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Postmenopause refers to the period following menopause in a woman's life. Many of the annoying symptoms that a woman may have had prior to menopause begin to fade at this time. When a woman has gone a year without having her period, she is termed postmenopausal. Another method to tell whether you are approaching menopause is to have your doctor evaluate your follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) level.
The pituitary gland produces the hormone FSH, which is located at the base of the brain. As your ovaries begin to shut down, your FSH levels will rise rapidly; these levels may be easily tested with a single blood test. Because FSH levels vary during perimenopause, the only way to be sure you are postmenopausal is to go a year without having a period.
Due to a variety of factors, including a lower level of oestrogen, postmenopausal women are at a higher risk for a variety of health problems, such as high blood sugar levels. You may regain your vitality after menopause, but you may also be at a higher risk for certain diseases. But there might be a way to address some of these problems.
A study published in the FASEB Journal found that consuming a concentrated amount of chocolate in the morning for a short period of time may help the body burn fat and lower blood sugar levels in postmenopausal women. Researchers at the Brigham partnered with scientists from the University of Murcia in Spain to learn more about the consequences of eating milk chocolate at different times of the day.
For the small study, they used 19 postmenopausal women in a randomised, controlled, cross-over experiment who ate either 100g of chocolate in the morning (within one hour of waking time) or at night (within one hour before bedtime). They compared weight gain and a variety of other factors to not eating chocolate.
Researchers studied that among these postmenopausal women:
"Our findings highlight that not only 'what' but also 'when' we eat can impact physiological mechanisms involved in the regulation of body weight. Our volunteers did not gain weight despite increasing caloric intake. Our results show that chocolate reduced ad libitum energy intake, consistent with the observed reduction in hunger, appetite and the desire for sweets shown in previous studies," said the authors of the study.
(with inputs from agencies)