The Study
The Women's Study for the Alleviation of Vasomotor Symptoms (WAVS): a randomized, controlled trial of a plant-based diet and whole soybeans for postmenopausal women
This study showed that women who changed their diet to eat mostly plants and soybeans felt better and had fewer hot flashes than women who didn’t change their diet. But it doesn’t prove the diet caused the improvement — it just makes it very likely.
Analysis score
Maximum 90 for a randomized controlled trial.
Where the score came from
Women who ate a plant-based diet with soybeans every day for 12 weeks had way fewer hot flashes and felt better overall.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 560 / 100
Quality score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. The gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Yes — nearly 6 in 10 women stopped having disruptive hot flashes, and they felt better physically, emotionally, and sexually.
- 2Hot flashes dropped 79% overall, 84% for severe ones; 59% of women stopped having severe hot flashes; they lost 3.5 kg on average.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Menopause
Year
2021
Authors
Neal D. Barnard, Hana Kahleova, Danielle N. Holtz, Fabiola del Aguila, Maggie Neola, Lelia M. Crosby, Richard Holubkov
Related Content
Claims (8)
Among postmenopausal women, a diet that includes whole soybeans and is low in fat led to 59% of participants no longer experiencing moderate-to-severe hot flashes after 12 weeks.
Postmenopausal women who ate 86 grams of cooked whole soybeans daily as part of a low-fat plant-based diet experienced an 88% reduction in moderate-to-severe hot flashes, while those who did not had a 34% reduction.
Postmenopausal women who eat 86 grams of cooked whole soybeans daily as part of a low-fat plant-based diet experience a 79% reduction in total hot flashes and an 84% reduction in moderate-to-severe hot flashes after 12 weeks.
Postmenopausal women who followed a low-fat, plant-based diet with 86 grams of cooked soybeans daily for 12 weeks experienced a 79% decrease in total hot flashes and an 84% decrease in moderate-to-severe hot flashes; 59% of them no longer had moderate-to-severe hot flashes.
Postmenopausal women who follow a low-fat, plant-based diet and eat soybeans daily for 12 weeks experience greater reductions in nighttime moderate-to-severe hot flashes than those who make no dietary changes.
Postmenopausal women who follow a low-fat, plant-based diet with daily soybeans for 12 weeks experience lower symptom burden in vasomotor, psychosocial, physical, and sexual domains compared to those who make no dietary changes.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.