Q: Is it true that menopause necessarily results in increased body weight and fatness, especially so-called apple type fatness, which is infamous for its adverse effects on heart and suspected for the same for
cancer?
A: We all know that one of the greatest dangers of menopause is increased risk of heart disease and cancer.
We also know that women tend to become well, rounder. Is it true that menopause necessarily results in increased body weight and fatness, especially socalled apple type fatness, which is infamous for its adverse effects on heart and suspected for the same for cancer?
Yes and no. Menopause results in only modest increases in total fatness. What really matters, is body fat re-distribution - the body type may change from a favorable "pear" (waist is much narrower than hips) to an risky "apple" (waist is almost same or even wider than hips). Risky- because there are plenty of evidence connecting this body type to a higher chance of heart disease (1). Also, after menopause the risk of breast cancer is positively and significantly associated with the ratio of waist-to-hip circumferences
Now, is there anything we can do about it? Luckily yes and it is the same old good thing we all have to do, young and not so young.
A study conducted by the Department of Kinesiology, University of Colorado, has shown that postmenopausal endurance-trained runners had only approximately half as great an increase in body fat as in the sedentary postmenopausal women's group. Their conclusion?
"The present findings provide experimental support for the hypothesis that women who regularly engage in vigorous endurance exercise may not gain body weight and undergo only a modest increase in total body fat, as well as not demonstrating a significant elevation in central adiposity with age."
Is a good fitness level enough or weight loss also matters? No, fitness alone is not enough.
At least not in the case of menopause. The same Center studied two groups of postmenopausal women matched for training volume and competitive eliteness, swimmers and runners. They concluded that
"...higher total and abdominal body fatness [in swimmers] is, in general, associated with a less favorable metabolic coronary heart disease risk profile."
Is hormone replacement therapy a good solution? It seems that it is, especially if menopausal symptoms include transitioning to the "bad" body type
The University of Pisa, Italy, conducted this kind of study and the results suggest that hormone replacement therapy (HRT) can counteract at least in part the postmenopausal increase in body weight and body fat and prevent central body fat distribution ("apple" type) after menopause.
Can diet improve metabolism impaired by menopause? Yes but not any diet. Take your GLA!
This is why. There are unfavorable changes in our fat cells as we - men and women - are aging, that occur independent of diets, like the body fat peculiarities - what your fat consists of and how it behaves during metabolism (if you need those boring specifics - decline in the rate of beta-6 desaturation occurs). However, the results of University of Dundee, Ninewells, study may indicate that an increase in dietary
gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) is necessary with age to offset the imbalance.
