WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Replacing meat and dairy products with plant-based foods, both "healthy" and "unhealthy" as defined by the plant-based index, leads to a reduction of hot flashes and weight loss in postmenopausal women, according to new research by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine published in BMC Women's Health.
"Simply replacing meat and dairy products with plant-based foods -- from pears to potatoes and beans to bread -- can lead to weight loss and a reduction in hot flashes in postmenopausal women," says Hana Kahleova, MD, PhD, a co-author of the paper and director of clinical research at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
The new research is a secondary analysis of data from a Physicians Committee study published in the journal Menopause. In the study, 84 postmenopausal women reporting two or more moderate-to-severe hot flashes daily were randomly assigned to either the intervention group that was asked to follow a low-fat vegan diet, including a half cup cooked soybeans a day, or to the control group that continued their usual diets for 12 weeks.
The new analysis assessed the association of a plant-based index (PDI), healthful (hPDI), and unhealthful (uPDI), with changes in hot flashes. The PDI measures adherence to a plant-based diet in general, the hPDI includes more fruits, vegetables, grains, and beans, and the uPDI includes more foods such as refined grains and fruit juices. The scores of all three indexes are higher with increased consumption of plant-based foods and reduced consumption of animal products.
In the new analysis, all three scores increased in the vegan group, compared with no change in the control group. Both the "healthy" and "unhealthy" plant-based indices -- hPDI and uPDI -- were associated with weight loss and a reduction in hot flashes. Severe hot flashes were reduced by 92% in the vegan group and did not change significantly in the control group. Participants in the vegan group also lost an average of 3.6 kilograms (about 8 pounds), while the control group lost an average of 0.2 kilograms (about half a pound).
The authors say that the results of the analysis suggest that consuming even the so-called "unhealthy" plant-based foods, as defined by the plant-based index, may lead to weight loss when they replace animal products. For example, fruit juices, refined grains, and potatoes, which are all included on the uPDI, are higher in carbohydrates and lower in fat than meat, dairy products, and eggs; carbohydrates have only 4 calories per gram, while fat has 9 calories per gram.
"The good news is that our new analysis helps clarify that even plant-based foods that are defined as "unhealthy" by the plant-based index are better than animal products in terms of weight loss and reduction in hot flashes," says Dr. Kahleova. "If you want to lose weight, fight hot flashes, or improve other diet-related conditions like type 2 diabetes and heart disease, it's always best to choose the plant-based option over animal products."