Fruits, veggies help relieve menopausal symptoms but may increase urogenital problems

Increased consumption of fruits and vegetables (FV) appears to alleviate menopausal symptoms, although higher intake of certain types such as leafy greens and citrus fruits contributes to increased urogenital symptoms, a study has found.

Researchers collected sociodemographic data, dietary intakes and anthropometric measures from 393 postmenopausal women. They measured menopausal symptoms using the menopause rating scale (MRS) questionnaire, with the total MRS score (TMRSS) being the sum of the somatic, psychological and urogenital scores. Women were stratified according to their total MRS and domain scores (low and high).

Multivariable regression analysis revealed an inverse association between total FV intake with TMRSS (odds ratio [OR], 0.23, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.06–0.81) and somatic (OR, 0.30, 95 percent CI, 0.11–0.82) scores.

There also were inverse relationships between total fruits consumption and somatic score (OR, 0.27, 95 percent CI, 0.10-0.71), as well as citrus fruits and both TMRSS (OR, 0.23, 95 percent CI, 0.07–0.71) and somatic (OR 0.28, 95% CI 0.11-0.70) scores.

Meanwhile, increased consumption of certain types of fruits and vegetables was associated with higher urogenital scores, as follows: total FV (OR, 2.46, 95 percent CI, 1.37–4.41), total vegetables (OR, 2.54, 95 percent CI, 1.10–5.88), green leafy vegetables (OR, 3.59, 95 percent CI, 1.47-8.75), dark yellow vegetables (OR, 2.28, 95 percent CI, 1.00–5.18), other vegetables (OR, 5.23, 95 percent CI, 1.17–15.39) and citrus fruits (OR, 4.35, 95 percent CI, 1.77–10.71).