Tofu compensates for female hormone deficiency and also contains nutritional elements that can help prevent menopausal disorders.

The female hormone estrogen, which fashions the womanly body and helps to maintain youthfulness, is secreted from the ovarian follicles inside of the ovary. This peaks at around twenty years of age and gradually decreases with age. From the mid-forties onwards, this decreases dramatically and menopause begins.

The incidence of the various conditions that are collectively called menopausal disorders does not result solely as a consequence of reduced estrogen levels. When estrogen levels decrease dramatically, the hypothalamus secretes large amounts of the follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) that induces the ovarian follicles to produce more estrogen. However, as estrogen secretion remains deficient even with the added stimulus, the hypothalamus continues producing FSH. The effects of decreased estrogen levels coupled with high levels of FSH bring on menopausal disorders such as dizziness, unsteadiness, hot flashes, sensitivity to cold, headaches, stiffness in the neck and shoulders, irritability, etc.

Although everyone experiences these climacteric hormonal changes, there are considerable differences in the severity of menopausal disorders depending on the individual, with some experiencing practically no ill effects while others suffer from severe symptoms.
One explanation is that these differences are due to stress. Stress interferes with autonomic nerve coordination causing disruption to hormone secretion, body temperature regulation, blood pressure regulation, etc. High stress levels increase the likelihood of reduced female hormone levels, which in turn causes stronger menopausal disorder symptoms.

Consequently, to prevent menopausal disorders or alleviate symptoms, it is important to ingest nutrients that can assist in reviving hormone secretion and alleviating stress. Tofu contains these nutrients.