[Obesity and menopause].

Menopause is one of the critical periods of a woman's life during which weight gain and onset or worsening of obesity are favoured. It is at this period when obesity prevalence is the highest. There are several causes for this disorder, ones clearly related with hypo-oestrogenism and others depend on age favouring increased food intake and decreased energy waste. This weight gain is related to adverse health effects that get worse due to changes in fat distribution observed during menopause. The increase in visceral fat favours the development of insulin resistance and its clinical consequences such as carbohydrate metabolism impairments and type 2 diabetes, arterial hypertension, and dyslipidaemia, leading to increased cardiovascular risk, among other complications.