It turns out what you eat could help determine when you start menopause, according to a new study.
England-based University of Leeds researchers found a link between eating healthy foods — such as oily fish and legumes like peas and green beans — and a later menopause onset. Favoring refined carbs like white pasta and rice, on the other hand, was linked to an earlier than average start, suggests the study published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health on April 30.
Women whose diet consisted mostly of healthy foods, such as salmon, sardines and mackerel, saw an approximately three-year delay in menopause, based on the average start age, which is 51 in both the U.S. and U.K. High intake of Vitamin B6 and zinc were also tied to later menopause. Study participants whose diet revolved around white pasta and rice were more likely to start menopause a year and a half earlier than average.
The study authors collected data from more than 14,150 women in the U.K. Participants completed a diet questionnaire and survey on health and reproductive history, as well as follow-ups to both four years later.
When researchers surveyed the women again, they discovered that just over 900 of those ages 40 to 65 began to start natural menopause during the four-year period. Menopause that resulted due to cancer, surgery or drugs the women took didn’t fall under the “natural” definition.
The link between d iet and menopause onset hasn’t been well-studied, lead author Yashvee Dunneram, a postdoctoral researcher at the School of Food Science and Nutrition at the University of Leeds, said in a statement. She emphasized that more research is needed.
And it’s important to note that the findings don’t prove cause and effect between diet and the timing of menopause onset. “It is an interesting approach to investigate the timing of the menopause but I am not yet convinced that diet alone can account for the age of the onset of the menopause,” Saffron Whitehead, emeritus professor of endocrinology at St George’s University of London and Society for Endocrinology member, told the BBC. “There are too many other factors involved.”
Research has indicated there are negative consequences to both early and late menopause. Early menopause, for instance, has been linked to conditions such as lower bone density and osteoporosis. Research has previously linked a greater risk for endometrial, ovarian and breast cancers with late menopause.
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Study: Healthy Foods Linked to Later Menopause Onset originally appeared on usnews.com
