Foods influence on when a woman begins menopause

How old you are when you go through menopause could be influenced by the foods you eat.  This news is according to a recent study published online by the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.  Specifically found was women who included more fish, beans and other legumes started menopause at a later age than women who ate more such as refined pasta and rice.

This study used data from the UK Women’s Cohort Study which included 35,000 women ages 35 to 69 from England, Scotland, and Wales. Each woman, who was followed on average for four years, completed a questionnaire asking how often they consumed a list of 217 different foods.  During the follow-up period, about 900 of the women, all of whom were older than 40 but younger than 64, went through natural menopause and were included in the final analysis.

From their findings, the researchers found links between the age of women who went through menopause and some of the foods they reported eating on a regular basis. Discovered was that for each daily serving of oily fish, beans, and other legumes that a woman ate, this was associated with an average 3.3-year delay in the start of menopause. For every additional serving of refined pasta and rice a woman ate each day, menopause was on average 1.5 years earlier.

Does it matter what age a woman goes through menopause?

The age a woman is when she begins menopause can have implications for her health.  This is especially true if a woman starts menopause before the age of 40 or after the age of 55. Women who go through the change of life at an early age have been shown to have lower bone density and are at a higher risk for osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, depression, and possibly premature death.

On the other hand, women who go through menopause in their mid-to-late 50s are at a greater risk for developing breast, ovarian, and endometrial cancers. The average age of women in the United States is 51. 

What this study is showing is that in order to best prevent chronic disease such as cardiovascular disease, eating a nutritious, well-balanced diet provides health benefits including possibly staving off menopause for a few years.

The influence of dietary choices

Even though it is not completely understood, researchers with the study speculated that the antioxidants in legumes and the omega-3 fatty acids in certain fish might have a protective effect on a woman’s eggs, helping to preserve them for a longer time thus delaying the onset of menopause.

It was also speculated that the women who had a higher intake of refined carbohydrates such as pasta and rice, that these foods boosted the risk of insulin resistance which could be interfering with hormone production and thus, lead to menopause starting at an earlier age.

Another finding from the study was that women who had a higher intake of two nutrients, vitamin B6 and zinc, also had a delayed menopause – by 0.6 and 0.3 years, respectively. Also found was women who were vegetarians started menopause earlier than women who ate meat.

Limitations of the study

Studies that do research by asking people to fill out extensive food questionnaires do have limitations. To ask people to remember what kinds and amounts of food they ate in the past and to prove that the dietary differences actually caused the shifts of menopausal age, can be difficult to prove.

The length of the study and the number of women (900) were also considered to be limitations of this study. But, the findings are still worth noting as it adds to the ongoing discussion about the role of diet in menopause. There have also been other studies that hint at dietary factors – such as lower levels of calcium and vitamin D in the diet – which may be linked to an earlier menopause.

The one thing this study does prove is that dietary choices do influence age at menopause.  That’s why all women would be wise to adopt a healthy eating pattern – including plenty of oily fish and beans – as a good strategy for having better health and a menopause at a later age.