Apples, Pears,
and Fitness. How Menopause Influences Women's Health.
by Tanya Zilberter, PhD
How does menopause influence women health? Is it true that menopause necessarily
results in increased body weight and fatness? Is becoming an "apple" body
type dangerous ? Does high fitness level protect against cancer and heart
disease without weight control?
Q: Is it true
that menopause necessarily results in increased body weight and fatness?
A: Yes and no.
Menopausal transition results in only modest increases
in body mass index or 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 (American Journal of
Physiology. 275(4 Pt 1):E626-34).
Q: Is becoming
an "apple" dangerous in other ways?
A: Yes
After menopause the risk of breast cancer is positively
and significantly associated with the ratio of waist-to-hip circumferences
(International Journal of Cancer. 76(5):647-51, 1998)
Q: Is it possible
to prevent these changes?
A: Yes.
A study conducted by the Center for Physical Activity,
Disease Prevention and Aging, Department of Kinesiology, University of Colorado,
Boulder, 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.
Q: Does high
fitness level protect against heart disease even without weight control?
A: No.
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."
(Metabolism: Clinical & Experimental. 47(9):1112-20)
Q: Can hormone
replacement therapy help against gaining body fat and especially transitioning
to the "bad" body type?
A: Yes.
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. (J Clin Endocrinol Metab 82(12):4074, 1997)
Q: Where can I
lear more about HTP and natural HTP substitutes?
A: I've posted
a link collection covering these topics. Click here to read
Q: Can diet
improve metabolism impaired by menopause?
A: Yes and no.
Yes - because generally speaking, the changes in body
composition and body weight at menopause are mediated, at least in part
by changes in 24-hour energy expenditure, physical activity, and food intake.
No - because there are changes as we, men and women,
are aging that occur independent of diets, like the body fat composition
(if you need 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 is necessary with age
to offset the imbalance. (European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 51(9):619-24,
1997)
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