Dean Foods Sale

U.S. Government Names 10 Expensive Prescription Drugs To Be First Ever Price Negotiatied By Medicare

Staff

Bird Flu Livestock

Cows infected with bird flu in multiple US states, Austin, USA - 02 Apr 2024

Oregon Vaccine Exemptions

A Covid-19 vaccine vial.

other

Moderna

Restaurant Serves Up Smoke And Cell Phone-Free Environment

medicaid

iStock

Generic Drugs Lawsuit

Britain Princess Kate Photo Gallery

Public Health Alert: Rise In Young Adult Colorectal Cancer Cases Spotlighted At National Mall Installation

Stringer

Children Vaccinations

RFK Supreme Court

The Washington Post

Pulmonary Tuberculosis

Martha's Table Food Bank Distirbution

staff

Bethany Noel

Paramyxovirus And Simian Virus

Contributor

Respond to prefers-color-scheme dark in app web views

Follow section front redirects in Spectrum

Enable NLP source in PCS for load testing

Switch off the News Alerts Survey Widget when we have enough responses

Poll to determine if new LUF updates are available

Allows the winning A/B test variant to be turned on without Spectrum deployment

Show infinite scrolling sections in Assembler MultiView

Show option for NLP article summaries in Action Bar

A general feature flag for Recipe Features that aren't yet released

Feature flag for media team features that aren't yet released

Use new Orca video player for preroll plugin in Spectrum

Show the snow tracker (instead of the heat tracker) on Spectrum

Miss Manners: Offering my bedroom to guests

Ask Amy: My wife’s sister confessed her feelings for me

Carolyn Hax: Will request for a postnup offend much younger wife?

What’s the best bus to New York? We tested 5 for comfort and value.

You asked: Do I need a passport for my cruise?

Adaptive equipment is making national parks more inclusive

NASA moon capsule suffered extensive damage during 2022 test flight

Russian state media ramping up English, Spanish presence on TikTok, study finds

Apple is behind in AI and killed its self-driving car project. What’s next?

Young Georgians want to be part of Europe. Their government is in the way.

On Press Freedom Day, little to celebrate for Hong Kong’s journalists

Taxes are inevitable. Paying to prepare them doesn’t have to be.

Wait, what is Stephen A. Smith talking about? Find out with our quiz.

Stephen A. Smith would like even more of your attention

Local sports networks go dark mid-game amid dispute with Comcast 

This masterpiece ‘Birth of Venus’ probably isn’t of Venus at all

The beginner’s illustrated guide to watching an F1 race

Cat climbed into Amazon return box, found alive 630 miles away

Brave Little Hunter is free: Baby orca escapes lagoon for open seas

I learned to heal my sadness by cradling dying chickens 

That time football legend, rig-driving eligible bachelor Biden was arrested

Trump and allies say Biden pays rent for ‘illegals’ in Michigan. Not true.

Eighty percent of Ukraine-Israel bill will be spent in U.S. or by U.S. military

World Press Freedom Day, 2024

How Trump convinces Republicans to adopt extreme views

Campuses are grappling with the Gaza war. So are our columnists.

Chinese EVs are good for the world. Biden says they’re bad for America. 

Why the Solomon Islands election matters to China and the U.S.

Biden calls ally Japan ‘xenophobic’ like China, Russia, at campaign event

The 6 best things to do with kids in the D.C. area this weekend 

The 33 best things to do in D.C. this weekend and next week

Trevor Williams’s escape act helps Nationals blank Rangers 

US President Joe Biden Departure

Toni L. Sandys

You’re reading The Checkup With Dr. Wen, a newsletter on how to navigate covid-19 and other public health challenges. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/newsletters/the-checkup-with-dr-wen/?method=SURL&location=ART&auto=true&itid=lk_inline_manual_2" target=_blank>Click here to get the full newsletter in your inbox</a>, including answers to reader questions and a summary of new scientific research.

Readers had excellent questions in response to my <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/02/27/heart-disease-cardiovascular-health-tips/" target=_blank>recent column on heart health</a>, so I’m dedicating this issue of the Checkup to help people navigate this crucial aspect of their well-being.

Jim from Wisconsin wanted more specifics on the types of foods that can improve cardiovascular health. “You talked about reducing ultra-processed food, but what types of food should we replace these junk foods with? Is it just the usual things, like fruits and vegetables?”

Yes, and other “whole foods” that are minimally processed. A plethora of studies have demonstrated that these kinds of food — such as whole grains, leafy green vegetables, fruits, nuts and legumes — make up the healthiest diet.

One study published in <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1003889" target=_blank>PLOS medicine</a> found that women can add about 10 years to their lives and men about 13 years by following such a diet. Another study published in <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2800411" target=_blank>JAMA Internal Medicine</a> found that such healthy eating patterns were associated with a 20 percent reduction in premature mortality and a lower rate of diseases ranging from neurodegenerative disease to cancer.

