New Poll: Most Women Don’t Know That Diet Change Can Reduce Hot Flashes

WASHINGTON, D.C.—As Menopause Awareness Month approaches in October, a new poll finds that just 43% of women believe that diet influences the number and intensity of hot flashes for women experiencing menopause, despite research showing that a low-fat, plant-based diet that includes soy can significantly reduce hot flashes.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine/Morning Consult poll, which was conducted Aug. 6 to 7, 2025, and included 1,155 women, also found:

• 19% thought that women experiencing menopause should avoid soy products, while 21% thought that they didn’t need to avoid soy products.
• 11% thought consumption of ultra-processed plant foods (such as plant-based meat and dairy alternatives) reduces hot flashes, while 22% thought it increases hot flashes.
• 13% thought consumption of ultra-processed plant foods led to weight loss for women experiencing menopause, while 26% thought it increased weight.

“Our research has found that a low-fat plant-based diet that includes soybeans can significantly reduce hot flashes and weight in postmenopausal women,” says Hana Kahleova, MD, PhD, director of clinical research at the Physicians Committee. “Women can even experience these health benefits when their diet includes plant-based foods that are considered ultra-processed—like soy milk and plant-based meat alternatives.”

Dr. Kahleova and Neal Barnard, MD, president of the Physicians Committee, led the Women’s Study for the Alleviation of Vasomotor Symptoms (WAVS) trial, which was published in the journal Menopause in 2023. The study found that a plant-based diet rich in soy reduced moderate to severe hot flashes by 88% and helped women lose 8 pounds, on average, in 12 weeks. A secondary analysis of the study found that women experienced a reduction in hot flashes and weight regardless of the level of processing—from unprocessed to ultra-processed—of the plant-based foods.

The study included 84 postmenopausal women reporting two or more hot flashes per day. They were randomly assigned either to an intervention group—consisting of a low-fat, vegan diet, including half a cup of cooked soybeans daily—or to a control group that made no diet changes for 12 weeks. The study was the second phase of a two-part trial, the first of which was published in Menopause in 2021.

Approximately 75% of women experience hot flashes as they go through menopause, but these symptoms receive inadequate attention in primary care settings, according to a study published by the Menopause Society last year.

“This Menopause Awareness Month—and all year long—I urge physicians and other clinicians to encourage their patients who are in any phase of menopause to try a plant-based diet to help fight hot flashes, reduce their weight if needed, and improve other health conditions,” says Vanita Rahman, MD, clinic director of the Barnard Medical Center in Washington, D.C., who recently presented on menopause at the International Conference on Nutrition in Medicine.