Some herbal therapies are associated with modest reductions in menopausal symptoms, a new study suggests.

Medical treatments for symptoms associated with menopause are available, including hormone replacement therapy. However, given their potentially negative health consequences, many women opt for complementary therapies, including herbal therapies.

Although associations of these therapies with menopausal symptoms have been evaluated in randomized trials, most of these studies were limited by sample size, a short follow-up period, quality problems and inconsistent findings.

But now a team of researchers from the Netherlands and the U.K. find that some of these therapies do result in a modest reduction of hot flashes and vaginal dryness, although they had no effect in reducing the frequency of night sweats, the investigators say.

These therapies include the oral use of phytoestrogens such as dietary soy isoflavones and soy extracts; herbal remedies such as red clover and black cohosh; and Chinese and other medicinal herbs.

The team conducted an analysis of 62 studies involving 6,653 women. They found the use of phytoestrogens was associated with helping these menopausal symptoms. In particular, individual phytoestrogen interventions such as dietary and supplemental soy isoflavones were associated with improvement in daily hot flashes and vaginal dryness score. Several herbal remedies, but not Chinese medicinal herbs, were associated with an overall decrease in the frequency of vasomotor symptoms, which include hot flashes and vaginal dryness.

Because of the inconsistencies in the studies, though, further rigorous research is needed to get a better picture of how herbal remedies can help women dealing with menopause, say the researchers of their study, which appears in JAMA.