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Thanks for reading The Abstract. This month’s edition is
1,497 words, about a
6-minute read.
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Welcome to the May edition of
The Abstract. In observance of Women’s Health Month, we’ve got a special issue for you, including a brief overview of the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research and the President’s recent executive order supporting it. After that, learn eight surprising facts about women’s health and aging. Did you know that only humans, killer whales, and short-finned pilot whales experience menopause? Read on to learn why—and much more.
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White House launches Initiative on Women’s Health Research
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Women live longer than men on average, but they spend 25% more time in worse health. It’s also no secret that women are still underrepresented in animal research and clinical research, despite gains since Congress passed the National Institutes of Health Revitalization Act of 1993, mandating the inclusion of women and people of color in NIH-funded research. (Even today, female animals are excluded from basic research because of the belief that cyclical fluctuations in their reproductive hormones introduce too much noise and variability to the outcomes.) Women’s health research got a much-needed infusion of support and funding with the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research, which launched in 2023 and took concrete steps forward with a recent executive order.
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The overarching goals of the executive order are to integrate women’s health across the federal research portfolio, prioritize investments in women’s health, encourage research on women’s health during midlife and menopause, and assess unmet needs to support women’s health. Among the highlights are a $200 million NIH grant to help close the gap in women’s health research across the lifespan, a call for research proposals related to women’s health from the National Science Foundation, and a new NIH initiative dedicated to research on biomarker discovery and validation related to conditions that impact women uniquely.
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While all of this is a step in the right direction, women's health is still
"woefully underfunded," according to Jennifer Garrison, Ph.D., assistant professor at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, and co-founder and director of the Global Consortium for Reproductive Longevity and Equality. Of the $45.2 billion NIH budget for 2022, only $4.6 billion was focused on women's health—and of that, only $116 million on female reproductive aging.
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Basis and slower biological aging
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Your daily Basis routine adds up. Based on epigenetic data, including from our
TIME‑A longevity study, taking Basis consistently for two or more years was associated with a ~5% slower rate of aging.* These individuals also had slower rates of aging of the liver, kidneys, and inflammation and metabolic systems.
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Use the code
LONGEVITY at checkout for
25% off your first month of Basis.
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*Compared to individuals who did not take Basis. The data is based on 473 participants who self-reported their supplement use. Biological age can also be influenced by various environmental and lifestyle factors and changes.
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THIS MONTH
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What We’re Reading
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These are third-party articles about science that we find interesting but have no relationship to Elysium or any of our products. Elysium’s products are not intended to screen, diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
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Eight surprising facts about women’s health and aging
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Older age at menopause correlates with increased longevity
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Older age at menopause correlates with increased longevity
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The average age of menopause onset in the U.S. is 51, but can be as early as 40. It’s accompanied by lower levels of estrogen and progesterone—a change in hormone production that comes with an increased risk of adverse health outcomes. Studies demonstrate that women who undergo menopause later live longer (one
study showed that women who entered menopause after age 55 lived two years longer than those who entered menopause before age 40). The age at menopause appears to be strongly influenced by
genetics, in particular those that are involved in DNA repair.
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Brothers of women who go through menopause later also live longer
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Brothers of women who go through menopause later also live longer
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Women who go through menopause later in life tend to live longer—and so do their brothers. Using two historical sources of data on sibships before the introduction of birth control, one
study found that relative survival after age 50 was greater for men with a late-fertile sister. Why the survival advantage for brothers? The study suggests there are likely common genetic variants underlying both late menopause and longevity.
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Women spend 25% more of their lives in poor health than men
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Women spend 25% more of their lives in poor health than men
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The life expectancy of women globally is 73.8 years, compared with 68.4 years for men. Sounds rosy, but the reality is women spend 25% more of their lives in poor health and disability compared to men. Why the gap? A
report by the World Economic Forum and the McKinsey Global Health Institute cites these four factors: research bias that favors male biology, poor data about women’s health, barriers to care, and lack of investment in women’s health conditions.
