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Menopause: Phytosterols

(Go ahead; try saying it, "Fi-to-ster-ols")

Menopause (definition): The almost inevitable fretting by husbands whereby they first anticipate (sometimes in sheer terror), the looming specter of being "outside the affections of the marital bedroom" looking in

Let's concede the obvious. Menopause affects desire...and it can affect marriage.

That concern is as old as civilization. Even Roman husbands dreaded the onset of this problem associated with menopause. What was it they said?

"Hic astabo tantisper hac forma et factis frustra?"

(Rough translation: "Am I to stand idle and unnoticed, so handsome and so heroic, all for nothing?"). Menopause does evoke theatrics in men at times.

Of course, menopause is really a condition which develops in women usually between the ages of 45- 50. Menopause occurs when an imbalance between estrogen and progesterone causes symptoms such as:

- the uncomfortable hot flashes,

- vaginal dryness,

- osteoporosis (reduction in bone density),

- loss of drive, and

- Fibrocystic growths.

There's certainly much more to menopause than that of marital relations between spouses. Incidentally, the loss of drive occurs in menopause when the hypothalamus (an endocrine gland) lessens marital desire due to reduction in the production of progesterone.

Menopause: normal or abnormal condition?

Progesterone deficiency simply doesn't exist in many cultures around the world. As a result, menopause is practically unknown among such people. Why? The diets in those cultures are rich in certain nutrients found in fresh vegetables and legumes.