Bones, Liver, And Blood Fats All Shift Abruptly at Menopause, Huge Study Finds

If puberty is like climbing a physiological cliff, then menopause may be like falling off one.

A new study, published in Nature Medicine , argues that the end of menstruation is not a gradual part of aging, as previously assumed, but an abrupt physiological transition.

Using more than 300 million lab tests from over one million women, the new study identifies a number of sudden 'jumps' that occur throughout the body when menopause begins.

Some of the most obvious changes are to do with sex hormones, which the ovaries help produce, but there are also sudden shifts in bone health, liver function, kidney function, blood chemistry, and blood fats.

"Menopause reshapes female physiology, yet current understanding is limited by small longitudinal cohorts that characterize it as a gradual transition," explain the authors, led by molecular cell biologist Glen Pridham from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.