Does Menopause lead to Weight Gain?
Are you scared that you will put on weight because you are entering menopause? It is a common believe and sometimes even physicians tell their patients that menopause can cause weight gain. Menopause itself doesn’t need to lead to weight gain. However, there are other changes during that time which contribute to the extra pounds. Research shows that obesity in women rises significantly with every decade until late adulthood. The average weight gain for women is about one pound per year. While one pound doesn’t seem to be “too much”, we need to keep in mind that when you are 40 years old and start putting one pound on each year, by the time you are 50, you put on 10 pounds, and by the age 60, you put on 20 pounds. Such a weight gain may lead to obesity. Obesity is related to many health problems such as heart diseases, diabetes, and cancer. The Healthy Women’s Study published in “Postgraduate Medicine” (2000) observed weight gain in women pre- and postmenopausal and concluded that women
