Month: October 2011

“ In women, the biological and physiological changes that occur from menopause carry an increased risk of health problems in those also involved such as diabetes, osteoporosis, cardiovascular pathology dietary factors or certain types of cancer ”, explains to SINC Marina Pollanresearcher at the Instituto de Salud Carlos III and one of the authors of the study.

Analysis of dietary pattern during and after menopause is therefore of interest for its implications on health. However, in Spain are still few studies that have assessed the diet of women peri or postmenopausal women.

to study the habits, the authors analysed 3.574 women aged 45 to 68 between October 2007 and July 2008, with a minimum of 500 women per programme, in seven Spanish cities (A Coruña, Barcelona, Burgos, Palma de Mallorca, Pamplona, Valencia and Zaragoza) from a validated food frequency questionnaire for the population Spanish.

The results, published in the journal nutrition hospital, show that the percentage of obesity is 29 per cent and 42 per cent overweight. The average caloric intake was 2.053 kilocalories (43% of the energy provided by carbohydrates), 36% by fats and 20% by proteins. The authors highlight that almost all the women reached the intake recommended vitamins, except for the D and E

Vitamin D is striking, since none of the groups reached 50% of the recommended daily amount (IDR), with a total average intake of 2.14 micrograms/day, 39 per cent of the IDR for women in these age ranges.

“ A diet with less fat and protein and more rich in vegetables, nuts, and foods rich in carbohydrates would balance the energy balance and would correct levels of vitamins D and E ”, conclude the authors. “ these recommendations are especially important in the cities further away from the Mediterranean coast where major breaches of the existing recommendations have detected ”.

Increased risk of obesity

Other research led by Faustino r. Pérez-López, Coordinator of the study group of the obesity of the Spanish Association for the study of menopause, relates body weight with hormonal and metabolic parameters in 574 postmenopausal women.

The results, published in the journal of Gynecological Endocrinology, confirm that the BMI (BMI) in menopause increases with age, the time elapsed since began, the number of children, blood glucose, triglycerides, and systolic blood pressure.

“ This allows proposing programs of changes in lifestyle that initiates early can improve the quality of life and reduce morbidity associated with obesity ”, points Pérez-López.

The distribution of body fat mass, weight regulation and hormone secretion of the fat has differences based on sex. Abdominal obesity is more common in women after menopause, and increases the risk of heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, apnoea sleep, cancer, arthritis, mental health problems and mortality.

In addition, obesity peri and postmenopausal produces more intense menopausal symptoms and is associated with a worse quality of life in women of normal weight. “ Experimental studies in animals and women show that treatment with ovarian hormones can prevent body weight gain and loss of muscle mass ”, emphasizes the researcher.

Sexuality in menopause

Another study of Faustino r. Pérez-López, published in the Journal of Sex Medicine, deals with female sexuality in menopause, typically characterized by own organic disorders and the couple, previous sexual dysfunctions and factors socio-demographic variables from one region to another and one time to another.

The experts used the questionnaire changes in Sexual function (CCFS), consisting of 14 simple questions. The results show that 64.1 per cent of 117 volunteers, recruited between February and November 2010 at the Hospital Central de Asturias in Oviedo and the Cabueñes Hospital of Gijón, was suffering from female sexual dysfunction.

“ Should be noted that one third of Western women have some form of sexual dysfunction throughout his life, accompanied at times of depression, anxiety, low self-esteem and decrease in the quality of life ”, says Pérez-López.

Sexual excitability problems related with the quality of life diminished and the urogenital area problems, while orgasm problems kept the relationship with the deterioration of the quality of life. Depressive symptoms were associated with the suspicion of female sexual dysfunction.

“ The score in the CCFS was positively correlated with the educational level of women and their partners and the frequency of sexual intercourse, and negatively with the depressive state ”, concludes Pérez-López, who suggests that further studies are needed to extrapolate the data to other populations.

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Bibliographical references:

b. García-Arenzana et al. “ compliance with current dietary recommendations and geographic variability of diet on women participating in 7 programs screening of breast cancer in Spain ”. Hospital nutrition; 26 (4): 863-873, July – August, 2011. DOI:10.3305/NH.2011.26.4.5205

tables JL, Fernández-Alonso AM, paintings, Chedraui P, FR. Pérez-López “ Body mass index and its correlation to metabolic and hormone parameters in postmenopausal Spanish women ”. Gynecol Endocrinol; 27: 678-684, September 2011.

Llaneza P, Fernández-Iñarrea JM, Arnott B, García-Portilla MP, Chedraui P, and Pérez-López FR. “ Sexual Function Assessment in Postmenopausal Women with the 14-Item Changes in Sexual Functioning Questionnaire ”. J Sex Med; 8: 2144 – 2151, August 2011.