Menopausal women should exercise regularly and eat foods high in estrogen, such as soybeans and burdock, to help regulate their symptoms, a doctor said on Saturday.
Taiwanese women enter menopause at about age 51 on average, with symptoms often beginning a few years before, Taiwan Association of Menopause director-general Lee Chyi-long (李奇龍) said.
Based on population data from the Ministry of the Interior, about 1.82 million women in Taiwan are either menopausal or perimenopausal, said Lee, who is also head of Chang Gung Memorial Hospital’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Hormone levels fall during this time, often causing hot flashes, heart palpitations, insomnia, mood changes and other symptoms, and putting women at higher risk of a number of health conditions, such as osteoporosis, he said.
Some women experience early menopause, either naturally or as a result of a medical treatment that has affected the ovaries, Lee said, adding that women with light or irregular periods can visit a doctor for an anti-Mullerian hormone test.
Significantly lower than average hormone levels could indicate early menopause, and if early enough to be considered premature, it could raise the risk of osteoporosis even higher, he said.
Women who fit these criteria should visit a doctor to determine if hormone therapy or other treatment is appropriate, he said.
Lee said that he has received many questions about hormone therapy, as it is rumored to increase the chance of developing gynecological diseases.
However, as with any prescription, a doctor would first evaluate a person’s family history of breast cancer, stroke and other factors before prescribing any treatment, he said.
Hormone therapy, if taken early and for a short time, can help mitigate menopausal symptoms, he said, adding that it does not have any other effects.
Regardless, the best method to regulate symptoms is through diet and exercise, Lee added.
In addition to taking supplements designed especially for menopausal women, Lee also recommended eating foods high in estrogen, such as beans, burdock and mountain yam.
As every woman’s experience varies, anyone with questions can contact the Health Promotion Administration’s menopause hotline at 0800-00-5107 Monday through Friday from 9am to 6pm for a personalized and private consultation, he added.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching