The ovary doesn't retire after menopause | Hacker News Reader

The ovary doesn't retire after menopause

news.northwestern.edu

75 pointsgmays13 comments

"the aging ovary is a potential third hit for ovarian cancer, with the first hit being genetic and the second hit being environmental..." This is important work crossing generations. Further, it shows that medical research (once centered on younger patients) is reaching older cohorts.

”most people assume those ovaries are just sitting there doing nothing, similar to the appendix,” said co-corresponding author

In reality the appendix vermiformis serves as a reservoir for gut bacteria (useful), and possibly supports the immune system

True, but this has become much less important for humans than for their ancestors, because a large part of what humans eat is nutrient-dense and easy to digest, so that does not rely on the help from gut bacteria.

Thus many humans may live most of their lives without their appendix, without any serious consequences.

The gut microbiome has importance far beyond digestion - even for humans consuming nutrient-dense food.

[example source: https://gut.bmj.com/content/71/5/1020]

[note: human use of em-dash; no LLMs here]

Understanding of the role of the gut microbiome is continually being expanded. It is resposible for a lot of important hormones, for example. It goes way beyond digestion.

Add in hormone replacement therapy to reduce menopausal problems and these studies are going to get very confusing.

I had a conversation about a month ago with a friend who had gone through menopause and I realized I had no idea what the ovaries did when they stopped producing eggs. She didn’t either! I can see why it isn’t the most obvious target for research when the primary focus is fertility, but I do find it fascinating that women’s bodies stop the reproductive cycle and keep on kicking for decades. So much complexity, it’s quite the evolutionary trait.

I thought women were born with all the eggs they'll have and they dont produce more.

> it’s quite the evolutionary trait

I’m not sure about that. Evolution has two mechanisms: mutation to roll the dice for new traits, and natural selection against any traits that hinder survival up to the point of successful reproduction.

Because this ovarian trait only manifests well after reproductive function it cannot be explained by selection pressure; the remaining culprit would be happy mutation.

Yet while every post-reproductive trait is free to vary without selection, but this one appears to be unvaried across the entire class Mammalia. What force would preserve a non reproductively-advantageous trait so broadly?

People who live longer support their offspring better and they're more likely to survive - providing selective pressure for living longer.

That’s right, working until my death is the only way I’m going to be able to pay for my 3 kids college at roughly 50-100k per year.

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Its side gig becomes full time.

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