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Menopause and Weight Gain
In your search for the best way to lose weight, you might not realize that during the menopause, changes in fat metabolism meanthat they're more likely to store - and less likely to get rid of- body fat. You'll often hear many experts extol the virtues of a "balanced"diet (whatever that means). One expert tells you that the bestway to lose weight is to cut calories. Then somebody else tellsyou that calories don't count. With the mass of dietinginformation currently available, it's no wonder that virtuallyeveryone is confused about the best way to lose weight. However, a research team from the University of Maryland inBaltimore has shown that your age has a massive influence on yourability to lose weight - no matter what you eat! Publishing their findings in the Journal of ClinicalEndocrinology and Metabolism, the researchers extracted fattissue from the abdomen and buttocks of 24 women. They found anenzyme that promotes fat storage, (known as adipose tissuelipoprotein lipase), was more than twice as active inpostmenopausal compared with perimenopausal women. What's more, the rate at which stored fat is broken down inpostmenopausal women was also dramatically reduced compared withperimenopausal women. Interestingly, stopping smoking has a verysimilar effect. In fact, after you stop smoking for just fourweeks, studies show that the activity of lipoprotein lipase (oneof the enzymes that promotes fat storage) is more than doubled. This doesn't mean that getting older is a guarantee that you'llgain weight. The best way to lose weight remains an effectiveprogram of diet and exercise, no matter how old you are. Still,women who find it difficult to lose weight as they get oldermight be happy to know that it isn't entirely their fault! ReferenceFerrara, C.M., Lynch, N.A., Nicklas, B.J., Ryan, A.S., & Berman,D.M. (2002). Differences in adipose tissue metabolism betweenpostmenopausal and perimenopausal women. Journal of ClinicalEndocrinology and Metabolism, 87, 4166-4170 Additional Resources: For more on Menopause symptoms see Womanhealthfocus.com
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