Study Shows Women Treated With Hormone Replacement Therapy Demonstrate Significant Improvement In Menopausal Symptoms

Dr. Enrique Jacome

A study, published in the Menopause journal, examined the effects of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) E2D, which used a combination of hormones estradiol and drospirenone to treat women. Early postmenopausal women aged between 49 and 55 who had never used HRT were assessed over a six-month period. 

The treatment resulted in significant improvement in menopausal symptoms including hot flushes, night sweats, and sexual function, and it lowered blood pressure and weight in comparison to those who were treated with an identical placebo. 

The women also underwent cognitive assessment and were asked to perform mental tasks during a brain-imaging (MRI) scan. Estradiol, a form of oestrogen combined with drospirenone, a progestin, were found to have no effect on the cognitive performance of early postmenopausal women. 

Professor Susan Davis, Director of the Women's Health Research Program in the Monash University School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, said there had long been debate about the safety of hormone replacement therapies and the potential adverse effects on cognitive function in women. "These findings are reassuring for women," Professor Davis said. "We report, for the first time, that drospirenone combined with estradiol has no overall effect on the cognitive performance of postmenopausal women examined over a 26-week period. 

"Although hormone replacement therapy is no quick fix to the challenge of menopause, it does show that the E2D treatment can be useful in the overall management of menopause, and without adversely effecting cognitive ability." 

Professor Davis said memory and mood complaints were frequent in women after menopause due to oestrogen deficiency, including a lack of clarity of thought and memory or word-finding difficulties.

www.vivenaturalhormones.com

How Estrogen Deficiency Affects Women's Fat Absorption After Menopause

Dr. Enrique Jacome

Women tend to carry excess fat in their hips and thighs, while men tend to carry it on their stomachs. But after menopause, things start to change: many women's fat storage patterns start to resemble those of men. This indicates that there's a link between estrogen and body fat storage. This connection is well documented, but the underlying mechanisms remained poorly understood until now. 

New research conducted by Sylvia Santosa, assistant professor in Concordia University's Department of Exercise Science and Canada Research Chair in Clinical Nutrition, gives us a new look at the connection between fat storage and estrogen. By examining the fat storage process at a cellular level, Santosa and co-author Michael D. Jensen of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, reveal that certain proteins and enzymes are more active in post-menopausal women. These proteins correspond with fat storage. Their findings were published in the March 2013 issue of Diabetes. 

"The fat stored on our hips and thighs, is relatively harmless," explains Santosa, who is also a member of Concordia's PERFORM Centre for better health through prevention. "But the fat stored around the abdomen is more dangerous. It has been associated with diabetes, heart disease, stroke and even some cancers. When post-menopausal women put on more abdominal fat, they dramatically increase their risk for these health problems. Given these dangers, it is very important to understand how the lower levels of estrogen associated with menopause changes where fat is stored." 

Santosa's research compared fat storage in pre- and post-menopausal women. The 23 women who participated in the study were in the same age range, and had similar Body Mass Indices and body fat composition. These similarities allowed Santosa to isolate the effects of estrogen on fat absorption and storage. 

She and Jensen were able to examine the activity of certain enzymes and proteins that regulate fat storage in post-menopausal women's abdomens and thighs. By considering these factors together rather than in isolation, the researchers determined conclusively that the overall fat storage "machinery" is more active in post-menopausal women. In other words, these cells now store more fat than they did before menopause. 

In addition, post-menopausal women burned less fat than their pre-menopausal colleagues. These changes mean that their cells are not only storing more fat, but are also less willing to part with it. This combination is a recipe for rapid weight gain. "Taken together, these changes in bodily processes may be more than a little surprising - and upsetting - for women who previously had little trouble managing their weight," comments Santosa. 

Though the increased cellular activity revealed by this study was not specific to the abdominal region, more fat stored overall means more abdominal fat. Evidence of changes in the fat storage pathways after menopause is an important contribution to understanding why post-menopausal women begin to put on more visceral fat. 

Says Santosa, "the information revealed by our study is valuable not only to post-menopausal women and their doctors, but to obesity studies more generally. A clearer picture of which proteins and enzymes increase fat storage makes those productive targets for future medical advances in the fight against obesity." 

www.vivenaturalhormones.com

Post-Menopausal Women Who Used Hormone Therapy Have Fewer Wrinkles, Firmer Skin

Dr. Enrique Jacome

Long-term hormone therapy used earlier in menopause is associated with fewer wrinkles and less skin rigidity in postmenopausal women, according to a Yale School of Medicine research report published in the Fertility and Sterility journal.

“These benefits were seen in women who had consistently used hormone therapy and had been in menopause for at least five years,” said Hugh S. Taylor, M.D., associate professor in the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences at Yale School of Medicine.

“We don’t believe hormone therapy will make wrinkles melt away once they’re already there, but the results of our study show that hormone therapy can prevent them. Hormone therapy makes wrinkles less severe and keeps skin more elastic,” Taylor added.

How the Research was Conducted
Taylor and his co-authors compared 11 women who had not used hormone therapy to nine long-term hormone therapy users. Demographics including age, race, sun exposure, sunscreen use, tobacco use and skin type were similar. The researchers made visual assessments of wrinkle severity at 11 facial locations.

A plastic surgeon with no knowledge of which women were using hormone therapy rated the number and severity of wrinkles using a Lemperle scale. The team also measured skin elasticity using a durometer.

Researchers found that rigidity was significantly decreased in hormone therapy users compared to nonusers at both the cheek (1.1 vs. 2.7) and forehead (20 vs. 29). Average wrinkle scores were lower in hormone users than in non-hormone users (1.5 vs. 2.2) on the Lemperle scale.

