Dr C’s ‘CARBS BRING ON THE MENOPAUSE? RUBBISH!’
check-up Recent headlines said a stodgy diet could cause early menopause. Dr C says it’s the silliest carb-bashing story yet
study that looked A into how your diet impacts the start of your menopause hit the headlines earlier this month and, true to form, the papers all screamed that you should “cut carbs for a delayed menopause”. But it’s just not as simple as that.
KNOW THE TRUTH
The study showed that women who ate lots of refined, white pasta and rice tended to start their menopause one and a half years earlier, and those who ate lots of healthy foods, like oily fish and legumes (peas and beans), started theirs three years later. The average age women start their menopause in the UK is 51, so that means the pasta eaters started theirs at 50, or 49 and a half. I think we can all agree that there’s not a lot in it.
GENES ARE THE KEY
The most significant factor by far when it comes to your menopause is your genetics – not whether or not you eat pasta. If you want to know when you’re likely to go through your menopause, find out when your mum had hers. This research looked solely at diet, so genetics weren’t considered, which means they can’t prove it was the women’s food intake that impacted their menopause. Also, the research was done in one of the most unreliable ways: people filled out questionnaires about what they ate. We all know we sometimes fib when filling out questionnaires – no one is going to admit to a four Mars Bars a day diet!
Of course, anything that nudges people to eat more healthily is a good thing, but the science here is very weak. Despite that, it created headlines everywhere, because there’s a national obsession with carb bashing, thanks in part to Gwyneth Paltrow and co. If you skip carbs, you’ll struggle to get enough fibre, and you may not have enough energy, so you’ll end up looking for sugar. Dietwise, balance is everything, so all this exclusion is silly. The Mediterranean diet – high in veg, fruit, legumes, whole grains, nuts, beans and unsaturated fat such as olive oil – is your best bet. Just be sensible, not extreme.
BE BALANCED, NOT OBSESSIVE
The menopause is a big deal, but having it a year earlier or later doesn’t really matter. What does is having a healthy old age, and the secret to that is making sure you’re a healthy weight as you go into the menopause, through it and out the other side. The way to do that is to eat a balanced diet with lots of vegetables, variety and colour and healthy carbs – not obsessive restriction.