Background: Diet has been suggested to be a potential risk factor for vasomotor menopausal symptoms (VMS), i.e. hot flushes and night sweats....
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Background: Diet has been suggested to be a potential risk factor for vasomotor menopausal symptoms (VMS), i.e. hot flushes and night sweats.
Objective: We investigated the associations between dietary patterns and risk of VMS using data from mid-aged women born between 1946 and 1951 in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health.
Design: A prospective cohort study of 6,040 women with a natural menopause, who were followed up at three-year intervals over nine years. Dietary intake was assessed at baseline in 2001 and presence of VMS was assessed at baseline and follow-up. Factor analysis and generalised estimating equation models for binary repeated-measures were performed.
Results: Six dietary patterns were identified from factor analysis; cooked vegetables, fruit, Mediterranean-style, meat and processed meat, dairy, and high fat and sugar. A higher consumption of the fruit or Mediterranean-style diet was inversely associated with VMS, with adjusted odds ratios of 0.81 (95% CI: 0.71,0.93; P for trend 0.0009) and 0.80 (95% CI 0.69,0.92; P for trend 0.0004) respectively when comparing the top to bottom quintiles. The high fat and sugar pattern increased the risk of VMS, with an adjusted odds ratio of 1.23 (95% CI 1.05,1.44; P for trend 0.02) when comparing the top to bottom quintile.
Conclusions: Consumption of a fruit or Mediterranean-style diet decreased the risk of reporting VMS, whereas consumption of a high fat and sugar diet increased the risk of VMS. These results may eventually lead to a basis for the development of dietary preventive measures for VMS.
