Re: frozen ovaries

From: Barbara Lamar (shabrika@juno.com)
Date: Mon Nov 06 2000 - 14:00:55 MST


On Mon, 6 Nov 2000 12:09:57 -0400 ankara <ankara@norlink.net> writes:
> Hi Damien,
>
> Running out of eggs? PLEEEEASE........ !
>
> Me thinks you've been absorbing pharmaceutical sales schlock aka
> "clinical
> science." So your sources are questioned and requested.
>
> Women don't even begin to peak before 50.

I also question the "running out of eggs driven aging" excerpt from THE
LAST MORTAL GENERATION. If I'm not mistaken, humans are the only species
in which menopause takes place. I've been told of anthropological
research showing that menopausal women are more productive at gathering
food from the wild than younger women. I've been meaning to contact the
person who told me this and ask for her source(s).

One theory of evolution of menopause in humans is that a woman would be
able to pass down more of her genes if she remained alive during a period
of time after her reproductive functions stopped. This would allow her to
help her daughters and sons take care of their children.

I suspect that bone loss is driven as much by diet and lifestyle as by
lack of ovarian function. I've had friends who had hysterectomies with
removal of ovaries when they were in their 20's and 30's, and they did
not become brittle boned and wrikled (true, they were taking supplemental
estrogen and progesterone). OTOH, I know women in their 30's who are
presumably NOT sinsemilla and who look and act older than other women I
know who have experienced menopause.

Bottom line: the phenomenon of aging isn't all that simple.

Barbara



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