A vegan diet can nearly eradicate hot flushes in postmenopausal women, new research reveals. Overall, hot flashes of different severities were reduced by 95 per cent, with moderate to severe flashes reducing by 96 per cent and severe hot flashes being completely eliminated.

Participants who started the vegan diet also lost around 6.4 pounds in a 12-week study. These results, from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine in Washington DC, were caused by changes in gut microbiome that come with a low-fat vegan diet.

This lifestyle change can also decrease the risk of developing health problems such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes, as the bacteria that can lead to these issues are less abundant. Co-author Dr Hana Kahleova said: “Women who want to fight hot flashes should feed the bacteria in their gut a vegan diet rich in fruits, vegetables, grains, and beans, which also leads to weight loss and protects against heart disease and type 2 diabetes.”

This new research, published in the journal Complementary Therapies in Medicine, comes from secondary analysis of the WAVS trial. In the study, 84 postmenopausal women reporting two or more moderate-to-severe hot flashes daily were assigned 12 weeks on either a vegan diet or sticking to their usual eating habits.

For the secondary analysis, stool samples from 11 of the participants were used to study changes in gut microbiome. The study is the first to find that reductions in microbes Porphyromonas and Prevotella corporis are associated with the decrease in severe daytime hot flashes.

Prevotella corporis has also been found in the gut of people with rheumatoid arthritis and seems to have pro-inflammatory properties. Changes in the abundance of other bacteria looked at in the study may play a role in alleviating hot flashes by stabilising oestrogen levels, reducing inflammation, and increasing satiety, among other benefits.