Vitamin D levels and symptoms associated with menopause

This is an automatically translated article.

1. Why do women need vitamin D?

Vitamin D can be seen as a hormone made naturally by your body to help maintain a healthy mental, emotional and physical balance of your body. Without it, you can experience hormonal imbalances such as:
Estrogen imbalance. A vitamin D deficiency can lead to lower estrogen levels, which can cause depression, hot flashes, mood swings and more. Parathyroid hormone imbalance. A vitamin D deficiency limits the body's ability to regulate calcium levels, which the parathyroid glands control. Lower calcium regulation increases parathyroid gland production. Pituitary imbalance. Abnormal growth of pituitary cells - and therefore pituitary tumors - can result from a vitamin D deficiency. Testosterone imbalance. Vitamin D deficiency in women reduces testosterone production, which can lead to fatigue, weight gain, mood swings, hair loss, and more. Therefore, in women who are in perimenopause or menopause begin to have a deficiency of sex hormones such as estrogen, vitamin D supplementation is extremely important.

2. Vitamin D Levels Linked to Menopause Symptoms

Many women experience menopause-related symptoms long after their last period. For example, women often experience hot flashes for 4 to 10 years after menopause. Many people also suffer from mood disorders, although the link to menopause is less clear. These symptoms can be severe enough to negatively impact quality of life, work performance, and personal relationships. Current treatments for symptoms associated with menopause, such as menopausal hormone therapy, antidepressants, and anticonvulsants, can have significant side effects and serious adverse consequences long-term importance. After stopping treatment, symptoms may recur or even develop into disease. Recognizing the underlying mechanisms of menopause-related symptoms may lead to the development of new treatment strategies.

Calcium balance studies have shown that calcium absorption decreases with menopause. Since Vitamin D increases calcium absorption and appears to be hormone sensitive, Vitamin D may also affect vasomotor symptoms, which are clearly related to hormone levels. In addition, some of the symptoms associated with vitamin D deficiency, such as mood disturbances and musculoskeletal symptoms, are similar to those experienced by women moving through menopause. Therefore, vitamin D levels may be involved in symptoms associated with menopause.
A few small studies were done in middle-aged women taking an aromatase inhibitor (AI) for breast cancer. Although hot flashes occurring with AI therapy differ from vasomotor symptoms associated with menopause, breast cancer patients with higher vitamin D levels (>66 ng/ml) have fewer hot flashes and other symptoms compared with women with lower vitamin D levels.
There is some biological data that suggests a link between vitamin D and symptoms associated with menopause is plausible. Vitamin D may protect against experimental serotonin depletion in rats, and menopausal depletion of serotonin, a thermoregulatory neurotransmitter, may be a contributing cause. hot flashes. In addition, estrogen increases the activity of the enzyme responsible for activating vitamin D, and thus, a decrease in estrogen levels during the menopausal transition can lead to symptoms of vitamin D deficiency. Indeed, vitamin D supplementation. D may improve mood in non-menopausal people.

3. Benefits of vitamin D supplementation in postmenopausal women

If you're a woman in your 30s, 40s or 50s, it's time to think about vitamin D. This little vitamin plays a central role in many body processes and is on the women's list of all time. menopause. In addition to reducing menopausal symptoms, studies have shown it to help prevent heart disease, osteoporosis, diabetes, cancer, and weight gain. Here are some of the effects that vitamin D may help treat or prevent:
3.1. Osteoporosis Because vitamin D is important for your body to use calcium and build bones properly, women over 40 or those with risk factors for osteoporosis should make sure they get enough vitamin D. The combination of calcium and vitamin D is for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis.
3.2. Cancer There have been more than a thousand studies showing a link between vitamin D and the prevention of nearly 30 types of cancer, especially colon, prostate and breast cancers. Of these, perhaps the strongest support for adequate vitamin D levels comes from vitamin D's association with not only a reduced risk of colon cancer but also a reduction in malignant growth in other cancers. mail already.
Vitamin D deficiency can not only lead to an increased risk of cancer, but we are learning that some cancer treatments may not be effective in cases of vitamin D deficiency, such as the drug rituximab used for blood-related cancers is less effective in people with low vitamin D levels.

3.3. Depression Vitamin D has been shown to have a positive effect on mood and low cognitive performance. Since mood symptoms often occur during the menopausal years, anything that helps reduce mood troubles is worth your attention. If you have seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and notice your mood is low during the winter, you may want to boost your vitamin D intake during those dark months.
3.4. Diabetes Adequate vitamin D levels appear to be closely related to your body's ability to use insulin. Many studies have been done that have found that low vitamin D intake leads to decreased insulin release in the body, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. In other words, vitamin D not only makes your body use insulin more efficiently, but it seems to prevent or minimize both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Several studies are currently underway looking at them. a possible cause-and-effect relationship between low vitamin D levels and diabetes.
3.5. Cardiovascular disease When estrogen begins to decline, women begin to have the same risk of heart disease as men. Vitamin D plays a role in preventing heart disease, but research is mixed about its value. Although vitamin D deficiency appears to be associated with cardiovascular disease, it is not clear why. Several studies have failed to connect vitamin D supplementation with improved cardiovascular risk.
If you're concerned about heart disease, talk to your doctor about what the latest research tells us about vitamin D and cardiovascular disease.
3.6. Hypertension (High blood pressure) Vitamin D deficiency can affect your heart and blood vessels. Since high blood pressure is a symptom that your cardiovascular system is in danger, anything that lowers that risk can protect your heart. Studies have shown that vitamin D and calcium supplements can lower blood pressure readings in people with high blood pressure. However, remember that everyone is different. Some people should not take calcium supplements, for example, people with a history of kidney stones should talk to their doctor before taking any preparation.
3.7. Obesity For some reason, overweight women tend to have lower vitamin D.6 levels. It is not known whether low levels contribute to obesity or whether obesity reduces levels, but an association exists. Anything that makes it easier for you to lose weight is beneficial for your overall health.
3.8. Other health conditions Vitamin D has been studied for its role in treating and preventing other conditions, such as irritable bowel syndrome, muscle weakness, multiple sclerosis, osteoarthritis, celiac disease , other autoimmune diseases, fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome, chronic pain, asthma and allergies.
Please follow our website ( www.vinmec.com ) for more information on health care instructions, which we will update regularly.

Please dial HOTLINE for more information or register for an appointment HERE. Download MyVinmec app to make appointments faster and to manage your bookings easily.

References: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, healthline.com, sciencedaily.com