Entering menopause later maintains muscle strength, study suggests
BOSTON - A new study finds the later a woman enters menopause, the longer she maintains good muscle function.
Loss of muscle mass and strength can have a profound effect on a person's quality of life and increase their risk of falls, disability, and even death. Having a shorter reproductive lifespan, in other words between the age of first menstrual cycle to menopause, has been associated with heart disease and mortality.
Now this new study finds it can also reduce muscle function.
A team in South Korea looked at more than 2,300 postmenopausal women between the ages of 45 and 75 and found entering menopause later was associated with a reduced risk of low handgrip strength, a measure of muscle mass and function.
The natural conclusion is that estrogen has beneficial effects on skeletal muscle.