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| Effects of Estrogen on the Female Body |
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| What is estrogen? |
Estrogen is a group of hormones that play an important
role in the normal sexual and reproductive development in women. They are
also called sex hormones. The ovaries of a woman produce most estrogen hormones,
although the adrenal glands also produce small amounts of the hormones.
In addition to regulating the menstrual cycle, estrogen affects the reproductive
tract, the urinary tract, the heart and blood vessels, bones, breasts, skin,
hair, mucous membranes, pelvic muscles, and the brain. Secondary sexual
characteristics, such as pubic and armpit hair also begin to grow when estrogen
levels rise. Many organ systems, including the musculoskeletal and cardiovascular
systems and the brain are affected by estrogen.
Given below are the positive and negative effects of estrogen on the human
body. Patients are requested to consult their doctors to know the exact
affects of the hormone, and not resort to any form of self-medication without
the advice of a doctor. |
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| Estrogen and osteoporosis: |
| Women are four times more likely to develop osteoporosis
than men. Estrogen deficiency is an important cause of accelerated bone
loss in women during and after menopause. It is the major cause of bone
fractures in postmenopausal women. |
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| How does menopause affect osteoporosis? |
| During menopause, reduction of bone mass accelerates,
showing a clear relationship between the level of estrogen in a woman’s
body and the rate at which osteoporosis develops. After menopause, a woman’s
risk for osteoporosis is greatly increased. The sudden loss of estrogen
leads to 2 to 5 percent bone loss for at least five to ten years after menopause. |
| Preventing osteoporosis: |
Bone loss generally begins after age 35. It is important
for women of all ages to build bone mass with weight-bearing exercises such
as walking, running, and lifting weights. Doctors recommend diets rich in
calcium and vitamin D. In addition it is generally recommended that women
take in at least 1,000 mg of calcium before menopause and 1,500 mg after
menopause.
Estrogen replacement therapy and non-hormonal medications may help prevent
osteoporosis, although these medications cannot reverse bone loss once it
has occurred. |
| Estrogen and Heart disease: |
| Estrogen helps protect women against heart disease.
When a woman’s body is producing estrogen, her risk of having a heart attack
is much lower than that of a man. However, by the time a woman is 65 years
old, her risk of heart attack equals that of a man because, she no longer
produces estrogen. |
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| How does estrogen protect against heart disease? |
- Estrogen protects the body from heart disease in the following ways.
- It reduces the total cholesterol level in the body by regulating the
amount of cholesterol produced by the liver. This, in turn, raises the
high-density lipoprotein (HDL) level, commonly referred to as the "good"
cholesterol, and lowers the low-density lipoprotein (LDL) level, or
"bad" cholesterol. (The LDL is the cholesterol that builds up in the
arteries, increasing the risk of heart attack, while HDL helps to prevent
blockage from occurring in the arteries.)
Clinical studies have shown that women who use estrogen after menopause
significantly reduce their risk of developing and dying from heart disease.
A 1991 study in the US showed that estrogen replacement reduced the
risk of death from cardiovascular disease by almost 50 percent, with
actual overall deaths reduced by 40 percent.
Some researchers believe that this is because of the ability of estrogen
to maintain HDL and LDL levels at healthier, premenopausal levels. In
most cases, this protection lasts for as long as the woman is taking
estrogen.
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| Estrogen and stroke: |
| Research is showing that estrogen replacement therapy
may decrease the incidence of stroke, a health condition that could at times
be fatal. It commonly affects elderly women. Strokes are most often caused
by a condition of the arteries, similar to the one that causes heart attacks.
One study showed that estrogen replacement therapy decreased the incidence
of stroke by 30 to 40 percent in postmenopausal women. |
| Estrogen and Alzheimer’s disease: |
| Estrogen is important in the building and maintenance
of nerve networks in the brain. Research is showing that estrogen given
to postmenopausal women may protect them from Alzheimer’s disease. One study
conducted on almost 90,000 postmenopausal women found that those taking
estrogens had a significantly longer life. By the time of their deaths,
these women had a 40 percent lower incidence of Alzheimer’s disease. In
addition, those women who developed Alzheimer’s disease and were on estrogen
replacement therapy seemed to have a milder form of the disease. Additional
studies are being conducted to determine just what the protective nature
of estrogen is in its relationship with Alzheimer’s disease. |
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