Skin May Mirror Other Organs
Taylor said that what is happening in the skin may be reflective of the functioning of other organs such as the heart and bone, which might also be benefiting from estrogen therapy. The results suggest that hormone therapy keeps the skin looking younger and healthier and may have cosmetic benefits if started early. Hormones seem to keep the skin healthy, but can’t reverse present skin damage.

www.vivenaturalhormones.com

Study Shows Long-Term Testosterone Treatment For Men Results In Reduced Weight And Waist Size

Dr. Enrique Jacome

In testosterone-deficient men, major weight loss was an added benefit of testosterone replacement therapy for most of the patients who participated in a new study.

The results will be presented June 23 at The Endocrine Society's 94th Annual Meeting in Houston.

"The substantial weight loss found in our study -- an average of 36 pounds -- was a surprise," said the study's lead author, Farid Saad, PhD, of Berlin-headquartered Bayer Pharma.

Although prior studies using testosterone therapy in testosterone-deficient men consistently show changes in body composition, such as increased lean mass and decreased fat mass, Saad said the net effect on weight seemed unchanged in those studies. However, Saad said their study, which took place in Germany, had a longer follow-up by at least two years and used long-acting injections of testosterone.

The investigators restored testosterone to normal levels in 255 testosterone-deficient ("hypogonadal") men, whose average age was nearly 61 (range, 38 to 83 years). Treatment lasted for up to five years, with injections given at day 1, after 6 weeks and then every 12 weeks after that. Patients did not follow a controlled diet or standard exercise program but received advice to improve their lifestyle habits.

On average, the men weighed 236 pounds before beginning testosterone treatment and 200 pounds after treatment (106.2 versus 90 kilograms), the authors reported. Weight loss was reportedly continuous, with an average reduction in body weight ranging from about 4 percent after one year of treatment to more than 13 percent after five years.

In addition, men lost an average of nearly 3.5 inches (8.8 centimeters) around their waist.

"These results are encouraging because studies show that weight loss drugs and lifestyle interventions have been largely unsuccessful, especially long term," Saad said.

Testosterone deficiency becomes more common with age. Saad said many middle-aged men with testosterone deficiency are obese, explaining that there is "a vicious circle" in obesity and low testosterone.

"Obesity is associated with reduced testosterone, and low testosterone induces weight gain," Saad wrote in the study abstract.

Testosterone replacement is the standard treatment for most men with symptomatic testosterone deficiency, according to The Endocrine Society guidelines.

In the study by Saad and colleagues, treatment used a slow-release, injectable form of the male hormone (testosterone undecanoate) that is not yet available in the United States. It is marketed in Europe, Latin America, Australia and parts of Asia and Africa.

Saad is an employee of Bayer Pharma, which makes a brand of testosterone undecanoate and which partially funded the study in its final two years.

www.sottopelletherapy.com/doctors/enrique-jacome-md

Estrogen Deficiency Associated With Menopause Changes Where Fat Is Stored In Women

Dr. Enrique Jacome

Women tend to carry excess fat in their hips and thighs, while men tend to carry it on their stomachs. But after menopause, things start to change: many women's fat storage patterns start to resemble those of men. This indicates that there's a link between estrogen and body fat storage. This connection is well documented, but the underlying mechanisms remained poorly understood until now. 

New research conducted by Sylvia Santosa, assistant professor in Concordia University's Department of Exercise Science and Canada Research Chair in Clinical Nutrition, gives us a new look at the connection between fat storage and estrogen. By examining the fat storage process at a cellular level, Santosa and co-author Michael D. Jensen of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, reveal that certain proteins and enzymes are more active in post-menopausal women. These proteins correspond with fat storage. Their findings were published in the March 2013 issue of Diabetes. 

"The fat stored on our hips and thighs, is relatively harmless," explains Santosa, who is also a member of Concordia's PERFORM Centre for better health through prevention. "But the fat stored around the abdomen is more dangerous. It has been associated with diabetes, heart disease, stroke and even somecancers. When post-menopausal women put on more abdominal fat, they dramatically increase their risk for these health problems. Given these dangers, it is very important to understand how the lower levels of estrogen associated with menopause changes where fat is stored." 

Santosa's research compared fat storage in pre- and post-menopausal women. The 23 women who participated in the study were in the same age range, and had similar Body Mass Indices and body fat composition. These similarities allowed Santosa to isolate the effects of estrogen on fat absorption and storage. 

She and Jensen were able to examine the activity of certain enzymes and proteins that regulate fat storage in post-menopausal women's abdomens and thighs. By considering these factors together rather than in isolation, the researchers determined conclusively that the overall fat storage "machinery" is more active in post-menopausal women. In other words, these cells now store more fat than they did before menopause. 

In addition, post-menopausal women burned less fat than their pre-menopausal colleagues. These changes mean that their cells are not only storing more fat, but are also less willing to part with it. This combination is a recipe for rapid weight gain. "Taken together, these changes in bodily processes may be more than a little surprising - and upsetting - for women who previously had little trouble managing their weight," comments Santosa. 

Though the increased cellular activity revealed by this study was not specific to the abdominal region, more fat stored overall means more abdominal fat. Evidence of changes in the fat storage pathways after menopause is an important contribution to understanding why post-menopausal women begin to put on more visceral fat. 

Says Santosa, "the information revealed by our study is valuable not only to post-menopausal women and their doctors, but to obesity studies more generally. A clearer picture of which proteins and enzymes increase fat storage makes those productive targets for future medical advances in the fight against obesity." 

www.vivenaturalhormones.com