Chunky monkeys

Wonder why women gain weight during menopause? Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University say it may be because estrogen, the production of which is reduced with advancing age, affects appetite. When estrogen production falls, women eat more--or at least female apes do, the researchers found.

In the first 2 months after their hormone production was interrupted, the apes had a 67 percent increase in food intake and a 5 percent increase in weight. "These animals are chubby," said one of the researchers who presented their work to a meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in New Orleans in November 2003. The researchers are now studying whether the same apes, given hormone replacement therapy, eat less.

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