Nutrition remedies for menopause present natural solutions amid increasing medicalization, KHNI suggests

19 Jul 2022 --- The Kerry Health and Nutrition Institute (KHNI) is pegging nutrition as a possible solution for easing menopause symptoms. However, nutritional adjustments are infrequently included among the different pharmaceutical and herbal treatments for menopausal symptoms.

Wendy Sweet, founder of My Menopause Transformation elaborates that positioning the menopause transition in aging research opened the door to several symptom management alternatives utilizing food as medicine.

While each woman’s experience of menopause is different, putting this transition that all women go through in the context of aging and inflammatory research offers a departure from the conventional idea that menopause is a sickness that has to be “cured.”

Menopause can be normalized by acknowledging this stage of life as a natural process “that confronts stigma around aging.” This can be done by incorporating aspects of the Mediterranean nutritional approach to menopause symptoms and weight management.

NutritionInsight previously reported on personalized nutrition company Zoe’s study findings that revealed healthy diets that prioritize gut health can help offset menopause-linked changes to metabolism. The symptoms of menopause may be lessened by eating a balanced, healthy diet high in fiber, complex carbs, healthy fats and proteins.

Alleviating symptoms with nutrition
As part of the nutritional approach to support women, KHNI details that ensuring women obtain the correct nutrition to combat inflammatory changes, which are known to start in perimenopause, is essential.

Menopausal management can be expanded by examining cross-cultural research demonstrating significant geographic and ethnic variance.For instance, women who consistently feel hot and sweaty are exhibiting an imbalance in their ability to regulate their body temperature. As a result, the body starts sweating by transferring heat to the skin’s surface. Because blood arteries lose some flexibility during menopause, heat production is hampered. The term for this is vascular stiffness.

A separate study found that foods high in nitrates can assist in lessening the effects of vascular stiffness. It has been shown that dietary nitrate has various positive vascular effects, such as lowering blood pressure, preventing platelet clumping and clotting, maintaining or improving endothelial dysfunction and boosting exercise performance in healthy individuals.

A significant risk factor that women can significantly alter is their food choices as they go through menopause. This is relevant, particularly for preventing heart disease, weight gain, and osteoporosis – the three primary illnesses that plague western women as they age.

Although there is a lot of misunderstanding regarding current dietary options (such as Keto and Paleo), many are high in saturated fat and protein.

A high-saturated-fat diet is not advised for women as they transition from menopause to post-menopause, especially when it comes to managing cardiac and metabolic health.

Nutritional impact
The menopause transition and accompanying endocrine alterations are consistently linked to an increased risk of metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, obesity, osteoporosis, and immunological dysfunction.

Therefore, it is crucial to consider these clinical endpoints because they enable us to investigate potential preventative strategies, primarily found in lifestyle medicine and aging research.

The menopause transition is increasingly seen as a systemic inflammatory phase that facilitates subsequent neurogenerative and cardiovascular disease.According to KHNI, previous research unveiled that among the various aspects of health promotion and lifestyle adaptation to the menopause and postmenopausal period, nutritional habits are essential because they concern all women, can be modified, and impact both longevity and quality of life.

Sweet unveiled that all roads in women’s midlife health and aging lead to the Mediterranean dietary approach. The menopause transition is increasingly seen as a systemic inflammatory phase that facilitates subsequent neurogenerative and cardiovascular disease.

She states that women-specific lifestyle and disease-prevention science provides a platform to experiment with new methods when it comes to planning for a potentially healthy aging process.

According to Sweet, cardiovascular research, as well as aging and longevity research advice, includes moderate to low quantities of fermented dairy products (low-fat cheese and yogurt) in the diet. Additionally, consuming a daily minimum of five servings of fruits and vegetables, as well as no beverages without added sugar may benefit healthy aging.

Natural solutions and “medicalizing” menopause
Lallemand Health Solutions noted the demand for natural ingredients like probiotics is rising as awareness of women’s health issues such as menopause and vaginal health increases.

A study by universities in the US and Australia and the UK’s King’s College London found that the “medicalization” of menopause contributes to negative perceptions about reproductive aging.

According to the findings, women would be better prepared to handle menopause if gender-based agism is contested, stigma is lessened, and accurate information is available.

By Nicole Kerr