Fasting for Healthy Longevity
New Directions for Women in Menopause By: Felice Gersh, M.D.
The following article is not endorsed and/or supported by The American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine. The purposes of this publication do not imply endorsement and/or support of any author, company or theme related to this article.
Menopause is a universal event for women. The exact age varies somewhat, but the eventual permanent loss of ovarian hormone production is inevitable. Although a natural and “normal” event, the menopausal transition and subsequent years in a menopausal state do not benefit women’s overall health. This is especially true for cardiovascular health. Cardiovascular disease is the number one killer of women in the United States and the risk of a cardiovascular event is directly related to decreasing levels of estrogen as women progress through the menopausal transition. Women who experience menopause early, before age 40, are twice as likely to suffer from a non-fatal heart attack, stroke, or angina before age 60 compared to women who go through menopause at ages 50 or 51, which is the U.S. average.1 They are also more likely to suffer from fatal cardiac events and have an overall lower life expectancy.2 In contrast, women who go through menopause after 10
age 51 have lower rates of cardiovascular disease and enjoy longer life expectancy. Menopause, and the resulting state of permanent estrogen deficiency, is a powerful risk factor for cardiovascular disease that is greatly underappreciated. Loss of estrogen causes systemic vascular inflammation, immune dysregulation, loss of glucose homeostasis, and gut microbiome dysbiosis.3 These dysfunctions set the stage for metabolic disease and ever escalating cardiovascular risk. Typical therapies offered to women to reduce cardiovascular events are pharmaceuticals, such as blood pressure drugs, statins, and diabetes medications. Although pharmaceuticals can be warranted and valuable in certain situations, they don’t access the body’s innate mechanisms to maintain metabolic homeostasis and don’t address the multitude of dysfunctions developing in the menopausal female body.
ANTI-AGING MEDICAL NEWS | FALL 2020
