Menopause is associated with decreased whole body fat oxidation during exercise

Abstract

insulin sensitivity was obtained from an oral glucose tolerance test. Body composition was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry and magnetic resonance imaging. Fat oxidation and energy expenditure were measured during an acute exercise bout of 45 min of ergometer biking at 50% of maximal oxygen consumption (V O2 max). Muscle biopsies from the vastus lateralis of the quadriceps muscle were obtained before and immediately after the exercise bout. Postmenopausal women had 33% [confidence interval (CI) 95%: 12-55] lower whole body fat oxidation (P ϭ 0.005) and 19% (CI 95%: 9 -22) lower energy expenditure (P ϭ 0.02) during exercise, as well as 4.28 kg lower lean body mass (LBM) than premenopausal women. Correction for LBM reduced differences in fat oxidation to 23% (P ϭ 0.05), whereas differences in energy expenditure disappeared (P ϭ 0.22). No differences between groups were found in mRNA [carnitine palmitoyltransferase I, ␤-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase (␤-HAD), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-␣, citrate synthase (CS), pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 4, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-␥ coactivator-1␣ (PGC-1␣)], protein [phosphorylated AMPactivated protein kinase (AMPK), vascular endothelial growth factor, pyruvate dehydrogenase-1E␣, cytochrome oxidase I], or enzyme activities (␤-HAD, CS) in resting skeletal muscle, except for an increased protein level of cytochrome c in the post-and perimenopausal women relative to premenopausal women. Postmenopausal women demonstrated a trend to a blunted exercise-induced increase in phosphorylation of AMPK compared with premenopausal women (P ϭ 0.06). We conclude that reduced whole body fat oxidation after menopause is associated with reduced LBM. menopause; skeletal muscle; fat oxidation; biopsy MENOPAUSE SIGNALS THE END of the fertile phase of a woman's life and is defined after 12 mo of amenorrhea, as the last menstrual bleeding. At this time point, a marked increase in the incidence of the metabolic syndrome (19, 37), cardiovascular diseases (1, 27, 35), and type 2 diabetes (48) is observed. The increased occurrence of metabolic diseases is likely to be related to changes in body composition, such as an increased amount of body fat (22,29,30,49), changed body fat distribution (22,30,51), and loss of lean body mass (LBM) (12,49,53).Menopause leads to a significant decrease in circulating levels of estrogen as well as increases in gonadotropins. Estrogen seems to influence the substrate choice in humans toward fat oxidation. Hence, fat oxidation is lower in males than in females during endurance exercise (8,17,26,50) and increases in males taking estrogen supplementation (11,16). Furthermore, these gender differences in substrate utilization are only seen when comparing males with females at fertile ages (8,17,26,50). Therefore, it has been hypothesized that reduced estrogen levels with menopause may influence substrate utilization.To our knowledge, only a single previous study has investigated whole body fat oxidation in relation to menopause show...

The sexual dimorphism of obesity

“…Many postmenopausal women gain body weight due the natural decrease in endogenous estradiol levels during menopause and reductions in energy expenditure can be prevented by estrogen replacement therapy (Gambacciani et al, 1997). Additionally, postmenopausal women have a lower fat oxidation and energy expenditure during exercise and sleep when compared to premenopausal women (Abildgarrd et al, 2013; Lovejoy et al, 2008). Rodent studies have confirmed these findings and identified that activation of the estrogen receptors in the ventral medial nucleus of the hypothalamus results in increased energy expenditure (Musatov et al, 2007; Xu et al, 2011).…”

Effect of exercise on the auditory discrimination task in perimenopausal women: a preliminary study

“…Hence, MHT may be a factor that affects auditory function. Second, the benefits of exercise for postmenopausal health or neurocognitive function are related to a number of confounding factors, such as body mass index (BMI), personal history of diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease and smoking status [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] . Third, a series of experiments demonstrated that high-intensity levels of exercise alter the RT 29 .…”

In Vitro Palmitate Treatment of Myotubes from Postmenopausal Women Leads to Ceramide Accumulation, Inflammation and Affected Insulin Signaling

“…The increased incidence of metabolic diseases during menopause is associated with changes in body composition, as postmenopausal women have decreased skeletal muscle mass [7]–[9] as well as increased visceral fat mass [9], [10]. Furthermore, postmenopausal women have lower whole body fat oxidation rates compared to premenopausal women [9], [10], a phenomenon known to lead to obesity [11] and dyslipidemia [12]. As a consequence of inadequate fat oxidation, excess adiposity often leads to ectopic fat storage of lipid metabolites including triacylglycerols (TAGs), diacylglycerols (DAGs) and ceramides in metabolic tissues such as skeletal muscle.…”