Each year, about 25 million cisgender women around the world experience menopause — a natural stage of life that normally occurs between the ages of 45 and 55, when they stop having a menstrual cycle.
Postmenopause refers to the time period when a person exits menopause and they do not have their menstrual cycle for at least 12 months.
Postmenopause can increase the risk for certain health conditions, including osteoporosis, obesity, depression, metabolic syndrome, and
“Postmenopausal women are one of the least studied groups in the [United States], yet it’s a significant hormonal shift that will impact nearly half of the population,” Robert M. Hackman, PhD, research nutritionist in the Department of Nutrition at the University of California, Davis, told Medical News Today. “As estrogen declines, women face significant changes in heart and metabolic health, like higher blood pressure and cholesterol.”
Hackman is the lead author of a new study recently published in the Journal of the American Nutrition Association — and supported by a research grant from the National Mango Board — that found eating two servings of mangoes each day may help support postmenopausal heart health by lowering blood pressure and “bad” cholesterol levels.
Additionally, researchers discovered that mangoes caused less blood sugar increase that lowered quicker a few hours after consumption, when compared to eating plain white bread.
For this study, researchers recruited 24 cisgender women between the ages of 50 to 70 who were overweight or obese.
Over two weeks, study participants consumed about 1.5 cups of mangoes each day and visited a lab a few times to have measurements for their blood pressure, cholesterol, and other body metrics collected.
“We chose mango because it’s a nutrient-dense fruit with fiber, antioxidants, and bioactives that support heart health,” Roberta Holt, PhD, associate researcher in the Department of Nutrition at the University of California, Davis, and co-author of this study, told MNT. “Previous studies have shown a positive effect on blood pressure and lipid management with mango consumption.”
“Postmenopausal women face unique cardiovascular risks, and we wanted to see if adding mango to the daily diet could make a measurable difference,” Holt added. “As someone who’s studied diet and vascular health in aging populations, it felt like a natural next step to explore mango’s potential in this group.”
At the end of the study, researchers found that two hours after eating mangoes, study participants experienced a drop of about 6 points in their systolic blood pressure, and a 2.3 mmHG reduction in their
“Systolic blood pressure and mean arterial pressure are important indicators of how hard the heart is working to circulate blood,” Hackman explained. “Even small reductions in these measures can lower the risk of heart disease and stroke over time. So seeing a noticeable drop shortly after eating mangoes, as well as sustained improvements with daily intake, is a promising sign that eating mango daily may help support cardiovascular health in a meaningful way.”
Scientists also found that participants reduced both their total cholesterol and LDL — or “bad” — cholesterol levels by about 13 points.
“Total cholesterol and LDL are key markers linked to heart disease risk. Lowering these levels, even modestly, can have a positive long-term impact on cardiovascular health. The fact that we saw these changes after just two weeks of daily mango consumption suggests it could be a simple, food-based approach to help support better cholesterol management, especially in postmenopausal women.”
— Roberta Holt, PhD
Researchers also conducted a follow-up study with six participants who were asked to consume about 1.5 cups of mangoes on one lab visit, and about 3 oz of plain white bread on a subsequent visit.
Scientists observed that while participants’ blood sugar levels rose after eating both foods, it increased significantly less after eating mangoes compared to white bread. Additionally, study participants’ insulin levels peaked and declined quickly after eating mango, but remained elevated two hours after eating white bread.
“That finding highlights how not all carbohydrates affect the body the same way. While both mango and white bread contain carbohydrates, mango (leads) to a smaller rise in blood sugar and a quicker return to normal levels,” Holt said.
“That’s important because large or prolonged spikes in blood sugar can increase the risk of insulin resistance and other metabolic issues over time. Mangoes, with their fiber and bioactive compounds, may help blunt that response, making them a viable choice for blood sugar management,” he added.
MNT had the opportunity to speak with Adedapo Iluyomade, MD, a cardiologist with Miami Cardiac & Vascular Institute, part of Baptist Health South Florida, about this study.
“I was pleasantly surprised that a simple whole-food swap nudged both systolic blood pressure and LDL cholesterol downward in just two weeks — results we usually struggle to achieve without medication,” Iluyomade commented. “At the same time, the serving size (about two mangoes a day) and the small, generally healthy sample mark this as encouraging but not yet practice-changing.”
“Cardiometabolic risk climbs steeply after menopause, yet women remain under-represented in nutrition trials,” he continued. “Food-based strategies that are easy to adopt can fill the gap between lifestyle advice and pharmacotherapy, giving patients more autonomy and allowing clinicians to personalize care rather than rely on data largely derived from men.”
“A longer, randomized study using a realistic one-cup daily serving — and a matched control fruit — would clarify whether the benefits persist and are mango-specific. Adding ambulatory blood-pressure monitoring, insulin sensitivity testing, and gut microbiome profiling in a larger, more diverse cohort would help pin down mechanisms and real-world relevance.”
— Adedapo Iluyomade, MD
MNT asked Monique Richard, MS, RDN, LDN, a registered dietitian nutritionist and owner of Nutrition-In-Sight, for her top tips on how readers can incorporate more mangoes into their diet.
“Mangoes, known as the ‘king of fruits’ in India, are rich sources of nutrients that support immune and heart health such potassium, magnesium, and vitamins A, B6, folate, C, and E, as well as phytochemicals such as mangiferin, anthocyanins, gallic acid, and kaempferol to name a few. Some studies have suggested that these phytochemicals are cardio-protective against inflammation, oxidative stress, and support blood vessel health, as well as digestive health from the fiber and natural enzymes.”
— Monique Richard, MS, RDN, LDN
For readers interested in trying to incorporate mangoes more often into their diet, Richard suggested a few easy ways:
“Add mangoes to the list of versatile fruits and vegetables that are nutritious, delicious and advantageous to your heart health, and enjoy!,” Richard added.
