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Menopause is a natural biological process that marks the end of a woman’s reproductive cycle. It occurs most commonly between the ages of 48 and 55. The average age for a woman to go through menopause in the United States is 51.
Menopause begins when the ovaries greatly reduce the production of the hormone estrogen, and it is marked by the end of menstrual cycles.
There are a variety of responses that can occur during menopause. Most women recognize…
Then there are the postmenopausal symptoms, which can increase your risk of serious medical conditions:
There are ways to maneuver through menopause that make the transition from your bleeding to non-bleeding years more manageable.
Produced by the ovaries, estrogen is the “female” hormone that is important in the development of many female characteristics. Because estrogen levels plunge in menopause, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is used to decrease the symptoms of estrogen deficiency.
HRT can be taken orally, vaginally, or transdermally (in patches). The most common type of HRT combines estrogen and progesterone. Estrogen is given regularly, while progesterone is added in on a supplementary basis. The two hormones are given in combination to prevent the overgrowth of the uterine lining, which decreases the risk of endometrial cancer that might occur as a result of estrogen therapy alone.
HRT is generally used for lessening the symptoms of menopause and is not recommended for more than three to five years due to evidence of increased health risks.
Hormones have a wide variety of effects in the body, and providing hormones therapeutically to treat one problem often causes unexpected side effects. HRT increases the risk of a number of conditions and diseases.
Here are the takeaways of HRT risks:
We will cover some HRT alternatives in a bit, but first, let’s discuss menopause and its influence on body composition.
Menopause is associated with weight gain and a change in body composition. Not only can body fat percentage increase and lean body mass decrease, but the distribution of body fat can change as well. In particular, the deposition of trunk fat increases after menopause—the trunk area of your body is your abs, hips, and back.
Many of the adverse responses during and after menopause are related to these changes in body composition. An increase in trunk fat is associated with increased cardiovascular (CV) disease risk. Increased total body and trunk fat also have indirect effects on other CV disease-risk factors, including plasma lipoprotein-lipid profiles, blood pressure, and insulin resistance. A decrease in lean body mass can lead to impaired physical function and other problems as well. Addressing the changes in body composition related to menopause may be the most important way to decrease many of these related adverse responses.
Weight gain, especially fat, occurs so commonly after menopause that it is presumed by many to be caused by the drop in estrogen. This perspective was supported by some early studies indicating changes in body composition could be lessened with HRT therapy. However, more recent evidence suggests that an increase in body and trunk fat in postmenopausal women is a natural function of aging, as well as a response to changes in dietary and activity patterns.
The effects of activity levels on body composition changes was demonstrated in a study comparing three groups of postmenopausal women.
The results showed that the active women and endurance athletes spent about the same amount of time per week performing exercise and had been for the same number of years. The women who performed high-intensity training had the lowest body fat, but there was no difference between the sedentary and active women. HRT had no significant impact on body composition in any of the groups. These results indicate that it is possible to do something about body composition changes in menopause by exercising, but that the intensity of exercise must be high.
If you are in the postmenopausal category, take a moment to check in and be honest with yourself: now that you know that high-intensity training can improve body composition in postmenopausal women, will you engage in high-intensity exercise on a regular basis?
We hope so, as high-intensity training can help tone your heart and lungs and improve overall health. But, if you think you might slack on your high-intensity training efforts, then we have some good news.
The good news is that you can improve your body composition without intensive training if you add an essential amino acid supplement to your diet. Essential amino acids are the active components of dietary protein. They cannot be produced in the body but are crucial components of all proteins in the body.
In a study of postmenopausal women daily supplementation of the diet with essential amino acids resulted in an increase in lean body mass and muscle protein synthesis in the absence of any change in activity level.
In a different study, essential amino acid supplementation for three months increased muscle mass, strength, and physical function in sedentary postmenopausal women. Other responses associated with changes in body composition in menopause, including plasma and liver fat and impaired insulin sensitivity, were also improved with essential amino acid supplementation.
So, while changes in body composition during and after menopause are, in part, an unavoidable part of aging, supplementing with essential amino acids has a proven beneficial effect on body composition, strength, and physical function, along with improvement in many of the risk factors for serious diseases and conditions. Combining essential amino acid supplementation with high-intensity exercise is an optimal duo for health before, during, and after menopause.
#DrRobertWolfe
