Fat distribution tied to disease risk.(Brief Article)

2002 JUN 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- It's no secret that women begin to lose bone mass and density as they exit their childbearing years, but other changes in body composition associated with menopause may trigger additional health problems, said University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign kinesiology professor Ellen Evans.

"The risk of osteoporosis in the postmenopausal woman is well characterized," said Evans, whose research focuses on body composition and disease prevention in the elderly. "But just as problematic, if not more so, she said, are health risks - such as diabetes and heart disease - associated with obesity in menopausal women. And since the nation's population of postmenopausal women is expected to double by 2025, Evans said, the implications are profound.

"Seventy percent of women age 45-54 are overweight or obese," said the Illinois researcher. "Before age 50, the majority of women tend to slowly increase their weight, whereas after menopause there appears to be an accelerated increase in fat mass and a change in preferential fat storage to a central - that is, abdominal - location."

Those facts have caused Evans and other researchers to ponder the obvious question: "Is it age or menopause?"

"Only recently emerging in the scientific literature is the finding ...