These tiny packages pack a nutritional punch-so much so that the advisory committee for the 2025 U.S. Dietary Guidelines recommended upping the daily serving size of legumes and promoting them as a protein source over meat and seafood. Navy beans, for example, are especially fiber-dense, and lentils are protein powerhouses.
Compared with a control group that also reduced calories but did not eat oats, those on the oat based plan saw a markedly greater improvement in their cholesterol levels. The reduction remained noticeable even six weeks later. Researchers also found that the diet changed the balance of bacteria in the gut. Substances produced by these microbes appear to play an important role in the health benefits linked to oats.
One theory is that by slowing the rate of biological ageing, it may be possible to prevent or mitigate age-related illness, meaning people have more years of good health. A study carried out by researchers in the US and including funding from the confectionery manufacturer Mars suggests a daily multivitamin could help slow some markers of biological ageing – although what that means in terms of health remains unclear.
This study is really good news for those who follow a vegetarian diet because they have a lower risk of five cancer types, some of which are very prevalent in the population. While being vegetarian appeared to be protective overall, the scientists also found that those who follow a vegetarian diet had nearly double the risk of the most common type of cancer of the oesophagus, known as squamous cell carcinoma, compared with meat eaters.
A plant-based diet rich in soy reduces moderate-to-severe hot flashes by 84%, from nearly five per day to fewer than one per day. During the 12-week study, nearly 60% of women became totally free of moderate-to-severe hot flashes. Overall they (including mild ones) decreased by 79%.
We compared how participants fared while eating their habitual diets with how they responded to the two diets that were low in ultraprocessed foods. During the periods when participants ate fewer ultraprocessed foods, they naturally consumed fewer calories and lost weight, including total and abdominal body fat. Beyond weight loss, they also showed meaningful improvements in insulin sensitivity, healthier cholesterol levels, fewer signs of inflammation, and favorable changes in hormones that help regulate appetite and metabolism.
Cardiovascular disease is the No. 1 cause of death in the US, but research has found that eating a Mediterranean-style diet and being physically active can help lower the risk. The American Heart Association's dietary guidelines recommend prioritizing fresh produce, whole grains, lean proteins such as fish, and limiting ultra-processed foods and refined sugar. That may sound like a lot, but Matthew Landry told Business Insider that you don't necessarily need to overhaul your diet to improve your heart health.
These strategies work best for people without existing heart disease, and under the guidance of a healthcare provider. High cholesterol may not cause noticeable symptoms, but it quietly raises the risk of heart attack and stroke over time. Statins are the gold standard treatment in Western medicine, but they come with side effects and long-term risks. Fortunately, many people can improve their low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and total cholesterol levels through diet, movement, and targeted supplements.
Although it's always been a staple around the world, tinned fish has really been having a moment in the spotlight for the past couple of years in the U.S. Home-grown brands like Fish Wife are all over social media and have colorful, enticing packaging that's so much more exciting than basic round, silver tins. And many European brands are all the rage, too.
Want to live longer but don't want to change what you're already doing to try and live a healthy life? We have good news. You likely don't need to spend an extra three hours in the gym every week. You also probably don't need to get eight hours of sleep every night. And you likely don't have to revamp your diet, either.
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Diet culture norms have led to a multibillion-dollar industry promoting diets that each come with their own set of rules, with each claiming it's the only way to be healthy or lose weight. When access to nutrition information is at an all-time high online, people are often left digging through conflicting information when trying to figure out what to eat or what a healthy diet look likes.
By following more than 100,000 people in the U.K. for years, researchers found that people whose food choices scored high in any one of five diet categories tended to live longer than people who scored the lowest. Specifically, the team found that even after adjusting for confounding factorssuch as whether people smoked, how much exercise they took and what their education and ethnicity wasstudy participants who tended to eat according to any one of the five diets were 18 to 24 percent less likely to die of any cause. For women, that roughly translated into an extra 1.5 to 2.3 years of life. And for men, it added about 1.9 to three years.
A humble - and delicious - berry could be the answer to improving your gut, brain and heart health, a major review found last week. Experts have long urged us to eat more blueberries, but thankfully you don't need to be consuming kilos of the superfruit for it to have an impact. Every year Britons consume 57,000 tonnes of the tiny fruits; enough to fill 23 Olympic size swimming pools.