Those elder women who have had menopause or their ovaries removed are not at the risk of contracting diabetes, reveals a new study.

According to the study by University of Michigan Health System, menopause does not raise the risk for diabetes.

“In our study, menopause had no additional effect on risk for diabetes. Menopause is one of many small steps in aging and it doesn’t mean women’s health will be worse after going through this transition,” study’s lead author Catherine Kim, an associate professor of internal medicine and obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Michigan Health System, said in a statement.

The study, which will be published in the August issue of journal Menopause, observed that for every year 100 women, 11.8 premenopausal women developed diabetes, compared to 10.5 among women in natural menopause and 12.9 cases among women who had their ovaries removed.

Menopause, when monthly periods and estrogen production by the ovaries stops, occurs around age 51 or 52 in women.

The condition has been linked to ageing and was previously thought to speed the progression to diabetes because postmenopausal women have relatively higher levels of the hormone testosterone, which is considered a risk factor for diabetes, the report said.

But the latest findings also revealed the impact of diet and exercise and hormone replacement therapy on the health of postmenopausal women.

Weight loss and exercise lowers risk for diabetes in some postmenopausal women, it said.

“Physicians can be empowered to tell women that lifestyle changes can be very effective, and that menopause does not mean that they have a higher risk of diabetes,” Kim added.

Michigan Aging Medicine Michigan