Flaxseed effect on Menopausal Symptoms and Quality of Life

Abstract

Flaxseed has the highest concentration of lignan, which is one of the major  phytoestrogen  groups.  Lignan  has  non-hormonal  effects  in addition  to  its  estrogenic  and  anti-estrogenic  properties.  The improvement of the symptoms of premenstrual syndrome are one of the indications of this plant, therefore this study aimed to determine the effects of using flaxseed throughout the menopausal period on women’s menopausal symptoms and quality of life. 
Patients and Methods:  
double  blind  clinical  trial  done  in  Salahadeen  general  hospital/ gynecology outpatient clinic 1  January to 15  July 2021, including  convenient  sample  of  60  menopause  women  divided  into  3  groups:  Intervention group receive 5 g of flaxseed daily (20 patient) group A. HRT  group  receive  2  mg  of  estradiol  hemihydrate  +  1  mg  of norethindrone acetate (20 patient) group B. And Control group who did not receive any medical or complementary treatment (20 patients) group C. All 3 groups followed for 3 months.  
Results:  
Flaxseed had significant effect in decreasing the total MRS with mean  (-4.5) score after treatment in comparison to (-6) of hormonal therapy and (4.5) in control group, its effect is lower than the hormonal therapy but had good effect.  In the post treatment there were significant higher mean total physical SF-36 score among group A (44.98 ± 7.58), and B (40.7 ± 6.46) than group C (30.8 ± 3.92). 
Conclusions:  
flaxseed had significant positive effect in reducing the postmenopausal symptoms and had good effect in improving the quality of life among menopause women