INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR RESEARCH IN EMERGING SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, VOLUME-4, ISSUE-3, MAR-2017 E-ISSN: 2349-7610 VOLUME-4, ISSUE-3, MAR-2017 COPYRIGHT © 2017 IJREST, ALL RIGHT RESERVED 14 Menopause: Role of Dietary Phytoestrogens in Maintaining Menopausal Health Charu Yadav 1 and Swati Vyas 2 1 Charu Yadav, Research Scholar, Department of Home Science, The IIS University, Jaipur charuyadav82@gmail.com 2 Swati Vyas Senior Asst Professors, HOD, Department of Home Science, The IIS University, Jaipur swati.vyas@iisuniv.ac.in ABSTRACT Menopause is the time in a woman's life at which she can no longer reproduce. Symptoms of perimenopause, menopause, and postmenopause vary greatly from woman to woman. However, common symptoms of menopause include hot flashes, mood changes, fatigue, stress, tiredness, vaginal dryness, itching and complications such as osteoporosis, urogenital atrophy, heart problems, diabetes. HRT has been used for the treatment of menopausal symptoms for last many years, however HRT has been considered as an unfavorable procedure due to its non-availability to the poor and rural masses and several adverse affect. Hence dietary modification can be more efficient in managing menopausal symptoms and can be made available to poor population also. There are several non-nutrient components such as Phytoestrogen present in the diet which helps in maintaining good health status. The word phytoestrogen is derived from word ―phyto‖ meaning plants and ―estrogen‖ due to their ability to affect estrogenic activity in the body. Phytoestrogen are naturally occurring phytochemicals found in foods of plant origin and posses wide range of biochemical benefits. Phytoestrogen are phenolic non-steroidal compounds possessing estrogen like activity their structure is similar to estrdiols, the basis for their hormonal activity so they can bind to estrogen receptors and have a beneficial role in humans against deficiency of estrogen. These chemical components help in relieving menopausal symptoms. Hence the present research focuses on menopausal symptoms including complications and how menopausal symptoms can be contradicted by incorporation of dietary modification in diet of menopausal females. Keywords— Menopausal Symptoms, Dietary Phytoestrogens, estrogens, phytochemicals 1. INTRODUCTION Menopause is a natural part of a women's life when she no longer experiences menstruation. There is decline in progesterone and estrogen production eventually leading to cessation of periods. Perimenopause is the stage around menopause during which menstrual cycle and endocrine changes occur resulting into reduction in number of days of flow and skipping of periods one or more months during several years before complete cessation (Goyal, et al., 2012). At present the menopausal population of India is estimated to be about 103 million. Beginning of fertility ie at puberty with onset of first menstrual bleeding and ending of menopause is marked by hormonal changes in a women’s life. The average age for onset of menopause is 45-51 and it is defined as having taken place when women completes 12 menstrual cycles without any menstrual bleeding. After menopause the ovaries stop producing estrogen a hormone that helps in preventing bone loss leading to alteration in bone metabolism (Wark, 1996). Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) has been used for the treatment of menopausal symptoms for last many years. Women’s Health Initiative (WHI), 2002). However, HRT has been considered as an unfavorable procedure due to its non-availability to poor and the rural masses and severe