Estrogen loss contributes to obesity, high BP

  


The loss of estrogen that accompanies menopause contributes to the development of obesity and high blood pressure (hypertension), according to studies conducted in female rats.

Estrogen is known to protect women against heart disease. When women reach menopause, their estrogen levels drop dramatically and they lose this protection and often put on weight Dr. Lourdes A. Fortepiani of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, reported.

The findings were reported by Dr. Fortepiani and her colleague Dr. Huimin Zhang at an American Physiological Society-sponsored meeting held in Austin.

The researchers showed that in older female rats, free of heart disease, estrogen deficiency appears to trigger the development of high blood pressure and obesity.

Rats that had their ovaries removed, thereby depleting their estrogen levels, had significantly higher blood pressure and gained twice as much weight as "control" rats with intact ovaries.

"The increase in blood pressure seems to be related to the increase in body weight," Fortepiani told Reuters Health.

Rats that had their ovaries removed also showed 70-percent higher levels of the fat hormone leptin and 35 percent higher blood sugar levels.

However, treating these "ovariectomized" rats with estrogen abolished these effects. "When you treat with estrogen, the animals don't gain that much weight and their blood pressure goes down," Fortepiani said.

Moreover, female rats without ovaries that receive estrogen replacement therapy do not experience any of these adverse hormonal and metabolic effects, she said.

While acknowledging the controversy surrounding hormone therapy, these findings may open up new therapeutic approaches for postmenopausal hypertension, Fortepiani added.

[Myown]

The only thing that concerns me though is if your body cannot utilize its OWN estrogen, you will most likely get cancer. My mother has too much estrogen in her body and developed breast cancer. If you haven't read Dr. John Lee's book on menopause..its a must read for ALL women - as a matter of fact men should even read it because of how he explains all hormones -testosterone etc.

I had low progersterone with normal level estrogen. That makes me 'estrogen dominant' even tho my estrogen is normal. I sent for the saliva test cause that shows what is in the tissues. I often think about that in relation to hep c. I had read a study where hep c shows up in saliva only if the VL is a million or over. This can get ya thinking about the 'occult' virus and all that.

Always good to see you.
Hope all is well.

[Forseegood]

Hey kiddo! Nice to see you too! I know whether we agree, or not, we'll always be okay cause both of us like to speak our minds, but we never take it personally if we don't agree...that's reassuring to me somehow...be well My Own, much happiness to you...screw this menopause! If I would of known how much a hysterectomy would of messed with my hormones, I would of never had it, and I maybe could of forgone it...unfortunately, I'm one of those women who has hormones all over the place, high, low...maybe it'll level out some day, I hope so anyway!