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Iron and Menopause: Does Increased Iron Affect the Health of Postmenopausal Women?

2009; Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.; Volume: 11; Issue: 12 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1089/ars.2009.2576

1557-7716

Jinlong Jian, Edward Pelle, Xi Huang,

Pregnancy and Medication Impact

Estrogen deficiency has been regarded as the main causative factor in menopausal symptoms and diseases. Here, we show that although estrogen decreases by 90%, a concurrent but inverse change occurs in iron levels during menopausal transition. For example, levels of serum ferritin are increased by two- to threefold from before menopause to after menopause. This observation has led us to hypothesize that, in addition to estrogen deficiency, increased iron as a result of menopause could be a risk factor affecting the health of postmenopausal women. Further studies on iron and menopause are clinically relevant and may provide novel therapeutic treatments.