Field Notes
Food and Alcohol for Stress Management Linked to Lifelong Weight Gain
Food and alcohol consumption as means of easing stress are linked with body weight in both the long and short term. These are among the results of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare's follow-up study examining how common eating and alcohol use are as stress management methods for men and women, and their connections with body weight and how it develops over a 30-year period.
Eating as a means of stress management correlates with higher body weight, and as a long-term stress management tool, it’s linked with faster weight gain in adulthood, and the correlation is clear for women and men.
Alcohol consumption as a coping method for stress relates to higher weight in middle-age. Alcohol for stress management also is connected with faster weight gain among adult men but not among women.
“The emergence of a connection only with men might derive from the fact that men consume larger amounts of alcohol at one time and drink beverages with a higher energy content,” says Elena Rosenqvist, a doctoral researcher at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare and the University of Helsinki.
Nearly one-half of all women (41% to 55%) exhibit some stress-related eating in adulthood, and for women, eating as a means of stress management was considerably more common than among men. One possible reason for this could be the greater cultural pressures placed on women to reduce weight, as dieting has been seen as a possible cause of stress eating. Stress eating and reporting it also can be socially more acceptable for women.
Meanwhile, men aged 22 to 32 used alcohol more frequently than women as a means of stress management, but after this, stress-related use of alcohol was equally common among men and women.
“Cultural changes in the use of alcohol by the two genders in the past 30 years may have affected the narrowing of differences in the follow-up,” Rosenqvist says.
“Another possible explanation for the difference is that becoming a parent often has a greater effect on drinking by women than by men.”
As stress-related eating and alcohol use can have long-term effects on weight, it’s important to react to them at an early stage. Developing suitable stress management methods plays an important role in preventing obesity.
Stress eating seems to have more consistent links with weight than stress-related alcohol consumption. As stress eating is common, especially among women, identifying women's stress eating is important in interventions related to weight control.
Eating and alcohol use in stress management previously haven’t been studied in parallel. The study is part of the Stress, Development, and Mental Health project, a follow-up study in which people in one age cohort in Tampere have been monitored through questionnaires since 1983 at the ages of 16, 22, 32, 42, and 52.
— Source: Institute for Health and Welfare
Low Miscarriage Risk Associated With High Fruit and Vegetable Diet
A preconception and early-pregnancy diet that contains lots of fruit, vegetables, seafood, dairy, eggs, and grains may be associated with reducing the risk of miscarriage, a new research review suggests.
Researchers at the University of Birmingham, funded by Tommy’s National Centre for Miscarriage, analyzed 20 studies that explored birthing people’s eating habits in the months before and shortly after conceiving a baby to determine whether these studies showed evidence of association with a lower or higher chance of miscarriage.
Writing in the journal Fertility and Sterility, the Tommy’s National Centre for Miscarriage research team concludes that there’s evidence to suggest a diet rich in fruit, vegetables, seafood, dairy products, eggs, and grains reduces miscarriage risk.
These are foods that typically make up “healthy,” well-balanced diets, with previous evidence showing that eating a well-rounded diet rich in vitamins and minerals during pregnancy is important.
The research review found that when compared with low consumption, a high intake of fruit may be associated with a 61% reduction in miscarriage risk. High vegetable intake may be associated with a 41% reduction in miscarriage risk. For dairy products, it’s a 37% reduction, 33% for grains, and 19% for seafood and eggs.
Led by Yealin Chung, MBBS, MRCOG, researchers also looked at whether predefined dietary types, such as the Mediterranean diet or fertility diet, also could be linked to miscarriage risk. They couldn’t find evidence that following any of these diets lowered or raised risk.
However, a whole diet containing healthful foods, or foods rich in antioxidant sources and low in proinflammatory foods or unhealthful food groups may be associated with a reduction in miscarriage risk for women.
A diet high in processed food was shown to be associated with doubling of miscarriage risk.
The studies included in the analysis focused on the periconception period—a period before and during the first three months of pregnancy. Data collected from a total of 63,838 healthy women of reproductive age were included, with information on their diets typically collected through food frequency questionnaires for each study.
Chung says: “Miscarriage is common, with estimates suggesting one in six pregnancies end in miscarriage, and there are many known causes, from problems with the baby’s chromosomes to infections in the womb.
“Yet, nearly 50% of early pregnancy losses remain unexplained and in the absence of a cause, parents often turn to their health care providers for guidance on the best ways to be as healthy as possible and reduce the risk of future miscarriages.
“There’s a growing body of evidence to show that lifestyle changes—including changes to diet, stopping smoking, and not drinking alcohol—before conceiving and in your pregnancy’s early stages—may have an impact.
“We strongly encourage couples to consider the importance of making positive lifestyle choices when planning for a family and to continue with these healthy choices throughout their pregnancy and beyond. By knowing that positive lifestyle choices can make a significant difference in reducing the risk of miscarriage, couples can feel empowered to take charge of their health and the health of their baby.”
Tommy's midwife Juliette Ward says: “Advice on diet is one of the most-discussed subjects for us when talking with pregnant women and birthing people. We know that baby loss is very rarely the result of someone’s lifestyle choices, but many people want to know how to be as healthy as possible in pregnancy. Following a healthful diet, taking supplements like vitamin D and folic acid, exercise, and trying to lower stress are all things people can try to do, but there’s been a lack of clear evidence on the links between diet choices and miscarriage.
“Given this lack of evidence, there aren’t any evidence-based guidelines outlining dietary advice for women and birthing people or their partners—something the findings of this review suggest could make a real impact in helping people reduce their risk.”
More studies are needed, the Tommy’s team concludes, particularly research that looks at whether a food group or diet and its link to miscarriage risk is causal and research that could accurately estimate how effective a change in diet could be in the critical stages of conception and pregnancy.
— Source: University of Birmingham