MONDAY, June 2, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Hot flashes, night sweat and other symptoms making menopause hellish for you?

You might consider going vegan, a new study suggests

Severe hot flashes decreased by 92% among a group of menopausal women assigned to eat a low-fat vegan diet for three months, researchers reported May 28 in the journal Menopause.

The women also lost an average 8 pounds by eating vegan, results show.

Women achieved these results even if the plant-based foods they ate were processed or ultraprocessed fare like Beyond Burgers or BOCA burgers, researchers found.

The results suggest that “replacing the consumption of both unprocessed or minimally processed and ultra-processed animal foods with plant foods (regardless of the level of processing), was associated with significant weight loss and a reduction in severe hot flashes,” concluded the research team led by Dr. Hana Kahleova, director of clinical research for the Physicans Committee for Responsible Medicine.

For the study, researchers randomly assigned 42 menopausal women to follow a low-fat vegan diet supplemented with soybeans. A like number were told to continue their regular diet.

After 12 weeks, women in the vegan group had lost weight and suffered fewer hot flashes, while nothing much changed for those who continued their regular diet.

This occurred even if women ate highly processed plant-based foods, researchers found.

What mattered most was whether the food came from an animal or a plant, the team concluded.

A plant-based diet might influence menopause symptoms by changing women’s levels of advanced glycation end-products (AGEs), researchers speculated. AGEs are a group of endocrine disruptors that affect the secretion of insulin, reproductive hormones and hormones released by fat tissue.

"This study highlights the potential positive effects of a plant-based diet rich in soy (regardless of the level of processing) in terms of both hot flash and weight management,” Dr. Stephanie Faubion, medical director for The Menopause Society, said in a news release. 

“Given these and the other known benefits in terms of lowering heart disease and cancer risk, women in midlife should consider leaning into a plant-based diet," she added.

More information

The Mayo Clinic has more about menopause.

SOURCES: The Menopause Society, news release, May 28, 2025; Menopause, journal, May 27, 2025