Managing Your Menopause Type^® Educational Class

Session Three - Your Risks of Disease

INSULIN RESISTANCE & DIABETES

The Relationship Between Menopause And Abnormal Blood Sugar Metabolism

The relationship between menopause and abnormal blood sugar metabolism was presented on pages 73 through 76 of "What's Your Menopause Type?", presented in this excerpt from the book.

Blood Sugar and Insulin Problems

Blood sugar problems can arise with various menopause types, due to imbalances in all three of the steroid hormones we have been looking at: estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. These are some of the most serious health risks of menopause.

Insulin is a hormone that enables your cells to use molecules of sugar (glucose) from your blood. Glucose is the main source of energy for most of your body's cells. To receive molecules of glucose, your cells must be sensitive to the influence of insulin

For various reasons, your cells can become "insulin resistant" or less sensitive. Your body still provides the same amount of insulin, but your cells seem to need more. When this happens, your body tries to compensate by making more insulin. This leads to a condition called hyperinsulinemia, literally meaning "too much insulin in the blood."

Hyperinsulinemia with insulin resistance is responsible for a range of serious illnesses in postmenopausal women, including adult-onset diabetes, heart disease, and cancer of the breast and uterus.^122-129

It was once thought that insulin resistance was mainly a problem of obesity, but this isn't true. Insulin resistance is a widespread but largely unrecognized threat to women's health. As many as 44% of healthy postmenopausal women may have insulin resistance

Insulin Resistance is a widespread but largely unrecognized threat to women's health.

What causes insulin resistance? Imbalances in estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone levels in women make insulin resistance more likely in each year after menopause.

A deficiency in estrogen can produce insulin resistance. ^132-134 Estrogen plays an important role in your body's normal insulin sensitivity, the uptake of glucose by muscle cells, the normalization of proteins that carry hormones in the blood (which help normalize testosterone levels), and the liver's ability to clear excess insulin from the blood. ^135-139

Progesterone has the opposite effect: It can cause insulin resistance. ^140-142 The elevated progesterone seen in pregnancy has been suspected to contribute to the formation of gestational diabetes. ^143-145 Supplemental progesterone used in hormone-replacement therapy has also been found to interfere with insulin and glucose metabolism. ^146-151 (See chapter 14 for morn information on hormone-replacement therapy.)

Later in this chapter, I explain the importance of the progesterone-to-estrogen ratio. If the level of estrogen is too low to balance progesterone, even a normal level of progesterone can promote insulin resistance. This may occur with low-estrogen and normal-progesterone menopause types^® .

A high testosterone level can also cause insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia, especially when it is not balanced by estrogen. ^152-157 This is true for premenopausal women, as well as women who are in or past menopause. ¹⁵⁸

Thus, any menopause type^® that includes low levels of estrogen or high levels of testosterone has an increased risk for insulin resistance--especially if there is an imbalance between estrogen and progesterone, or estrogen and testosterone. Since insulin resistance can contribute to so many serious health risks, from diabetes to heart disease and cancer, this is one of the strongest reasons for identifying your menopause type^® and getting appropriate treatment.

"What's Your Menopause Type?", pg 73-76

What's Next?

Next we will address the questions "Are hormones the answer?", "What about weight?" & "How does weight affect insulin resistance?"

We will then discuss the need to see the big picture if we are going to stop the progression of insulin resistance and diabetes

The Managing Your Menopause Type® Educational Class is provided to the public without charge. This information is provide for education purposes only, and is not intended to prescribe treatment. Consult a physician, pharmacist or other healthcare professional regarding the applicability of any opinions or recommendations with respect to your symptoms or medical condition.

Related Products

You may now purchase any of these products using our secure shopping cart.
Flax Oil
BodyBio Oil
ProEPA
Balanced Omega
DEF
Signabiotics
Wellness Shakes
Radiant Greens
Protease Formula