Women’s bodies go through a lot of changes during menopause and the increase in cholesterol levels is one that is often overlooked. The good news is it is possible to reduce cholesterol through simple diet and lifestyle changes. Read our advice about what you can do.
The main problem is lack of awareness. Only 24% of women mention cholesterol as a menopause-related concern and fewer than half of doctors say they include a cholesterol check in their most frequent advice to women over 45. We want to change this so that many more women take the simple, necessary steps to help maintain lower cholesterol during menopause.
During menopause, women's oestrogen levels drop, causing a number of important changes. The factors that can cause raised cholesterol are complex, but basically come down to a change in fat distribution and storage. During menopause, fat tends to shift from women's lower bodies (the pear shape) to their upper bodies (the apple shape). This shift in body fats tends to result in an increase in total cholesterol with, in particular, an increase in bad (LDL – low density lipoprotein) cholesterol and triglycerides, and a decrease in good (HDL – high density lipoprotein) cholesterol.
Raised cholesterol is generally perceived as a male problem and is not commonly associated with menopause, despite the link being well documented. Doctors and patients tend to focus on other effects of menopause such as osteoporosis and rarely test for raised cholesterol.
The problem is, raised cholesterol usually has no obvious symptoms, so if you don’t test for it, you won’t be aware of it. If you’re going through the menopause and your doctor hasn't suggested it, ask for the test yourself.
We think it's vitally important that people know about the link between menopause and raised cholesterol, so we’ve made it a focus of the Flora Love Your heart Campaign. Please help us by telling friends who might be at risk. It's easy and it could make a real difference.
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