Menopause Break Through

Please see http://www.hmrlignan.com/html/menopause.htm for further information.

A new source of lignans has been discovered. What are lignans? Lignans arephyto-nutrients, a class of plant compounds beneficial to human health butnot classified as vitamins. Lignans are a normal part of a healthy diet andwidely distributed in foods and plants in small amounts. The most commondietary sources of lignans are unrefined grain products, seeds such as sesameand flaxseed and berries, fruits and vegetables.

Menopause ischaracterized by three distinct phase; the climacteric, menopause and postmenopause. During the climacteric the estrogen production by the ovariesstart to fail and hormone levels begin to fluctuate. It is these unpredictablefluctuations rather than a deficiency of estrogens that are thought to bethe likely cause of many of the classic climacteric symptoms such as hotflashes, insomnia, irritability and night sweats. During this period, normallylasting around 4 years, women use a variety of therapies to modulate hormonefluctua-tion, such as oral contraceptive pills (OCPs) and hormone replacementtherapy (HRT), to help alleviate climacteric symptoms. (Source American NursingAssociation). However, recent data from the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI)and the Heart and Estrogen/Progestin Replacement Study (HERS) suggest thatEPT may be linked with increased risks for coronary heart disease, breastcancer, thromboembolism, stroke, and dementia. Thus, phytoestrogens may offeran efficient and safe alternative to available hormone intervention options.Research has shown that the lignan metabolite enterolactone acts weakly onthe physiological estrogen balance and as such may offer a natural alternativeto help buffer the hormonal fluctuations during the menopausal phases andthereby help manage the classical menopausal symptoms.