The dietary needs of your body changes as naturally as your life changes. It's important to be familiar with your body and aware of its changing needs especially for women experiencing peri-menopausal or menopause itself.

It's the female hormone produced by the ovaries and is responsible for ovulation. Hormone production slows as women near menopause. When that happens, women may experience such symptoms as hot flashes, vaginal dryness, and emotional changes.

Many women choose to supplement their lowering estrogen levels using several difference methods. One is by the use of HRT in the form of prescription drugs. This has been a favorite of the medical community for nearly 50 years until in 2002 and 2003 it was finally revealed as both ineffective and unsafe. The preferred method now is now a diet rich in phytoestrogens and taking a phytoestrogens supplement. Phytoestogens are plant sources of estrogen and if levels are high enough are capable of exerting estrogen like effects.

Phytoestrogens can take the place of estrogens produced by the body in many instances. For example, estradiol produced by the body is the most toxic of the three forms of estrogen. Estradiol may want to enter the tissues of the breast but cannot because there is a phytoestrogen already there.