The Study
Processed foods in the context of a vegan diet, and changes in body weight and severe hot flashes in postmenopausal women: a secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial
This study is like a science experiment where half the women changed what they ate, and the other half didn’t. The ones who ate only plants lost weight and had fewer hot flashes. But we can’t say for sure that eating processed foods caused those changes — we only saw that they happened together.
Analysis score
Maximum 72 for a cohort study.
Where the score came from
Women who stopped eating animal foods and ate lots of plants and soy every day for 12 weeks had way fewer hot flashes and lost weight — even if they ate processed plant foods like vegan burgers.
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 553 / 100
Quality score
Groups of people are followed over time to see who develops an outcome. Strong for identifying risk factors and associations, but cannot prove causation as firmly as RCTs.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Yes — 92% fewer severe hot flashes means most women stopped having them entirely, and losing 3.6kg is a meaningful, healthy weight loss without dieting.
- 2Hot flashes dropped by 92%, weight dropped by 3.6kg.
- 3Cutting out animal foods — whether plain or processed — was linked to these changes.
- 4Eating processed plant foods didn't help or hurt.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Menopause (New York, N.y.)
Year
2025
Authors
H. Kahleová, Tatiana Znayenko-Miller, Arathi Jayaraman, Giulianna Motoa, L. Chiavaroli, Richard Holubkov, Neal D. Barnard
Related Content
Claims (10)
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.
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 on a vegan diet who reduce their daily intake of ultra-processed animal foods by 65 grams experience a 43% decrease in body weight and a 31% decrease in severe hot flashes.
Postmenopausal women who followed a low-fat vegan diet with soybeans for 12 weeks lost an average of 3.6 kg and experienced a 92% reduction in severe hot flashes, while women who kept their normal diet showed no significant change.
In postmenopausal women following a vegan diet, eating ultra-processed plant-based foods does not lead to weight loss or a decrease in severe hot flashes.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.