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Katrina Biggs's avatar

I’ve long considered diet to be influential in how menopause affects us. I’m a dietary vegan, not a ‘health-freak’ type, but it does mean that I probably eat more of the beneficial foods you mention. Years ago, before I got frozen out of vegan groups for being a terf, the older vegans used to discuss sometimes how they seldom had issues with menopause, and that applied to me, too, when I went through it. Most people do not like the idea of veganism, so I don’t often mention it, but your post pretty much backs up the experience I and other older vegans have had with menopause. Just as an fyi, I’ve been a vegan for around 20 years, and a voluntary bone density test 7 years ago showed that my bone density was “excellent”, so dairy products may not as essential for that as we get told, if that’s a question which pops up in anyone’s mind. I would hazard a guess that if we’re eating the beneficial foods you’ve mentioned, then that serves our bones well, too.

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Lucy Leader's avatar

Great topic Milli! I know your book is focused on women, but as women we all start off as fetuses and infants so... There is a lot of chatter now about UPF baby formulas and the negative impact that these have on a baby's microbiome and general health. (And since the only non-UPF food for babies is breast milk, they all can be criticised. There is no "better" brand.) Considering the age of the cohort now entering menopause, I wonder how many of these women were bottle or breastfed and what sort of flow on effects this may have? Are women who were formula fed "primed" to react to UPF foods? Does it make a difference to the sort of menopause you have? It is known that breastfeeding (or not) impacts on your health for the rest of your life and this is just one more aspect that science is busy ignoring as they do with so many other issues that are sex based, but only affect women.

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