Source: University of California - Los Angeles Health Sciences
A new study confirms what women approaching menopause have long suspected: menopause does make fat go up.
The study finds that women undergoing perimenopause lost lean body mass and more than doubled their fat mass.
The research demonstrates that body mass index (BMI) is a very important clinical tool for predicting health events, such as getting diabetes or having cardiovascular disease, but is a less useful gauge of cardio-metabolic risk in older women.
The menopause transition, also known as perimenopause, is the time in a woman's life when hormonal changes lead to irregular menstruation, hot flashes and other symptoms leading up to menopause, when menstruation stops altogether.
The researchers found that women undergoing peri-menopause lost lean body mass and more than doubled their fat mass.
The women's lean and fat mass remained stable after the transition to menopause. The researchers also noted ethnic/racial differences in the impact of menopause on body composition.
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