“What about the Mediterranean diet?” asked Kelsey from D.C. “A while ago, it seemed to be all the rage. Is there any science behind it?”

The Mediterranean diet refers to a pattern of eating that is primarily plant-based and emphasizes consumption of whole grains, vegetables, beans and “healthy fats” found in avocados, nuts and olive oil. Fish is generally encouraged over meat.

There is good evidence in favor of this type of lifestyle. A seminal 2013 study published in <a href="https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/0003-4819-159-9-201311050-00004" target=_blank>Annals of Internal Medicine</a> found that those who generally adhered to a Mediterranean-type diet were 46 percent more likely to experience healthy aging. Subsequent follow-up studies, including one with nearly 26,000 participants published in <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2717565" target=_blank>JAMA Network Open</a> in 2018, found that practitioners had a 25 percent reduction in developing cardiovascular disease.

What you eat clearly has a major impact on health. So does when you eat and how.

Anna from Virginia inquired about the practice of intermittent fasting: “My daughter swears by it. She only eats between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., nothing before or after. She says it’s helped with weight control, and she has more energy now than before. Is this dangerous or a good idea?”

I didn’t know much about this method and did some research. Intermittent fasting can range from what Anna’s daughter is doing to more lenient forms, such as abiding by time-restricted eating only a few days a week or extending the eating times to 12 hours a day. There are some groups who should not engage in this regimen, including pregnant and breastfeeding women, children and those who are underweight or have an eating disorder. Others who have underlying medical conditions such as diabetes should check with their physicians before attempting it.

The general idea behind intermittent fasting is that it prompts the body to turn to fat stores, thereby promoting weight loss. Proponents also tout a number of positive impacts, including improvements in blood pressure, blood sugar and energy.

The research thus far is mixed. While <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/12/5/1267" target="_blank">some studies</a>, including a 2020 one in the <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMra1905136" target="_blank">New England Journal of Medicine</a>, support these claims, others have found that <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2114833" target="_blank">calorie restriction</a> might be just as impactful. A recent study, presented at a conference but not yet published, even identified <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2024/03/18/intermittent-fasting-time-restricted-eating/" target="_blank">potential harms</a>, such as increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

My takeaway is that the jury is still out on intermittent fasting. Those who find it works for them can keep it up, in consultation with their health-care provider. Others can learn from the main concepts in time-restricted eating and try different versions — for instance, not eating just before bed and reducing high-fat and high-sugar snacks.

“I’ve always found that I eat better when I’m around other people,” said Rich from New York. “Maybe it’s because I slow down instead of rushing through every meal. Being around others reminds me to enjoy food: Live to eat, not eat to live.”

I love what Rich said for three reasons. First, not eating too quickly is better for health because it’s a form of portion control. You are letting your body sense when you’re full.

Second, eating with others promotes social connection. In virtually all cultures, breaking bread together is a form of bonding. Loneliness is as detrimental to health as <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-social-connection-advisory.pdf" target="_blank">smoking 15 cigarettes</a> a day, so <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/12/12/health-lifestyle-changes-hearing-aids-exercise-loneliness/?utm_campaign=wp_follow_leana_s.+wen&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=newsletter&amp;wpisrc=nl-leanas.+wen" target="_blank">activities that foster togetherness</a> should be highly encouraged.

Third, one consequence of the so-called diet culture is that it can often pit food as the enemy. At best, food becomes a means to an end. There is something to be said about changing the framing so that we see tasty, nutritious food as a feast for our senses, especially when shared with those we love.

Lifelines: A Doctor’s Journey in the Fight for Public Health

When Doctors Don't Listen

California State University, Los Angeles, BS

Washington University School of Medicine, MD

University of Oxford, MSc

Leana S. Wen, a Washington Post contributing columnist who writes the newsletter The Checkup with Dr. Wen, is a professor at George Washington University's Milken Institute School of Public Health and author of the book "Lifelines: A Doctor's Journey in the Fight for Public Health." Previously, she served as Baltimore’s health commissioner.

Leana Wen

Nutrition isn’t just about what you eat, but also when and how

the-washington-post

Editorials

Columns

Guest opinions

Cartoons

Submit a guest opinion

Today's Opinions newsletter

Opinions

washpost

Sign up for the Prompt 2024 newsletter for opinions on the biggest questions in politics

Washington Post Opinions

The Washington Post Opinions section features opinion articles, op-eds, editorials by the Editorial Board, global opinions and letters to the editor on the issues of the day. Offerings include columns by Washington Post opinion writers, political cartoons by editorial cartoonists Ann Telnaes and Michael de Adder and podcasts by Jonathan Capehart.