A recent study from the University of Colorado Boulder suggests that women who experience menopause later may have healthier cardiovascular health in the years following, compared to those who experience menopause earlier. This study, recently published in the American Heart Association journal Circulation Research, reveals why women who stop menstruating at the age of 55 or later are significantly less likely to suffer from heart disease and stroke in the postmenopausal years. This study may help develop new therapies, such as reducing the risk of heart disease in women through dietary interventions. Previous studies have shown that women who stop menstruating at the age of 55 or later are about 20% less likely to develop heart disease compared to women who typically stop menstruating between the ages of 45 and 54. This study evaluated the vascular health status of 92 women, particularly their brachial artery blood flow mediated vasodilation (FMD), which refers to the degree of dilation of the main blood vessel in the upper arm, the brachial artery, as blood flow increases. They also measured the health status of mitochondria in the inner wall cells of female blood vessels and observed the molecules flowing in the blood. One fact is that the arterial function of all postmenopausal women is much worse than that of premenopausal women. This is partly because as people age, the amount of nitric oxide produced by the body decreases, and nitric oxide helps to dilate blood vessels, prevent vascular stiffness, and prevent plaque formation. The researchers explained that the mitochondria in the inner wall cells of blood vessels also malfunction with age and produce more harmful molecules - free radicals. The experimental results showed that compared with premenopausal women, the vascular function of the normal menopausal group decreased by 51%, while the late menopausal group only decreased by 24%. It is worth noting that these inter group differences still exist in women five years or more after menopause, with the vascular function in the late menopausal group being 44% better than that in the normal menopausal group. The study also found that maintaining good vascular health in the late menopausal group is associated with less free radicals produced by mitochondria. In addition, the blood circulation of the two groups is also different. The levels of 15 different lipids or fat related metabolites in the blood of the late menopausal group are more beneficial to the body. (New Society)