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contrary to popular thought, the ovaries dont' shrivel up and die post menopause.  This study finds Estradiol production on going post menopause.

Weak connection, but this study finds that Testosterone in post-menopausal women will reduce cardiovascular disease (CVD) in women.  Their conclusion is based on the rise in CVD in post-menopausal women and the decline in Testosterone levels post-hysterectomy. That is the one instant where Testosterone levels do precipitously decline.  Contrast this with natural menopause where Testosterone does not appear to decline as precipitously.

11 beta HSD type 1 increases in menopause in normal weight women.  This may explain some of the metabolism changes seen in women post-menopause.

elevated Testosterone found to play role in post menopause breast cancer.  No correlation with elevated Testosterone was found in pre menopause--in fact, low estrogen/low Testosterone and elevated prolactin was found in pre menopausal breast cancer patients.

great review of the menopause transition and the effect of weight and hormones.  For example, muscle loss is found in menopause vs perimenopause.  Increased estrogen production occurs from non-ovary sites i.e. visceral and SQ fat.

No benefit to memory for post menopause women with estradiol therapy.  This study looked at early and late menopause estrogen therapy.  The study also found no harm.  Only abstract available here.  These studies would do more scientific benefit if they would follow hormone levels.  This study did not touch on dementia; other studies have shown benefit from estrogen therapy  in preventing dementia in women.

3 year study finds improvement in classic menopausal symptoms for women in perimenopause and menopause with improvement in other parameters: fasting glucose, cholesterol, MMP-9, CRP, fibrinogen and other clotting factors.  This study used bioidentical Bi-est, progesterone, and in some DHEA and Testosterone.

Study finds heavy presence of xenoestrogens in obese Portuguese women, both pre menopause and post menopause.  This study only looked at obese women; it would be nice to have a control of thin women to contrast the plasma and adipose xenoestrogen levels.  The authors found the presence of xenoestrogens in plasma in pre menopause women to be a 10 year predictor of cardiovascular disease risk in these women.  The authors also found increased Xenoestrogen levels to be associated with metabolic dysfunction and inflammation.

Soy not shown to reduce menopausal symptoms in recent study

Medical dogma tells us that menopause is simply an estrogen deficiency.  This new study points to correlation between progesterone decline and cognitive decline in menopausal women.

estrogen therapy in surgical menopause preserves memory.  Rapid decline in estrogen levels post surgical menopause is associated with cognitive/memory decline.  Versus placebo, estrogen therapy preserved memory function.

low SHBG in post-menopausal women correlates with increased risk of metabolic syndrome.  More than that, there is an inverse correlation with SHBG in women and metabolic syndrome components.  Also, Increasing components of MetS was correlated with Testosterone and free androgen index.

low vitamin D associated with increased autoimmune thyroid TPO antibodies in women.  This association was found in pre menopause women, but not post menopause women.

Study finds Estradiol regulates human skeletal muscle cell signaling (mitochondrial function, oxidative phosphorylation, glycolysis, and TCA cycle) in study of pre/post menopause women through proteome analysis. This study would have been complete if they had carried to search beyond that of protein to epigenetics.

post menopausal estradiol in women associated with pro-inflammatory state.  SHBG was associated with a decrease in the inflammatory cytokine biomarkers.  Postmenopausal women were found to have an increased Testosterone to estradiol ratio.

study finds that HRT given as women transition through menopause has benefiical effect in people with Alzheimer's.  However, when given years later, after menopause, no benefit is found.  In fact, rates increased.  Several flaws with this study.  First, they used synthetic hormones, particularily progestins.  Second, there seems to be no thought that the interpretation of the signal  has changed.  For example, we know that when men have low T, their estrogen receptor status changes from ER beta to ER alpha, which is more proinflammatory.  Third, use bioidentical hormones and compare these to synthetic hormones.

The early post menopause phase is critical for women. This is the phase that requires intensify strategy for exercise. The ER alpha signaling is actually increased and the ability to build muscle is intensified if exercise, particularly resistance training, is employed.

increased inflammatory markers associated with increased hot flash severity in menopausal women.  This is also associated with increased cardiovascular disease. Interesting that progesterone has anti-inflammatory properties.  So, therapy to reduce hot flashes should include inflammation reduction.

"...in the subgroup of women starting HRT between ages 50 and 59 or less than 10 years after menopause...reduction of overall mortality and coronary artery disease."

study shows that smoking cessation, physical inactivity, menopause, hysterectomy and energy intake associated with the perimenopause weight gain.  What is interesting about it is the energy imbalance is small that results in a big weight gain over time.  We need to look closely and be more frank with out clients about the risk that a hysterectomy poses for her health post surgery.