Menopause and Vitamin E: The Best Sources

Menopause has been incorrectly described as a disease that afflicts women. Menopause, rather, is a stage or condition that marks the transition of a woman from being able (in theory) to bear children to being unable to do so. Menopause, then, is not an affliction or disease, or even, properly speaking a syndrome. However, during the transition through menopause, a large variety of ailments can afflict women. Menopausal and post-menopausal women can get relief from a variety of menopausal conditions by taking Vitamin E.

Vitamin E is apparently useful in the treatment of osteoporosis in women. For women, bone loss occurs rapidly in the first few years after menopause, but can continue throughout a woman’s life. This reduction in bone density leaves sufferers from osteoporosis at an elevated risk for fractures, particularly of the spine, the hip, and the wrist. Although men as well as women can contract osteoporosis, women are at greater risk. According to a study by the National Institute of Health, 50% of all women will suffer an osteoporosis-related fracture in their lifetime, and over 23 million American women are at risk for osteoporosis. Recent studies suggest that vitamin E can replace estrogen in bone formation. Vitamin E has the additional

advantage of being cheaper and lacking the side effects of estrogen. Many hormone replacement therapies (HRTs) can be used to fight osteoporosis, but Vitamin E and other supplements are cheaper and on the whole have considerably fewer side effects.

Vitamin E has also been proven effective in the treatment of hot flashes, vaginal dryness, thinning, and itching. Vitamin E is an anti-oxidant that prevents the body cells from reacting with oxygen to form “free radicals”, substances linked to a variety of degenerative diseases and cancers. Vitamin E is a natural, non-toxic blood thinner: often overlooked in the list of menopausal and post-menopausal conditions to which women are prone are heart and blood related illnesses, including hypertension and cardiac disease. In fact, more women die of heart attacks and strokes than all cancers combined. Vitamin E can be used directly on the skin: some women have pricked Vitamin E capsules and applied the fluid directly to the vagina in order to alleviate thinning, itching, or vaginal dryness. Vitamin E can be used as a lubricant during sexual intercourse; used in this way, it offers the additional advantage of healing any irritations that may occur during sex.

Sources of Vitamin E abound. Among the natural sources are soybeans, raw nuts and seeds, cold-pressed oils (like olive oil), peanuts, cornmeal, sweet potatoes, the leaves of broccoli, raw spinach, asparagus and

wheat germ. Soy isoflavins may be the best overall source, according to a recent study conducted among menopausal and post-menopausal women in Brazil.

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