Health Scoop News – New research on 1-Plant-based foods for metabolism🥗🫀, 2-Nutrition & mindfulness for weight🧘‍♀️🍽️, & 3-Omega-3s for the menopausal brain🐟🧠

I always have my nose in new health research, so I’m sharing some of the most relevant studies with you in regular editions of “Health Scoop News.”

[This news summary is a bit reminiscent of my old “This week in science for holistic health” newsletters that I used to do circa 2016 (I deleted most, but here’s one post I kept live), as well as the rEATsearch podcast I used to co-host.]

Below are my top three study picks (comment below to tell me what health topics/niches are best for you!). All of these recent studies were done with dozens, hundreds, or thousands of people so they’re more clinically relevant than studies done using animals, cells, or isolated chemical reactions.

1 – Eating more plants helps your metabolism (and your heart and brain)

Study title: Adherence to plant-based diets and long-term changes in cardiometabolic markers: a longitudinal analysis in a population-based cohort

This is an observational cohort study that followed 9,705 healthy adults who were 40+ years old. At the outset, none of the participants had high blood pressure, high blood lipids, or diabetes, nor were they taking medications for these conditions. Every few years they collected information about what participants ate and what their blood pressure, lipid levels, and glucose metabolism metrics were. Some of the participants started back in 1989, so there is over 30 years of data on several people. 

Here’s some background info:

• “Cardiometabolic diseases (CMDs), including coronary artery disease (CAD), stroke, and type 2 diabetes, are the main causes of premature morbidity and mortality worldwide.”
• “Cardiometabolic risk factors including high blood pressure (BP), high concentrations of blood glucose, adiposity, high levels of triglycerides, total:HDL cholesterol ratio, and low levels of HDL cholesterol increase risk for the development of CMDs.”
• Not all plant-based foods are equally healthy:
  • Healthful plant-based foods = fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts, olive oil, and coffee
  • Unhealthful plant-based foods = refined cereals, sugary drinks, and pastries
  • Animal-based foods = milk, yogurt, cheese, fish, eggs, animal fat, unprocessed white meat, processed and red meat, dessert and sugary dairy

Here’s what the researchers were studying:

• “To understand whether plant-based dietary patterns may be beneficial for preventing the early development of cardiometabolic risk factors such as raised BP, dyslipidemia, and disturbed glucose metabolism, we need to evaluate how plant-based dietary patterns are associated with changes of these risk factors over time, particularly among individuals who have not yet developed these conditions.”
• The objective/purpose of this study was to investigate the links between eating more plants and key metabolic and cardiovascular markers (blood pressure, fasting glucose, HDL, cholesterol, triglycerides, and the total:HDL ratio) for healthy adults over the years and decades.

Here’s what the researchers found:

• “Higher adherence to diets containing especially more healthy plant-based foods and less animal-based foods is associated with lower BP, fasting glucose, triglycerides, and total:HDL cholesterol ratio over time, and with higher HDL cholesterol over time.”

Here’s what the researchers concluded based on the results of this study:

• “Greater adherence to more plant-based dietary patterns, particularly those rich in healthy plant-based foods, is associated with favorable long-term changes in early cardiometabolic markers.“

In other words, according to this 30+-year study of thousands of healthy adults over 40 years old, those who tend to eat more nutritious plant-based foods tend to have healthier levels of blood pressure, blood glucose, and blood lipids over time. 

For more information, here’s a link to read the study for yourself:

• https://ajcn.nutrition.org/article/S0002-9165(25)00265-5/fulltext

2 – Nutrition and mindfulness for weight management

Study title: The Effectiveness of the Mindfulness-Based Dietary Intervention on Body Weight and Eating Behaviors

This is a clinical study that had 35 people with obesity participate to receive a dietary program with the goal of weight loss. Half of them (18) also received 8 weeks of mindfulness training. Therefore there were two groups of participants: diet and diet+mindfulness.

Here’s some background info:

• According to the World Health Organization, on average one in every two people around the world has overweight or obesity.
• “Many different diet programs applied in the treatment of obesity contain the right methods with calorie‐restricted content, their sustainability is quite difficult.” This is due to several factors such as the stress of sticking to a diet for a long time and fear of failure, therefore, “it is very important to include practices that shall . . . [help] controlling the stress level of individuals for a sustainable diet.”
• Mindfulness is thought to help facilitate “practices where stress levels are high, such as a weight loss diet. Especially if hunger/satiety cues are recognized through mindful eating practices, it is inevitable that emotional and uncontrolled eating behaviors will decrease and the process of adaptation to the diet program will become easier.”

Here’s what the researchers were studying:

• “This study aimed to examine the effects of mindfulness‐based dietary intervention on body weight and eating behaviors in obese individuals.”
• The mindfulness practices were both Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) that focused on “reducing stress and enhancing overall well‐being,” as well as mindful eating . . .  “to promote awareness of eating habits, hunger cues, and the emotional aspects of eating.”

Here’s what the researchers found:

• Participants’ body weight, BMI, waist circumference, and total body fat decreased during the 8 weeks. “The decrease in body weight and BMI was higher in the diet+mindfulness group than in the diet group.”
• Participants in both the diet and the diet+mindfulness groups successfully decreased their cognitive restriction, emotional eating, and uncontrolled eating over the 8 week trial. “The decrease in each factor score was higher in the diet+mindfulness group than in the diet group.”

Here’s what the researchers concluded based on the results of this study:

• “Integrating mindfulness practices into standard dietary interventions increased weight loss and improved eating behaviors.”

In other words, weight management can be a stressful and complex goal to manage. In addition to the essential nutritional component, adding mindfulness practices can help people improve their eating behaviours and enhance weight loss.

For more information, here’s a link to read the study for yourself:

• https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jhn.70078

For a list of dozens of credible sites to find health information, plus some PubMed tips, download your free guide here:

3 – Omega-3s for the menopausal brain

Study title: Omega-3 fatty acids, brain health and the menopause

This is a review of the current scientific literature (several studies) about the roles that omega-3 fats have in improving some symptoms of the menopausal transition (MT). The purpose of this study was to “summarise existing literature on the effect of omega-3 intake and status on MT vasomotor [VSM] symptoms [hot flashes, disrupted sleep, etc.] and brain health [brain fog, low moods, etc.] and identify future research needs.”

Here’s some background info:

• “The menopausal transition is associated with vasomotor symptoms, disrupted sleep, transient cognitive deficits and changes in mood and anxiety levels, underpinned by declining and erratic estrogen availability in the brain.”
• “Over 80% of women suffer menopausal symptoms.”
• “MT is a critical window of intervention opportunity not only for optimising brain health during MT but also to potentially promote long-term brain and overall health.”
• Compared to other tissues the brain has essential needs for the omega-3 fatty acids docosahexaenoic (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA).
• “Substantial . . . data indicates that an increase in EPA and DHA intake and status is associated with improved brain function.”

Sources of omega-3s:

• EPA and DHA are typically found in fatty fish. It’s generally recommended to eat 2 servings of fatty fish each week to get 300-500mg of omega-3 fatty acids per day.
• The body can make EPA and DHA from the essential alpha-linolenic acid (αLNA) which is found in canola oil, soybean oil, and flaxseed oils, as well as walnuts and other nuts and seeds, soybeans, and green leafy vegetables. However, it’s estimated that the conversion of αLNA to EPA and DHA is small. In pre-menopausal women the conversion can be up to 6% for DHA and 21% for EPA, however for males and post-menopausal women, those number can be much lower (less than 6% on average and can be as small as 0.1%).
• “Fish oil, omega-3 or microalgal oil supplements represent an alternative EPA and DHA source to oily fish, although oily fish is thought to be a superior source given that it is also rich in several other nutrients important to human health, for example, essential amino acids, vitamin B12, vitamin D, iodine and selenium.“

Here’s what the researchers concluded based on the results of their review of the scientific literature on this topic:

• “Estrogen receptors are expressed throughout the brain with ongoing research characterising the impact of estrogen decline during the MT on brain function, including VSM symptoms, cognition and emotional well-being. The omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA are integral to brain health, with their benefits in supporting cognitive health and reducing the risk of depression and anxiety in adulthood evident.“

In other words, as women get older, their body’s ability to convert essential plant-based omega-3s into the brain-supporting EPA and DHA reduces. This occurs at the same time as women tend to experience menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes, disrupted sleep, brain fog, and low moods. If women can’t get enough EPA and DHA from oily fish from their food, they may consider taking supplements.

For more information, here’s a link to read the study for yourself:

• https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12209554/

Signing off and toasting: To keeping up with the latest and greatest scientific research in nutrition, fitness, and health coaching!

Over to you

Do you have a specific question about any of these new studies?

Are you looking for a easy-to-understand study summary that you can share with your audience and clients?

What health topic/niche is most important to you?

Let me know in the comments below!