Abstract
Aging women experience hormonal changes, such as decreased estrogen and increased circulating androgen, due to natural or surgical menopause. These hormonal changes make postmenopausal women vulnerable to body composition changes, muscle loss, and abdominal obesity; with a sedentary lifestyle, these changes affect overall energy expenditure and basal metabolic rate. In addition, fat redistribution due to hormonal changes leads to changes in body shape. In particular, increased bone marrow-derived adipocytes due to estrogen loss contribute to increased visceral fat in postmenopausal women. Enhanced visceral fat lipolysis by adipose tissue lipoprotein lipase triggers the production of excessive free fatty acids, causing insulin resistance and metabolic diseases. Because genes involved in β-oxidation are downregulated by estradiol loss, excess free fatty acids produced by lipolysis of visceral fat cannot be used appropriately as an energy source through β-oxidation. Moreover, aged women show increased adipogenesis due to upregulated expression of genes related to fat accumulation. As a result, the catabolism of ATP production associated with β-oxidation decreases, and metabolism associated with lipid synthesis increases. This review describes the changes in energy metabolism and lipid metabolic abnormalities that are the background of weight gain in postmenopausal women.
Highlights
Women generally experience natural menopause due to loss of ovarian follicle activity between the ages of 45 and 55, and surgical menopause is accompanied by loss of estradiol (E2) [1,2]
50–65% of total energy expenditure is attributable to the basal metabolic rate (BMR) that is commonly used with REE, which is the basal metabolism during a non-active state in a climate-controlled environment at least 10 to 12 h after the consumption of the Nutrients 2021, 13, x FOR PEER REVIEW
This can cause unfavorable changes in both fat metabolism and energy metabolism [10]. Both natural and surgical menopause is accompanied by changes in body composition due to loss of E2 secretion, and various changes can occur in energy and lipid metabolism
Summary
Women generally experience natural menopause due to loss of ovarian follicle activity between the ages of 45 and 55, and surgical menopause is accompanied by loss of estradiol (E2) [1,2]. Each form has a unique function that matches a woman’s life cycle characteristics, such as reproductive age, pregnancy, and menopause [5]. By summarizing overall energy metabolism, this review provides information for preventing muscle and Nutrients 2021, 13, 4556 bone loss. It addresses lipid metabolic changes related to visceral fat ac‐. A. LHR: luteinizing hormone receptor, low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol, LH: luteinizing hormone, PKA, protein kinase A. LHR: luteinizing hormone receptor, low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol, LH: luteinizing hormone, PKA, protein kinase A With these hormonal changes, menopausal women are more likely to experience various metabolic disorders such as dysregulated lipid metabolism, fat redistribution, 2.
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