A recent study revealed that a specific diet may help women avoid weight gain during menopause.
Weight gain during the pre-menopausal and menopausal stages is one of the most common and distressing changes, with research indicating that women gain an average of about 1.5 kilograms per year during this period.
This increase is often linked to natural hormonal changes, particularly the decline in estrogen in middle age, which affects how the body uses energy, regulates appetite, and distributes fat.
In an attempt to understand the effect of diet on this increase, an international team of researchers led by Harvard Medical School conducted a large study involving more than 38,000 American nurses, with an average age of 45.6 years, who were followed for 12 years, with their dietary patterns being assessed periodically.
The results showed that a diet based on plant-based foods, and low in red and processed meats and dairy products, is associated with a lower rate of weight gain during this phase.
Conversely, diets high in salt, processed meats, fried foods, potatoes, and ultra-processed foods were associated with greater weight gain.
The researchers also took into account a range of other influencing factors, such as race, marital status, income, smoking, alcohol consumption, level of physical activity, use of hormone therapy, and body mass index at the start of the study.
The results showed that women in general gained about 0.8 kilograms per year, while women who adhered to a healthy diet gained about 0.28 kilograms less per year compared to others, which is equivalent to a cumulative difference of about 3.4 kilograms during the study period, in addition to reducing the risk of obesity by almost half.
Researchers point out that this healthy eating pattern may also contribute to reducing the risk of developing chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and some types of cancer.
The study team concluded that a healthy diet based on reducing red and processed meats and sodium, and increasing the intake of nuts, legumes, fruits, vegetables and whole grains, may be an effective strategy for weight control during menopause and improving overall long-term health.
These findings are consistent with the guidelines of the UK's National Health Service (NHS), which recommends that during this stage of life you exercise regularly, reduce stress, limit caffeine and alcohol, quit smoking, and follow a healthy diet.
The guidelines also emphasize the need to rule out other medical causes of weight gain, such as hypothyroidism, especially if there is a family history of the disease, and to consult a doctor if this is suspected.
The NHS guidelines also indicate that hormone replacement therapy may cause temporary fluid retention leading to minor weight changes, but it is not scientifically linked to long-term weight gain.
