heart disease

‘Like a roadmap that is ever changing’

Posted by Liz on Jun 25, 2008 in heart disease, HRT | 0 comments

The GPS certainly comes in handy when you’re in unfamiliar territory. But what happens if the territory changes suddenly, new streets replace old, and you’re unable to turn around?

Before menopause, women are protected from conditions such as heart disease, heart attack and stroke but lose this protection afterward.

Missouri University scientists believe that they’ve uncovered one of the reasons why: the body’s natural adaptation to a loss of estrogen. They say that animal study findings suggest that the vascular system depends on estrogen to maintain the status quo.  With a decline in estrogen production, the body loses its ability to regulate and maintain blood vessels the old way, and adapts by creating new “side streets” of vessels.  Women have are at increased risk for developing disease in these new vessels with symptoms that are subtler and harder to identify.

Study co-author Virginia Huxley, a professor at the Missouri University’s School of Medicine, likens blood vessels to highways that transport oxygen and other nutrients. She says that these roads are ‘ever changing’ after estrogen production halts. Importantly, the research team believes that adding estrogen to a system that has learned to adapt without it can upset the transition and lead to complications. This may be why HRT after menopause is counterintuitive and downright dangerous.

Cheers…literally!

Posted by Liz on May 27, 2008 in heart disease, women's health | 0 comments

Seems that moderate alcohol consumption helps overall well-being among perimenopausal women!

Recent study findings show that women undergoing the menopause ‘transition’ who consume alcohol at moderate levels (~ one drink daily), don’t smoke and exercise feel better than those who don’t drink. What;s more, another study suggests that older (i.e., 70 to 75 years of age) women who do not drink have a greater risk of death and poorer health-related quality of life than women who consumed one or two drinks a day.

Back in March of this year, I also reported that researchers had found a link between moderate alcohol intake in middle age and a decreased risk of heart disease, even among individuals who never drank before this time.

That’s part one of this story. Strangely enough, having risk factors for heart disease increases the likelihood for an earlier menopause. These data in particular, compiled from the landmark Framingham Heart Study and reported by the American Heart Association, actually go against common beliefs that a depletion in hormones causes an increased risk for heart disease in women after menopause.

Granted, one study does unequivocally prove something. But what is apparently clear from these three trials is that one or two drinks a day, especially red wine, may prove to help women decrease their risk for heart disease and also, provide a counterbalance for symptoms that cause moods to run amuk.

Sounds like good news to me. Cheers!