Health Scoop News 📑 Wellness trend & research on weight loss, mental health/stress, healthy brain structure

Published about 2 months ago • 5 min read

Pryvit! (Hello in Ukrainian),

I always have my nose in new health research, so I'm sharing some of the most relevant studies with you in regular editions of "Health Scoop News."

Below are summaries of each topic: a wellness trend, plus my top three recent study picks. Hit reply to tell me which of these four updates are the most interesting/relevant for you! (I love reading your responses.)

This week's edition of the Health Scoop News includes:

1 - Wellness Trend: GLP-1s📈

2 - Eating behaviours for weight📒

3 - Coffee for mental health☕

4 - Eat fish for brain health🧠

1 – Wellness trend: GLP-1s 📈

GLP-1s are injectable medications that reduce appetite so people can eat less and feel fuller. They are now very popular for weight loss, going by the names of Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro. There is a lot of talk about which celebrities are taking them and how these drugs are affecting them, and more and more content creators are sharing their personal experiences with these medications with their followers.

To address this wellness trend for your health practice, whether you specialize in weight management or not, you probably have several clients who are asking about or taking GLP-1s. It may be important to be up-to-date on the nutritional, fitness, and lifestyle impacts that these medications can have on your clients so that you can best support them.

For example, eating less food makes it harder to get the nutrition people need, which may risk malnutrition and even deficiencies (of vitamins, minerals, and even protein and fibre). These medications can also make it more difficult for people to maintain healthy muscle mass (due to insufficient protein, etc.) and may increase several digestive issues (due to insufficient fibre, etc.). Personalized nutrition assessments can help determine how much people need to eat differently and at what point supplements may become essential.

*Note from Leesa: If you’re interested in sharing some of these insights with your community via a new done-for-you article that I can create and place in my shop, please hit reply to let me know so that I can prioritize an article on GLP-1s and how to best manage them with nutrition and lifestyle.

For more information, here’s a link to the article I wrote summarizing this wellness trend (with links to several background articles on the topic):

2 - Eating behaviours for weight📒

Study title: Do routinized eating behaviors support weight loss? An examination of food logs from behavioral weight loss participants.

This is a study of 112 participants who were trying to lose weight. Due to the food environment (abundance of aggressively marketed high-calorie, ultra-processed foods), the researchers wanted to know if repeating the same foods regularly (i.e., less variety of foods and therefore fewer decisions to make) would help participants maintain a stable caloric intake and lose weight. “To date, it is unclear whether repetitive eating patterns (both in caloric intake and food choices) are more effective for weight control than flexible eating behavior.“

Here’s what the researchers concluded:

  • “The current study suggests that establishing routines around eating behavior, such as maintaining a stable calorie intake and frequently repeating meals and snacks, can help adults with overweight/obesity lose weight.”
  • “These findings are consistent with theories of habit formation, which suggest that repetition helps difficult behaviors become more effortless.”
  • “Because long-term eating behavior is so difficult to measure accurately, more research is needed. “

In other words, make new habits easier to establish by repeating them more often and doing them similarly each time. For weight management, eating a similar amount of similar foods more consistently resulted in higher weight loss.

For more information, here’s a link to the article I wrote summarizing this study (with a direct link to the study itself):

3 – Coffee for mental health☕

Study title: Daily coffee drinking and mental health outcomes: Sex differences and the role of caffeine metabolism genotypes

This is an analysis of data from 461,586 participants over 13 years to see if there were any links between their coffee consumption and mental health.

Here’s what the researchers concluded:

  • “In this large population-based study, J-shaped associations were found between coffee intake and mental health outcomes, including mood disorders and stress disorders, with an optimal threshold of 2–3 cups per day.”
  • “This pattern held consistent across various coffee subtypes, including instant, ground, and decaffeinated coffee.”
  • “Moreover, the J-shaped association was more pronounced in men compared to women. However, inter-individual differences in caffeine metabolism did not alter these associations.”

In other words, drinking 2-3 cups of coffee per day lowers risk for both mood and stress disorders (and 5 or more cups/day has the highest risk).

For more information, here’s a link to the article I wrote summarizing this study (with a direct link to the study itself):

4 – Eat fish for brain health🧠

Article title: Fish consumption and brain structure: a comprehensive systematic review of observational studies

This is a systematic review of 24 studies that looked at the brain structures of people (mostly aged 60 or older) who ate varying amounts of fish to see if there are any consistent links/associations between brain structure and fish consumption.

Here’s what the researchers concluded:

  • “Inclusion of fish in a healthy and balanced diet is associated with better white matter grades on MRI and slower progression of white matter hyperintensities and reduction of vascular-related lesions of the aging brain, suggesting a potential role in preventing neurocognitive deterioration.”

In other words, eating fish as part of a nutritious diet is linked to healthier brain structure over the years, therefore fish may help to reduce neurocognitive deterioration.

For more information, here’s a link to the article I wrote summarizing this study (with a direct link to the study itself):

Leesa

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  • 1 - Resources Whether you’re stuck on how to grow your health practice with content marketing, need help doing research online, or want to know what products I use to run my business, check out my personally curated resources page​
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I’m Leesa Klich, MSc., R.H.N.

Health writer – Blogging expert – Research nerd

I help credible health professionals build their online authority with strategically-planned and easy-to-read research-based health articles. They want to stand out in the crowded, often unqualified, market of entrepreneurs and get found in search engines. I help them build a reputable brand, establish trust with their audiences, and save them a ton of time so they don’t have to do the research or writing themselves.

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