Association of plant-based diet and early onset of natural menopause.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the association of plant-based diet index (PDI) with early onset of natural menopause in the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) and Nurses' Health Study II (NHSII). METHODS We conducted a prospective study with a mean follow-up time of 20 years among premenopausal women living across the US. Participants of the NHS (n = 121,701) and NHSII (n = 116,429) were included from 1984 (age mean [standard deviation]; 44.9 [4.3]) and 1991 (age mean [standard deviation]; 36.4 [4.6]), respectively. Early menopause was self-reported and defined as natural menopause before age 45 years. PDI was derived from semiquantitative food frequency questionnaires administered every 4 years. Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess the association between PDI in quintiles and early menopause in NHS and NHSII separately, and fixed-effect models to pool the results from both cohorts. RESULTS During follow-up, 715 and 2,185 women experienced early natural menopause in NHS and NHSII, respectively. After adjustment for potential confounders, no association was observed between PDI and incidence of early natural menopause in either cohort, or when pooling the results from both cohorts, with an exception for unhealthy plant-based diet index which was associated with higher risk of early menopause with increasing levels of consumption (P trend = 0.04). CONCLUSION Adherence to PDI was not associated with timing of menopause while unhealthy plant-based diet might be associated with higher risk of experiencing early menopause

Feasibility pilot study of a Japanese teaching kitchen program

BackgroundThis pilot study examined the feasibility of a new lifestyle modification program involving a “Teaching Kitchen” in Japan. Our goal was to explore (1) feasibility of the program; (2) acceptability for class frequency (weekly vs. bi-weekly); and (3) changes in biometrics, dietary intakes, and lifestyle factors.MethodsA total of 24 employees with obesity in a Japanese company were recruited. Participants were randomly divided into two groups (weekly or bi-weekly group), each attending the program consisting of four two-hour classes (lectures on nutrition, exercise, mindfulness, and culinary instructions). Participants were observed for changes in dietary intakes, biometrics, and health related quality of life over the subsequent 3 months. We tested the between-group differences in changes using linear mixed-effect models.ResultsThe program completion rates were 83.3% in total (91.7% for weekly group and 75.0% for bi-weekly group). From baseline to post-intervention, significant decreases were observed in weight (p < 0.001), body mass index (p < 0.001), diastolic blood pressure (p = 0.03), body fat mass (p < 0.001), and dietary intakes in total fat (p = 0.03) and sodium (p = 0.008) among 17 participants who were available for measurements. Improvements in biometrics remained significant 1 month after the intervention (all p ≤ 0.03 in 14 participants). Participants' health related quality of life was significantly improved in bodily pain, general health, vitality, and mental component score (all p ≤ 0.047).ConclusionsThe new Japanese Teaching Kitchen program is feasible with high program completion rates in Japanese office workers with obesity. While this was a small feasibility study, significant multiple improvements in dietary intakes, biometrics, and health related quality of life suggest that this line of inquiry warrants further exploration to address obesity and obesity-related diseases in Japan

Interrelationships among accumulations of intra- and peri-organ fat, visceral fat, and subcutaneous fat

We aimed to clarify the relationship between intra- and peri-organ fat, visceral fat, and subcutaneous fat. We used abdominal CT to evaluate intra- and peri-organ fat accumulations in the pancreas, liver, spleen, renal parenchyma, renal sinus, and skeletal muscle. The relationships between these fats, visceral fat, and subcutaneous fat were examined by using the partial correlation and covariance analysis, adjusting for BMI. We found that visceral fat and each intra- and peri-organ fat accumulation were positively correlated, whereas subcutaneous fat and the accumulation of each intra- and peri-organ fat and visceral fat were negatively correlated. Pancreas fat, liver fat, renal sinus fat, and skeletal muscle fat accumulated significantly more in people with excessive visceral fat accumulation than in those without excessive visceral fat accumulation (p = 0.01, 0.006, 0.008, 0.02, respectively). In conclusion, intra- and peri-organ fat accumulation in each organ shows a positive correlation with visceral fat and a negative correlation with subcutaneous fat, independent of BMI.</p