Poverty blamed in early menopause blamed on povert

Women who lived in poverty as a child or adult are 80 per cent more likely to start the menopause earlier than affluent women, researchers have found. That is possibly because the store of eggs at birth is reduced or the rate at which they are depleted during life is accelerated, they say.

Scientists at the Boston University School of Public Health studied 600 women aged from 36 to 44. On average, those who had experienced the stress of poverty showed the first signs more than a year earlier, the authors of the study suggest in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. And up to 90 per cent of women experience pre-menopausal signs, some as early as 36.

Another study, by Georgetown University Medical Centre, showed that women who drink not only increase their own risk of developing breast cancer; if pregnant they may increase that of their unborn baby too.

The researchers say the known link between drinking and breast cancer might extend across the generations, because alcohol increases circulation levels of the female hormone oestrogen.