A guide on menopause with data from men: the Spanish Nutrition Agency, pointed out

BarcelonaThe Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (AESAN) will review its latest report on diet and healthy habits during menopause after several scientists denounced that it offered recommendations based on studies conducted exclusively on men. The agency has acknowledged that the document, published last April, did not warn of this limitation and has commissioned its scientific committee to review the text. The case, reported by Eldiario.es, once again brings to the fore a persistent problem in biomedical research: the lack of specific evidence on women's health and the historical tendency to take the male body as a reference and extrapolate the results to the general population, even on specific issues such as menopause.

The review of the document on nutritional habits aimed at women in the different stages of menopause will be carried out after the complaint by scientists from the Spanish Association of Women Researchers and Technologists (AMIT), who point out that some of the recommendations are based on values extracted from studies conducted directly on men, without explicitly warning of this fact. Specifically, the researchers question the recommendations regarding the iron and vitamin C intake values considered adequate for this stage of life.

AESAN, an agency that falls under the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and the 2030 Agenda, has requested its scientific committee to review the report, and acknowledges "the omission of a warning" about the data on which the study was based, which comes from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). Sources from the agency limit themselves to stating that additional research is needed to define specific recommendations for women during the menopausal transition and postmenopause, a stage in which hormonal changes can lead to metabolic changes and affect nutritional needs.

"Let it not happen again"

The guide on nutritional habits is aimed at women in the different stages of menopause with the objective of preventing health problems and complications such as loss of bone mass and muscle function, cognitive decline or cardiovascular alterations. The document recommends, during this stage of life, the consumption of foods rich in protein such as fish, eggs, milk and meat, omega-3 to help reduce inflammation (present in foods such as olive oil and nuts), fiber obtained from legumes, vegetables and fruits, calcium (yogurts and sardines with bones), iron (clams, soy and legumes), magnesium (whole grains, nuts and seeds) and vitamins B, C, D and E, among others.

However, scientific literature indicates that men and women may present differences in nutritional needs, and that sex is one of the factors taken into account when establishing intake recommendations. This fact does not invalidate the general recommendations of the report on its own, but it does question the way in which the evidence is presented when it is not specified that certain data come exclusively from men and reinforces the need for more specific studies on women during menopause.

The Minister of Equality, Ana Redondo, has called for the review of the report and has expressed confidence that "it will not happen again". "It is high time that women are present in health agendas and studies and that the male body ceases to be the universal reference for everything, even for what has to do with menopause," she stated.