Research into the gut microbiome and how it changes during menopause

[JinglingSpringbells]

Really interesting reading.

[[https://joinzoe.com/learn/gut-microbiome-menopause-changes

I’m really interested in this. I know that for me since peri I have been unable to eat any way other than low carb unless I want to become obsessed by anything carby/sugary and gain a few stone

Me too. I'm eating less but very bloated & weight gain. Post menopause

I've also been following research in this area. I definitely developed new food intolerances in peri/menopause (sulphites) and loads of my friends are suddenly finding they are gluten intolerant etc.

There's also a strand of menopause research on histamines which I think is probably related.

Very interesting

It's waffle and speculative. And biased in presentation. One section could equally have written:

"An unsystematic choosing-studies-authors-capriciously-liked-to-support-what-they-already-believe review from April 2022 looked at 10 studies on menopause, sex hormones, and gut bacteria.

In five of these studies, the scientists found increase or no change in gut bacteria diversity after menopause or in women with low estrogen levels. We need to look at men to know if they have similar stability in gut microbiome at about same ages, before we assume something uniquely female is observed here.

Similarly, seven of the 10 studies found that after menopause, women’s gut microbiomes were no different from premenopausal women's. Not that this tells us about change, only tells us about difference between groups of people who maybe were never similar to start with."

Pah.
Need longitudinal studies to have robust results, same women participating, monitored before and after. I'm surprised ZoeAppCorporation isn't doing that. Predict.I study was based on a single monitoring event iirc, things that happened over a few hours.
Lack of "longitudinal investigations of the gut microbiome in aging [...] is a major limitation of the current literature."

Interesting. I've also found more bloating and weight gain. I'm a keep fit fanatic and eat small portions too (though crave sugar in form of cakes and chocolate and occasionally indulge). I've been having a daily spoonful of raw kimchi recently as I read that it helps, and I think it has.

No changes with food for me, but I can't tolerate alcohol or caffeine like I used to. One glass of wine is my limit and have to drink decaf most of the time.

This time last year I was blaming peri-menopause for my weight gain. Then in September I cut back on crap and calorie counted to around my tdee recommendations and lost 2 stone. I was just fooling myself and looking for a cause outside of my own control. I have a few chronic conditions and take a fair bit of medication including frequent courses of steroids but I know now that it's all down to how what and how much I eat. That's just my experience though before anyone jumps on me. I personally think, from reading threads on here, that many people diet, lose weight, then go back to their old habits and gain it all back again and say they can't lose weight. They can, they just need to keep the new diet and exercise habits for life. A strict diet is bound to fail eventually. Make better choices about portion sizes and what foods you eat but don't diet as such. Balance is key.
As a pp pointed out, that study is very flawed.

I found pregnancy was what caused my IBS. I'm 48 and in peri and haven't had any further food issues but I seem to operate at a higher temperature than I used to.

@MedSchoolRat Isn't 'waffle' an exaggeration?

The conclusion to the link you posted says this:

In summary, the research to date on menopause, female sex hormones, and the gut microbiome suggests that menopause and/or low estrogens are associated with reduced gut microbiome diversity and estrobolome potential, and greater similarity to men in microbiome composition (Figure 2). Additionally, declines in estradiol and progesterone may lead to permeability of the gut barrier, allowing microbial translocation to occur. However, much of this is speculated based on studies with small sample sizes and heterogeneous findings. Additional research in large study populations is needed to confirm these putative effects of menopause, and to identify replicable associations of menopause with gut microbiome taxa.

The Zoe article does say that evidence is based so far on a small number of studies. So I think they have covered themselves with that.

As a 'medschoolrat' you will know that there are numerous studies that are biased, not robust and worse actually establish long-term decisions on treatment ( the WHI and Million Women studies are both discredited now yet caused panic over HRT for 20 years.)