Simple food swaps could help women through the menopause and prevent weight gain, according to the world’s largest study of its kind. Ditching white bread, pasta and rice – or simply eating them with fat or protein – could help lessen the blood sugar spike women experience after eating carbohydrate-rich meals.
Natural yoghurt, nuts, pulses, berries and leafy greens are also good choices for helping keep the gut microbiome healthy, the study suggests. Experts from the nutrition company ZOE together with scientists from King’s College London, the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Massachusetts General Hospital in the US looked at data for 1,002 pre-, peri- and post-menopausal women, who underwent a raft of tests and health checks.
They found that, among women of the same age, those who were post-menopausal experienced a bigger increase in blood sugar levels after eating a carbohydrate-rich meal – pushing up their risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Post-menopausal women were also found to have more weight around their stomachs, have higher levels of inflammation, higher cholesterol and higher blood pressure than pre-menopausal women.
