Nutrition Archive

Preparing your own plant-based meals — focused on beans, grains, and veggies — is easier than you think.

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Eating more plant-based foods has many advantages, especially for your heart. But even with the best of intentions, many people find the transition to plant-centric meals a little daunting. Take for instance the daily dilemma of deciding what's for dinner. Where do you even begin?

Instead of trying to cook an entire vegetarian meal from scratch, start with one small step and build from there, says Dr. Rani Polak, founding director of the Culinary Healthcare Education Fundamentals (CHEF) Coaching program at Harvard's Institute of Lifestyle Medicine (see "What is lifestyle medicine?").

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Editor's note: This year, we're highlighting legumes on this page. Low in fat but rich in protein and other nutrients, they're a staple of plant-based eating. Starting in February, we'll feature a different legume each month, along with information and recipe tips from different cultures around the world.

But we're starting off with the basics: a simple recipe for cooking dried beans.

Research we're watching

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People whose daily diets include at least two servings per day of milk, yogurt, or cheese appear to have a lower risk of heart disease, stroke, or death than people who don't consume dairy products.

The findings, published Sept. 11, 2018, in The Lancet, were based on food questionnaires from more than 136,000 people from 21 countries. After a follow-up that lasted an average of nine years, researchers found that adults who consumed two or more servings of dairy each day had a 22% lower risk for heart disease, a 34% lower risk for stroke, and a 23% lower risk of heart-related death. Observational studies such as this one cannot prove cause and effect. But dairy-based foods contain vitamins D and K, calcium, and other nutrients thought to be good for cardiovascular health. The findings support the benefits of all types of dairy, including full-fat versions. However, current guidelines still recommend nonfat or low-fat milk, yogurt, and cheese, which contain fewer calories and less saturated fat.

There's a lot you can do to improve your outcome if you're taking an active surveillance approach to your diagnosis.

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About 90% of men diagnosed with prostate cancer have the localized kind, which means the cancer is confined to the prostate gland. And for many, a reasonable approach is active surveillance, in which men choose to monitor their cancer instead of going straight into invasive treatments, such as surgery or radiation therapy.

Active surveillance includes a doctor visit about every six months, most often with a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test and digital rectal exam.

In the journals

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An observational study has shown an association between eating vegetable nitrates, found in green leafy vegetables and beets, and a lower risk of developing an early stage of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of permanent vision loss among Americans ages 60 and older. The results were published online Oct. 17, 2018, by the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

Researchers studied the eating habits of more than 2,000 adults ages 49 and older over a 15-year period and compared them with diagnoses of AMD among the group. They found that people who ate 100 to 142 milligrams (mg) of vegetable nitrates each day had a 35% lower risk of developing early AMD than people who ate less than 69 mg of vegetable nitrates daily.

In the journals

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A high-protein breakfast may help curb your appetite later in the day, suggests a small study in the October 2018 Journal of Dairy Science.

Researchers assigned 32 healthy adults to eat a breakfast containing two servings of a high-carbohydrate cereal, with either 1 cup of commercial milk that contained 12.4 grams of protein, or 1 cup of milk mixed with a whole-milk protein concentrate or a whey protein powder that boosted protein intake to 28 grams. The participants then had their blood sugar levels measured.

Beans, peas, and peanuts are high in protein but lower in saturated fat than red meat.

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Looking for a quick way to improve your diet? Try swapping some of your regular servings of red meat with legumes.

"People will ask me, is red meat bad for me? And my answer is, compared to what? Compared to sugar, no. Compared to legumes, yes. That's where I think legumes come in. They are especially beneficial if they can replace red meat," says Dr. Meir Stampfer, a professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

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Research we're watching

Eating a Mediterranean-style diet, which is rich in fruits and vegetables, lean meats, and nuts, may help women over 40 reduce the risk of stroke, according to a study published in the journal Stroke.

The study enrolled more than 20,000 adults, ages 40 to 77, who were asked to record what they ate in a seven-day diet diary. Researchers then compared their diet and their stroke risk over a 17-year period.