With nuts against early menopause
Dr. Andrea Bannert has been with since 2013. The doctor of biology and medicine editor initially carried out research in microbiology and is the team's expert on the tiny things: bacteria, viruses, molecules and genes. She also works as a freelancer for Bayerischer Rundfunk and various science magazines and writes fantasy novels and children's stories.
More about the experts All content is checked by medical journalists.If you eat a lot of plant-based proteins, for example nuts, tofu, soy or whole grain products, you can significantly reduce the chance of going into menopause early - and thus reduce the health risks associated with menopause at a young age.
Entry into menopause before the age of 45 is considered early. In around ten percent of women, the hormonal change starts at this age. This puts them at a higher risk of cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis and accelerated memory loss.
Study with more than 100,000 women
Past animal studies have shown that a diet high in vegetable protein could delay menopause. Elizabeth Bertone-Johnson and her colleagues from the University of Massachusetts investigated whether this connection also exists in humans. To do this, they evaluated data from 116,000 women.At the start of the study, the subjects were between 25 and 42 years old.
They should remember how often they ate 131 different foods and place them on a scale between “never or less than once a month” and “more than six times a day”.
Halved risk
The result was clear: women who covered 6.5 percent of their daily calorie requirement with plant-based proteins had a 16 percent lower risk of entering menopause early, compared to women who only covered four percent of their requirements with nuts and the like. consumed.
For women who got nine percent of their calories from vegetable proteins, the risk was even reduced by more than half. This corresponds to about five to six meals with vegetable proteins per day, for example muesli or whole grain pasta, with a daily amount of 2000 calories.
When evaluating their data, the researchers took into account other factors that could also influence the onset of menopause - such as smoking, physical activity, body weight in relation to body size, alcohol consumption, vitamin D levels or when women have their first menstrual period had.
Slowed maturation?
The scientists cannot completely rule out whether other ingredients in the plants also influenced the result. "However, we obtained similar results for different foods, even though they contained very different nutrients - only the vegetable proteins were comparable," Bertone-Johnson told
She and her colleagues also do not yet know exactly what the plant proteins do in the body. “They may be allowing the eggs to mature more slowly,” says Bertone-Johnson. The researchers next want to investigate the exact mechanisms behind this.
Tags: Baby Child toadstool poison plants alcohol
