My menopause ABC: A…vocado

My menopause ABC: A…vocado

Skin health and menopause

One of the frequent symptoms associated with menopause is dry skin, or more generally the deterioration of the quality of the skin. Numerous studies have shown the link between the changes occurring during menopause (in particular hormonal changes) and this skin degradation¹.

We will have the opportunity to come back in the future to the specifics in terms of causes and effects regarding the deterioration of the quality of the skin in postmenopausal women.
The purpose of this blog post is to look at possible solutions to improve skin quality, focusing on a food packed with nutrients allied with healthy skin (and much more), avocado.

Not just pleasing to the eye

Avocado is a fruit like no other:
Unlike most other fruits whose calories are derived primarily from carbohydrates, 100g avocado contains 15.4g of fat and only 8.6g of carbohydrate.

A real plus side, as our contemporary diet too often sins by consuming excess carbohydrates, with the associated inflammatory effects, factors of cell aging.

And the dietary fats in avocado are mostly the « good » type of fatty acids, unsaturated fatty acids.
Good for the heart … and for the skin².

And let us note that the avocado is a worthy representative of the Happy Half Hundred community, since it only improves with age: the more the fruit ripens, the more the share of monounsaturated oleic acid increases and the more saturated fatty acids decrease.

Benefits for your health in spades

Going back to the quality of the skin, avocado is one of the few foods rich in both vitamin C and vitamin E, two antioxidants.
Consumption of vitamin C is recognized as a contributing factor to better skin quality. And the combination of vitamin C with vitamin E multiplies the positive effects³.

The benefits of making avocado a favorite on our menus don’t stop with improving skin quality. In fact, avocados offer nearly 20 different types of minerals and vitamins.

Rich in potassium and low in sodium, it is an ally against arterial hypertension.
It is also rich in magnesium, as well as vitamin B-6.

And thanks to their lutein and zeaxanthin content, avocados may also help prevent age-related eye dysfunction. An effect reinforced by the high content of unsaturated fatty acids.

Finally, to return to the 8.64 grams of carbohydrates per 100 grams of avocado mentioned above, 80% are in fact dietary fiber, known, among other health benefits, to help reduce blood sugar spikes.

A must-have on your plate

So if there is a fruit to bring back from each trip to the grocery store, and to put on our menu, it is our green friend the avocado:
for breakfast, replace your butter or margarine with fresh avocado, coarsely mashed with a fork;
at lunch, invite him as the guest star of your salad;
at dinner, impress your guests in two steps with half an avocado filled with salmon roe, lightly drizzled with lemon juice and topped with dill.

The number of possible recipes is almost unlimited!

Are you interested in the experiences of women at different stages of their menopause? Would you like a reminder of the physiology of menopause and the main symptoms? Download our free ebook, Menopause Story(ies).

1: source « Revisiting the effects of menopause on the skin: Functional changes, clinical studies, in vitro models and therapeutic alternatives » ; Mechanisms of Ageing and Development, Volume 185, 2020 ; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mad.2019.111193.
2: studies show that reasonable dietary fats consumption helps improve skin elasticity, cf. « Association of dietary fat, vegetables and antioxidant micronutrients with skin ageing in Japanese women. » Br J Nutr. 2010 May;103(10):1493-8. doi: 10.1017/S0007114509993461.
3: source Oregon State University, Linus Pauling Institute, Micronutrient Information Center, « Vitamine C and Skin Health«