Estrogen Changes During Weight Loss

The hormone estrogen is vital to female health, but estrogen levels that are too low or too high can adversely affect other aspects of total health. Doctors have discovered a correlation between estrogen and weight, especially among women entering menopause. Their findings may be equally important for all women trying to lose weight.

Estrogen Basics

• Estrogen is a hormone that affects the development and health of the female reproductive system and breast tissue. The ovaries produce most estrogen in the body between the stages of puberty and menopause. The main function of estrogen is to stimulate ovulation. Men also have small amounts of estrogen in their bodies, though doctors do not have a clear understanding of the hormone's function in males. This article will focus primarily on the issue of estrogen and weight loss in women.

Changes Over Time

• As women enter menopause or perimenopause (a stage prior to full menopause), their ovaries produce less estrogen. This decrease in hormones is responsible for many common menopausal symptoms and why for many years doctors routinely prescribed estrogen replacement for menopausal women.

Estrogen and Weight Gain

• Many doctors believe that estrogen contributes to weight gain among women during and after menopause. Some studies suggest that during menopause the body reacts to the loss of estrogen from the ovaries by trying to produce more estrogen from fat cells. In order to make estrogen, the cells have to store more fat. The cells' desire to store fat triggers metabolic changes that lead to weight gain. Thus a post-menopausal woman may gain weight even if her diet and exercise levels remain the same as they were prior to menopause.

Estrogen and Weight Loss

• Because of the correlation between fat cells and estrogen, studies show that people who are overweight tend to have higher than normal estrogen levels. Also, people who are extremely thin, such as anorexia patients, have estrogen levels that are far too low. Conversely, when an obese woman loses weight, her estrogen levels will usually drop.

Conclusions

• Based on recent clinical studies, most doctors believe that the majority of female patients who lose weight will experience a decline in estrogen levels. As long as the diet plan and amount of weight loss is reasonable, however, the amount of estrogen loss should not be of concern. However, doctors do recommended that women preparing to begin a weight-loss diet plan have a complete physical including testing of hormone levels. Any non-menopausal patient who experiences symptoms of low estrogen while dieting should consult with her doctor. Such symptoms may include fatigue, night sweats, hot flashes, memory problems, lack of concentration, joint pain, vaginal dryness, dry skin or loss of sexual desire.