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Females are born with all the eggs they will ever have
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Females are born with all the eggs they will ever have
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The female ovaries produce eggs and hormones—but they aren’t capable of making new eggs. A female fetus at 20 weeks of gestation contains six to seven million immature eggs (oocytes) in her developing ovaries. As women age, the number of eggs drastically declines. When a female baby is born, she has only one to two million oocytes, which further declines to about 300,000-400,000 by puberty. Only about
12% of eggs remain by age 30, and 3% by age 40.
“The ovary is probably the only organ that loses its function prior to its first use,” according to Francesca Duncan, Ph.D., assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
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Ovaries age much faster than other tissues
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Ovaries age much faster than other tissues
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The ovary is the first organ to age, and it happens roughly 2.5 times faster than the rest of the body. Ovarian aging contributes to infertility and a loss of endocrine function. Because of this rapid decline and the important role hormones play in our overall health, this means women experience an erratic decline in the health and function of their other organs, in contrast to men who experience a more gradual decline. In fact,
research shows that hormonal changes associated with menopause accelerate biological aging in the rest of the body by 6%. Previously regarded as reproductive organs, the ovaries are now thought of as
“architects of health in female bodies,” in the words of Dr. Garrison.
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Menopause has a profound negative effect on women's health
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Menopause has a profound negative effect on women's health
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Menopause marks the point in time when a woman has not experienced a menstrual cycle for 12 months. Many people are familiar with some of the symptoms—hot flashes, sleep problems, mood changes—but the truth is that menopause has far-reaching effects on the female body. The culprit is ovarian aging and the associated decline in estrogen. According to
research, estrogen deficiency impacts tissues and organs with estrogen receptors, including the ovary, endometrium, vaginal epithelium, skin, hypothalamus, and urinary tract. But it also has negative consequences for the cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, and immune systems, as well as emotional and sleep patterns, cognitive ability, and energy metabolism.
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Hormone replacement therapy is misunderstood
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Hormone replacement therapy is misunderstood
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Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) was a popular treatment in the 1990s. That changed in 2002 when the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) published a widely publicized report claiming that HRT increased the risk of breast cancer and coronary disease in all women receiving the treatment. Despite being based on a narrow cohort of postmenopausal, asymptomatic women, the misinterpretation of the 2002 study had
detrimental effects, depriving a generation of women of HRT. Subsequent studies from the WHI acknowledge HRT as the most effective treatment for managing menopausal vasomotor symptoms and clearly demonstrate protective effects of HRT for coronary disease and a reduction in mortality, particularly among women who initiate HRT within 10 years of their last menstrual period. These findings are consistent with the vast majority of the published literature.
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Scientists don’t understand why humans experience menopause
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Scientists don’t understand why humans experience menopause
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Humans are in
rare company when it comes to menopause. Only humans and a few species of toothed whales have extended postreproductive stages. The rarity of menopause is unsurprising given that an organism can maximize its fitness by reproducing until the end of its lifespan. Scientists remain uncertain as to why menopause evolved, and why women stop reproducing well before the end of their lives—women spend, on average, 42.5% of their adult life postreproductive. The most compelling explanation is the “grandmother effect” hypothesis, which suggests that grandmothers increase the survival probability of their children and grandchildren.
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TERM OF THE MONTH
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Ovarian aging
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/oʊˈver.i.ən ˈeɪ.dʒɪŋ/
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An aging process characterized by loss of quantity and quality of the oocyte or follicular pool. Ovarian aging not only impacts fertility—but overall health. The final step of ovarian aging is called menopause.
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AGING 101
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A change is coming: Here’s what menopause can mean for you
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Menopause symptoms can range from hot flashes to sleep disturbances. But you don’t have to suffer. There are ways to alleviate your menopause symptoms.
(Read more)
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