I've been researching menopause on the internet because my mother is having
some health problems associated with hormone replacement therapy.  (Also, I
will experience menopause myself in the next 5-10 years.)  Modern women live
one third of their lives after menopause.  As early as the last century, most
women did not live past 50.  It must have been exceeding rare for paleolithic
women to live this long.  So dealing with the effects of menopause is a
thoroughly modern problem.

The effects of menopause make it very clear that evolution sees no purpose in
post-menopausal women.  When we no longer can reproduce, our vaginas dry up,
our urinary tract dries and becomes vulnerable to infection, our bones lose
density at 3-4% per year (compared to 1% for premenopausal women over the age
of 35), and we become at high risk for heart disease.  Plenty of calcium and
regular weight-bearing exercise will increase bone density, but it's
important to start early--before menopause.

All these changes are caused by the profound drop in estrogen that occurs
when we run out of viable eggs.  The only estrogen produced post-menopause is
by our fatty tissue.  Heavier women do better post-menopause then very thin
women, and in fact women tend to gain weight after menopause.

I know the paleolithic diet is supposed to reduce the risk of heart disease,
but I don't know if this applies to the increased risk of heart disease in
post-menopausal women.  No one knows why the risk goes up--the mechanism
isn't understood.  I also don't know if the paleolithic diet addresses any of
the other problems associated with menopause.  I suspect not because so few
paleolithic women lived to menopause or later.  Does anyone have any
information on this?

     - Sheryl