Uterine fibroids and weight gain: is there really a link?

2023-07-26 18:59:09

Definition, what is a uterine fibroid?

Also called myomas, meiomyomas, leiomyoma, uterine fibroids are benign uterine tumors formed from smooth muscle tissue. According to the High Authority for Health (HAS), they affect 20 to 30% of women over 30 and are particularly common after 40. They most often regress spontaneously after menopause and most often appear multiple (70% of cases) or isolated.

Where do fibroids grow on the uterus (subserous, submucous…)?

A uterine fibroid can develop:

  • Inside the uterine muscle tissue, whether or not forming a small bump on the wall of the uterus. It’s a so-called “interstitial” or “intramural” fibroma;
  • Protrude from the surface of the uterus and grow into the pelvic cavity. The fibroid is subserosal ;
  • grow inside the uterus and occupy the uterine cavity. The fibroid is submucosal.

And if more often fibroids form a mass in the muscle of the uterussometimes they are attached to the muscle of the uterus by a pedicle and constitute a pedunculated fibroma:

  • subserosal, when it develops into the pelvic cavity.
  • or submucous, forming a pedunculated swelling in the cavity of the uterus.

Does a fibroid make you gain weight?

Medical experts are categorical: “If there is, for example, a link between weight gain and certain diseases such as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), heart failure, hypothyroidism or diabetes, depression, the one with the uterine fibroid is nil” assures Dr. Alexandra Dalu, nutritionist. Same opinion of Dr. Jean-Michel Lecerf, doctor specializing in endocrinology and metabolic diseases: “Fibroids have no effect on weight gain.”

Does a fibroid cause the belly to swell?

The only relationship that could be granted to fibroids with weight gain (whatever it is) would be when this first becomes really too large (over ten centimeters and sometimes reaching up to 3 kilos), so yes this mass will be added to the overall weight of the patient and take a lot of place in the abdomen but it remains localized and has nothing to do with the fat mass” specifies Dr. Alexandra Dalu, nutritionist. Dr. Jean-Michel Lecerf completes: “Hyperestrogenism (hormonal imbalance), at the origin of certain developments of fibroids , can also promote weight gain but here too, nuance because the cause is still a little, very far away”

Other symptoms of uterine fibroids

If a uterine fibroid therefore has no direct link with weight gain, other reactions are however associated with it: abnormal uterine bleeding, pelvic pain and feeling of heaviness, urinary and intestinal symptoms and pregnancy complications. : “they can indeed lead to recurrent spontaneous miscarriages, premature contractions or abnormal fetal presentation or make a cesarean section necessary. Fibroids can also cause postpartum hemorrhages” specifies the MSD Manual site (source 2). However, and according to figures provided by the High Authority for Health (HAS), 70% of uterine fibroids are asymptomatic.

In the event of abnormal signs or doubts, it is strongly recommended to consult your gynecologist in order to diagnose or not the presence of uterine fibroids and to rule out possible cancer” advises Dr. Alexandra Dalu.

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