The effect of red clover isoflavone supplementation over vasomotor and menopausal symptoms in postmenopausal women

Objective. To evaluate the effect of red clover isoflavone supplementation over vasomotor and overall menopausal symptoms in postmenopausal women. Methods. One hundred and nine postmenopausal women aged 40 or more were assigned to randomly receive either two daily capsules of the active compound (80 mg red clover isoflavones, Group A) or placebo of equal appearance (Group B) for a 90-day period. After a washout period of 7 days, medication was crossed over and taken for 90 days more. Daily hot flush and night sweat frequency and overall menopausal symptom intensity (Kupperman Index) were measured at baseline, 90, 97 and 187 days. Results. Daily hot flush/night sweat frequency and Kupperman Index values were similar in both studied groups at baseline. All indices significantly decreased after red clover phase in Group A, corresponding, respectively to a 73.5%, 72.2% and 75.4% average decrement. These decrements were significantly higher than those observed for Group B after placebo phase (8.2%, 0.9% and 6.7% respectively). In Group A, after washout and placebo phases all values significantly increased. In Group B, all indices remained similar after placebo and washout phases, however significantly dropping after red clover treatment. These values were also significantly lower than those observed in Group A after placebo phase. No side effects were encountered after treatment with the active compound or placebo. Conclusion. Red clover isoflavone supplementation was more effective than placebo in reducing daily vasomotor frequency and overall menopausal intensity in postmenopausal women.