Research
Hormonal
Post-menopausal women face a significantly increased risk of cardiovascular disease and metabolic complications due to the shift from protective gluteo-femoral fat to visceral, perivascular, and epicardial fat accumulation following estrogen decline.
After menopause, your body stores fat differently, often around organs (visceral/epicardial fat), which increases heart disease risk even if your BMI stays the same. Focus on maintaining muscle mass and reducing visceral fat through exercise and diet, as standard BMI checks may not capture this new risk.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Detrimental mechanisms that worsen the cardiovascular risk profile of women during the peri-menopausal transition are related to the rise in visceral, perivascular and epicardial adiposity due to the decline in estrogen levels... perivascular and epicardial fat are strongly associated with coronary and abdominal aortic calcium independently from traditional measures of obesity playing a possible direct role in the higher risk of CVD reported after menopause.
Why this rating
Supported by references to imaging studies and association with calcium scores.
Source
Female obesity: clinical and psychological assessment toward the best treatment
Valeria Guglielmi et al. · Frontiers in Endocrinology · 2024
DOI 10.3389/fendo.2024.1349794
narrative_reviewCited 12×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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