Menopause News:

Health Risks Linked to Obesity Seen as Increasing Problem Among Menopausal Women

Changes in body composition associated with menopause may cause additional health problems, according to researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Women begin to lose bone mass and density as they enter menopause and changes in body composition, such as obesity, can cause additional health concerns.

"The risk of osteoporosis in the postmenopausal woman is well characterized," said Ellen Evans, kinesiology professor and researcher. But just as problematic, if not more so, are health risks associated with obesity in menopausal women such as diabetes and heart disease, she added.

"Seventy percent of women age 45-54 are overweight or obese," said Evans. "Before age 50, the majority of women tend to slowly increase their weight, whereas after menopause there appears to be an accelerated increase in fat mass and a change in preferential fat storage to a central -- that is, abdominal -- location."

Recent studies have shown that the transition of menopause causes a detrimental change in body composition in terms of overall body fatness and body-fat distribution, reported Evans. "If decreases in sex steroid concentrations influence body composition, the metabolic impact may explain why a woman's risk for diabetes and heart disease increases after menopause."

Source: Medical Week staff, week of May 12, 2002