As a slight review—estrogen is a hormone that helps to regulate a woman’s menstrual cycle. It plays an important role in a woman’s development during adolescence.

This hormone is responsible for controlling menstrual periods. During puberty it is also responsible for the development of pubic and armpit hair as well as breast development in women.

As a woman grows older, the production of estrogen decreases. When she reaches menopause, estrogen production dies down completely and a deficit in production is experienced and this hormone no longer has control over menstrual periods.

This reduced phytoestrogen levels during menopause is the reason why many women today take phytoestrogen supplements.

Supplementing with phytoestrogens work just like having the regular production of estrogens in the body. Remember, they have a similar chemical structure as estrogen and thus they have the same effect.

This means that the estrogen receptors in your body will treat the phytoestrogens that you intake just like any regular estrogen.

The effect of phytoestrogens is similar to estrogen—it disrupts the regular hormonal function in the body. However, do take note that there is a key difference between phytoestrogen and estrogen.

Estrogen produced in the body tends to bind a lot better to estrogen receptors when compared to phytoestrogens. This means that the effects of phytoestrogen on the body are weaker.

From what we have covered thus far, your best sources of phytoestrogen are through supplements and food. The next question is which foods can you eat in case you’re not too keen on taking supplements?

As stated earlier, you may already be eating phytoestrogen sources and have it in your kitchen. There are legumes, grains, fruits, and veggies that contain phytoestrogens.

Here is a short list of foods that are good sources of phytoestrogens:

• Flax seeds
• Ginseng
• Soybeans
• Beans
• Edamame
• Coffee
• Dried fruits such as apricots, prunes, and dates
• Oats
• Sesame seeds
• Rice bran
• Garlic
• Mint
• Peaches
• Lentils
• Berries
• Hops
• Wheat bran
• Tofu
• Cruciferous vegetables
• Tempeh

When you include foods rich in phytoestrogens, it is almost like taking phytoestrogen supplements.When you take either the supplement or eat foods rich in phytoestrogen, they will have the same effect like the estrogen produced in your body.

Since phytoestrogens are plant-based and people tend to include them in their diets, they are also referred to as dietary estrogens.

So why take supplements that contain phytoestrogens? Note that the best source of phytoestrogen is the food and herbs that we eat.

However, if you don’t have time to cook or if phytoestrogen rich foods aren’t readily available in your area, then your best source would be supplements.

Phytoestrogen supplements may be beneficial to women who are approaching or nearing menopause. Supplementation allows them to regain hormonal imbalance, which is one of the main causes of the many menopausal symptoms.

Perimenopause is the stage when a woman is starting to approach menopause. This stage usually starts around the age of 40.

During this time especially when a woman approaches menopause, menstruation stops. She will then experience a variety of symptoms that are caused by fluctuations in her hormonal levels.

Here are some of the common symptoms of menopause that women may experience:

• Mood swings
• Irregular periods
• Tiredness
• Low sex drive
• Tender breasts
• Hot flashes

Perimenopause can be an unpleasant experience. To help reduce the impact of the above mentioned symptoms, women sometimes go into hormone replacement therapy (HRT).

However, do take note that HRT makes use of synthetic estrogens. These are estrogens that were produced in laboratories.

They usually have related side effects. Women who want to undergo HRT but want to avoid experiencing any side effects usually take phytoestrogen supplements.

The following are some of the reported benefits that women have gained by taking supplements that contain phytoestrogens:

Hot flashes can be one of the most uncomfortable things that menopausal women can experience. Phytoestrogen supplements may be able to help women get almost instant relief.

The main question though is the side effects that may occur when women use these products. According to one study, there are no serious side effects when using these supplements to reduce the frequency of hot flashes.

Another common symptom of menopause is reduced energy levels and frequent mood swings. One way to deal with these issues is a change of diet—one that is rich in phytoestrogens.

An alternative to that is to take phytoestrogen supplements. Note, however, that more research is necessary in this area.

Some studies suggest that taking phytoestrogen supplements may help increase bone density in menopausal women. However, do take note that the results of clinical studies are rather mixed in this department.

For instance, here’s one study that suggests negative results after supplementation. According to one study a diet with higher phytoestrogen sources was associated with reduced bone mineral loss.

Due to the mixed results, we can safely say that more studies are required to verify this potential benefit.