Menopause, Metabolism, and Visceral Fat Accumulation

Our bodies, anthropologically, function solely to reproduce in order to preserve our species. But reproduction requires adequate metabolic energy. Witness the increase in body fat as one enters puberty or the negative effect on fertility for patients with anorexia nervosa, for those engaging in strenuous exercise, or those subjected to famine and starvation. Yet, as our ability to reproduce ceases at the other end of the age spectrum, we experience a reduction in metabolism, redistribution of fat to our abdominal area and, thus, the cardiovascular and diabetic risks of metabolic syndrome. The key to these interactions resides in our hypothalamus where reproduction and metabolism are controlled.

A Brief History Of Nonsurgical Treatments For Stress Urinary Incontinence

Stress urinary incontinence (SUI), which usually is related to pelvic organ prolapse (POP), is the involuntary leakage of urine with activity or straining such as when a woman is exercising, coughing, or even stepping off a curb. Estimates of 25% to 60% of women experience this over the course of their lifetime, and the numbers increase with increasing age.

Why Is Menopause Management Not Better Understood By OB/GYN Care Providers?

Today, menopause management as a finite field of medicine is a product of many laboratory and clinical studies targeted at understanding the biology of menopause and the impact of hormonal and non-hormonal treatments. Why, then, do women in the menopausal transition or in menopause itself often confront a medical community that is either not aware of or is even indifferent to the challenges they face?

BRCA Genes: Protector From or Cause of Breast Cancer?

Many women have heard of the term “BRCA” standing for Breast Cancer Associated genes and their association with inherited breast cancers. Perhaps not as well known is the fact that the BRCA genes normally play an important role in protecting our bodies as they age. It is only when mutations of these BRCA genes occur that the risk for developing cancer increases, because the mutations inactivate their protective effects.

Throughout our lifetime, our body continually is engaged in renewing itself. Every minute, somewhere in our bodies our aging cells pass on their “personality” by creating “daughter cells” that will replace them in location and function. Old cardiac cells produce identical but younger heart cells. Old muscle cells generate newer muscle cells and so on. These amazing events occur through a process called deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) replication.

Metabolic Syndrome and the Role of Estrogen

Metabolic syndrome represents a cluster of adverse biologic events characterized by alterations in lipids, elevated blood sugar, and increased cardiovascular risk.  According to the National Cholesterol Education Program’s Adult Treatment Panel 111 Report, metabolic syndrome may be diagnosed when three of the following criteria are present: waist circumference greater than 88 cm, HDL-C less than 50 mg/dL, triglycerides greater than 150 mg/dL, blood pressure above 130/85 mmHg, or fasting blood sugar over 110 mg/dL. The greatest health risk of metabolic syndrome is cardiovascular disease, but this risk also is age related.  Sixty percent of postmenopausal women are affected by metabolic syndrome, whereas only 22% of the general population meet these criteria. These differences in prevalence underscore the dramatic physiologic changes that occur as a woman enters menopause.