Hormonal Changes in Women During Menopause and Bad Cholesterol: How Can These Two be Linked to Each Other?

Data recently showed menopause was linked to changes in levels of 85 metabolites, with up to 11-percent rise in low-density lipoprotein or LDL cholesterol, also known as bad cholesterol.

A UPI report specified that around 10 percent of the rise of bad cholesterol women are experiencing during menopause is caused by changes in sex hormones. This means that hormone replacement therapy could help, a recently published study found.

The hormonal changes, which included rises in triglycerides, amino acids, and fatty acids as well, appeared to occur in pair with decreases in estrogen and increases in follicle-stimulating or hair-growth, the hormone seen in women who are in the menopausal stage.

Changes in follicle-stimulating and estrogen levels accounted for approximately 10 percent of the increase in bad cholesterol in these women, and their impacts may be inverted at least somewhat through HRT or hormone replacement therapy.

Hormonal Changes During Menopause

The study published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology has linked hormonal changes "during menopause to metabolic changes that promote heart disease," explained Elja Laakkonen, co-author of the study.

Laakkonen, a research fellow at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland also said that menopause is inevitable, although it is plausible that the adverse metabolite change can be reduced by eating healthily ad being physically active.

Usually, women are experiencing menopause from 48 to 52 years of age, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists reported.

Menopause leads to decreases in estrogen and an increase in follicle-stimulating hormone also called FSH, and may raise a woman's risk for heart ailment since it usually develops 10 years later compared to men, said the organization.

Link Between Menopause and Bad Cholesterol

As indicated in a similar EurekAlert! report, past studies have revealed that menopause is linked to heart disease-promoting levels of some metabolites, which include "bad" cholesterol or LDL.

Nonetheless, in this particular research, which comprised 218 women in menopause, such metabolite shifts were partly reversed by HRT, which appeared to increase high-density lipoprotein, or good cholesterol levels, as well, in some of the women participants in the study.

Findings of the study are based on tests of blood specimens collected from participants every three to six months until they reached early post-menopause or totally no periods for more than six months, and elevated levels of FSH on at least two consecutive occasions.

Hormone Replacement Therapy

Among all the participants of the research, the study authors said 35 started HRT during the study. Laakkonen said, regarding HRT, very strong conclusions cannot be solely drawn based on the study as the number of female participants starting treatment was small and the type of drug was not controlled.

Nonetheless, she added, their findings specified that initiating HRT early into menopause, or even during the menopausal transition, provides the greatest cardioprotective impact.

The co-author of the study also said that women who are considering HRT need to discuss it with their healthcare consultant or doctor since three are several choices and some possible contradictions like stroke or cancer history that need to be considered.

Related information about the link between menopause and cholesterol is shown on Eliz Greene's YouTube video below:

Check out more news and information on Medicine & Health in Science Times.