Biochemistry & Physiology: Open Access
Open Access

Menopause is a major turning point in a woman’s life. “Loss of oestrogen development due to ovarian dysfunction” is how menopause is characterised. When compared to men of comparable age, premenopausal women are more shielded from developing metabolic syndrome and its related metabolic complications, such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Owing to improvements in the sex steroidal hormone profile, this defence is lacking after menopause. Since people spend about a third of their lives in the postmenopausal condition around the globe, the public health consequences of postmenopausal problems are important. According to estimates from the Indian Menopause Society’s third consensus conference, India’s postmenopausal women number about 43 million and could cross 103 million by 2026. These results illustrate the importance of recognising the molecular and cellular pathways that underpin the pathology of metabolic complications in postmenopausal women. The cause of increased weight gain and obesity during menopause is unknown, although it is regarded as a major public health concern around the world. Clegg also confirmed that oestrogen loss after menopause causes weight gain and fat accumulation around the hips, leading to obesity in the postmenopausal community [1-3].

Conclusion

Both experimental menopause and experimental obesity induced oxidative stress, inflammation, insulin tolerance, lipid derangements, and hepatic steatosis when used separately and in conjunction. When ovariectomy was accompanied by a high-fat diet, the incidence of these complications increased even further, implying a synergistic role for postmenopausal status and a high-fat diet in the production of these complications. Treatment with soy isoflavones greatly decreased these metabolic complications, indicating that this natural phytoestrogen could be used to treat metabolic complications in postmenopausal women. The current research adds to the growing body of evidence that soy isoflavones have anti-oxidant, antiinflammatory, antidiabetic, and anti-lipidemic properties. Based on the results, we can infer that women after menopause should limit their consumption of fat-rich foods, especially those who have a genetic predisposition to the production of metabolic syndrome components.

References

1. Grygiel-Górniak B, Marcinkowska J, Szczepanik A, Przysławski J (2014) The nutritional and oxidative stress implications of post-menopausal age. Pol Arch Med Wewn 124: 298-305.
2. Shapiro Y, Mashavi M, Luckish E, Shargorodsky M (2014) Diabetes and menopause aggravate age-dependent deterioration in arterial stiffness. Menopause 21: 1234-8.
3. Rogers NH, Perfield JW, Strissel KJ, Obin MS, Greenberg AS (2009) Reduced energy expenditure and increased inflammation are early events in the development of ovariectomy-induced obesity. Endocrinology 150: 2161-2168.