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OTHER
American Heart Association (AHA).Lyon Diet Heart
Study. Available online at http://www.americanheart
.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4655 (accessed April
10, 2007).
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Available online at http://www.americanheart.org/pre-
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ORGANIZATIONS
American Heart Association (AHA). National Center, 7272
Greenville Avenue, Dallas, TX 75231. Telephone: (800)
242-8721. Website: http://www.americanheart.org.
Fundacin Dieta Mediterrnea. Website (Spanish only):
http://www.dietamediterranea.com.
Linus Pauling Institute (LPI). Oregon State University, 571
Weniger Hall, Corvallis, OR 97331-6512. Telephone:
(541) 737-5075. Website: http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/
index.html.
University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Division
of Epidemiology and Community Health (EpiCH).
West Bank Office Building, 1300 South Second Street,
Suite 300, Minneapolis, MN 55454-1015. Telephone:
(612) 624-1818. Website of Seven Countries Study:
http://www.epi.umn.edu/about/7countries/index.shtm.Rebecca J. Frey, Ph.D.Melanesian dietseePacific Islander diet
Menopause diet
Definition
A menopause diet is a diet recommended for the
special nutritional needs of women undergoing meno-
pause and usually includes foods rich incalciumand
vitamin D.Origins
Between the ages of 45 and 55 women experience
changes to their body that are associated with meno-
pause, the time in a woman’s life when her period
stops. It is a normal change in a woman’s body and
menopause is considered reached when a woman has
not had a period for 12 months in a row. It marks the
permanent end of fertility. Leading up to menopause,
a woman’s ovaries stop producing eggs, and her body
slowly starts making less and less of the hormones
estrogen and progesterone. As the ovaries become
less functional and produce less of these hormones,
the body responds accordingly. The density of the
bone also begins to decrease in women during the
fourth decade of life. However, that normal decline
in bone density is accelerated during menopause. As a
consequence, both age and menopause act together to
decrease bone mass and bone density (osteoporosis).
As a result, women are between 2 and 7 times more
likely than men to suffer a bone fracture, the risk
increasing with age and after menopause. Another
consequence of getting older is that the digestive sys-
tem becomes less efficient and digestion takes longer.
After menopause, women are also more vulnerable to
heart disease. Weight increases also seem to coincide
with menopause. They are not believed to result from
menopause itself, but rather to result from a slower
metabolismand decreased energy expenditures due to
lower activity levels. All of these changes that happen
to women during menopause lead to different nutri-
tional needs and nutrition for the changing female
body during those years is accordingly focused on
recommending foods that benefit the bones and the
heart, while controlling weight. Overall, the American
Dietetic Association (ADA) recommends that olderMenopause diet