Jen Gunter Instagram – The problem with sorting out symptoms in the menopause transition, is the menopause transition (a.k.a. perimenopause) happens as we age. This is why we need longitudinal studies!
Furthermore, some recent studies looking at bio markers suggests aging isn’t linear and we may have significant shifts in aging at least twice: one at age 44 and the other at age 60, give or take a few years (that is the average). And the results are the same for men and women!
If the average age of onset of the menopause transition is 45 years, that means, women are may also be having an accelerating in aging at the same time. So again, is it menopause or is it aging? We need studies!
I see so many people posting on her about symptoms supposed caused by menopause. Once I saw a list of over 100! We really need to be mindful of what we know based on longitudinal studies and what me think we know.
For example, I hear many people talking about a dramatic loss of muscle mass in the menopause transition. The most recent study I wrote about for The Vajenda indicated that one of the biomarkers that changes at age 44 was related to muscle health. We obviously need more data, but this change was seen for men and women. In addition, we have longitudinal data from at least 3 studies showing no significant change in muscle mass related to the menstruation or the early menopause. I wrote about all these studies recently for the Vajenda.
I hope you read my most recent piece. We need high quality data, and sometimes the echo chamber of social media can make something seem like a menopause thing when studies say otherwise or we just don’t know. | Posted on 16/Apr/2025 05:54:33
