Equol took hot flushes down by 1.9 a day; placebo took them down 1.0
In 160 postmenopausal Japanese women who cannot make equol themselves, 10 mg a day for twelve weeks moved flushes from a starting point of about three a day.
What the study found
Equol supplements bought 0.9 fewer hot flushes a day than placebo
In 160 postmenopausal Japanese women selected for being unable to make equol themselves, 10 mg a day for twelve weeks brought flushes down by 1.9 from a starting point of about three a day. The placebo group came down by 1.0 from the same place.
The caveat · Big percentages, small real changes
Everyone enrolled started low, at about three flushes a day, and one a day was enough to take part, so the percentage figures the trial reports describe small absolute movements. Thirty-four of the 160 randomised did not finish, and the reported analysis is of those who did. Japanese women only.
What we don't know
One trial found equol beat placebo on hot flushes in women who cannot make it, yet a menopause society later declined to recommend it. It stays unsettled because one trial of one product, in one country, is thin ground for a recommendation.