach, broccoli — are all good sources of the vitamin. But collard greens, with about 375 micrograms per half-cup, are among the best.