Women who used estrogen-only menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) were less likely to develop Alzheimer’s-related brain changes or dementia, according to a large Stanford study published Aug. 12 in Neurology.

The researchers analyzed post-mortem data from 21,462 participants, comparing 258 women who reported estrogen-only MHT use with approximately 2,701 women who reported no MHT use.

The researchers examined the brains for signs of Alzheimer’s disease, including amyloid plaques, neurofibrillary tangles and amyloid-plaque density. Plaques and tangles are two hallmark brain changes associated with the common dementia.

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The women who took estrogen-only therapy — most of whom had likely undergone hysterectomies — were found to have a 35% lower chance of Alzheimer’s pathology and 39% lower odds of dementia over a lifetime.

Among some living participants, estrogen-only users also performed better on memory testing and were better able to function independently, the study found. Biomarkers in blood and cerebrospinal fluid supported these results.

The participants averaged 70 years of age.

Recent research indicates that menopausal hormone therapy may offer greater benefits when started during or shortly after menopause, the researchers noted.

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Because the women in the study were generally older when they began treatment, the results may actually understate the potential benefits of earlier therapy.

These findings appear to contradict prior studies that linked menopausal hormone therapy to increased dementia risk.

“Estrogen has well-described neuroprotective effects in animal models,” co-author Jennifer Bruno, PhD, an instructor in psychiatry and behavioral sciences, told Fox News Digital.

“Estrogen plays a role in shifting amyloid toward the non-amyloidogenic pathway and promoting tau dephosphorylation — both amyloid and tau are hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease.”

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“Additionally, estrogen supports synaptic plasticity, reduces neuroinflammation and supports blood brain barrier integrity. So, finding less AD pathology in estrogen-only users was consistent with this mechanism.”

Memory can be impacted by many different conditions, which means clinical diagnoses can sometimes be unreliable, the researchers noted.

“Although there’s been great progress with bloodborne and cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers, they don’t tell you the amount and precise location of the brain damage,” said senior author Hadi Hosseini, Ph.D., an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford.

“By looking where the actual damage is done — the brain — you can see where the Alzheimer’s-associated defining features are and how many of them are there.”

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The study did have some limitations, according to the researchers. As it was observational, it could only show an association but could prove that the hormone therapy reduced Alzheimer’s risk.

“It’s possible that women who used hormone therapy differed from non-users in ways we couldn’t fully measure, such as baseline health status or engagement with healthcare,” Hosseini told Fox News Digital. “We worked hard to adjust for known confounders and to account for who does and doesn’t come to autopsy, but observational data can only take you so far.”

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Alzheimer’s disease is the leading cause of dementia among older adults, with women comprising about two-thirds of diagnoses.

“By looking where the actual damage is done — the brain — you can see where the Alzheimer’s-associated defining features are and how many of them are there.”

While the study findings don’t change current clinical recommendations, Hosseini said they highlight the need for well-designed clinical trials to confirm these observations and to determine whether menopausal hormone therapy has a protective cognitive effect.

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“These results add meaningful, first-of-their-kind pathological evidence to a genuinely controversial area — but they are a signal for further study, not a reason to start or stop MHT for brain health,” Bruno added.

“We need prospective, biomarker-based trials that follow women before, during and after menopause to understand the effects of MHT on brain health.”

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The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health.

One weekly routine could help foster better sleep and promote healthy weight loss, according to a New Jersey-based registered dietitian.

Erin Palinski-Wade, who is also a certified diabetes care specialist and author of “The Sleepdemic Solution,” shared her “seven-day reset” in an interview with Fox News Digital.

The reset combines sleep, nutrition and lifestyle strategies into a five-part system represented by the acronym SLEEP.

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In a test panel conducted in connection with her seven-day program, Palinski-Wade said participants reported improvements in sleep, blood sugar and weight.

Experts recommend consulting a healthcare professional for individualized guidance before making significant changes to diet, sleep or lifestyle habits, particularly for those with underlying health conditions.

Palinski-Wade emphasized that results varied among participants with different sleep challenges. The panel included shift workers, mothers and people with long-term insomnia.

Despite those differences, within the first two to three days, the expert said people “across the board” reported falling asleep faster, getting higher-quality sleep and feeling more rested the next day.

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Panelists with pre-existing insulin resistance or type 2 diabetes also reported improvements in blood sugar levels, Palinski-Wade said.

“Once they were resting better and those stress hormones were reduced, and the body was getting the rest it needed, we were seeing better balanced blood sugar throughout the day,” she noted.

Participants also reported improvements in hunger and satiety.

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“They weren’t having those cravings, especially in the evening, especially those sugar cravings,” Palinski-Wade said. “When they were eating, they were feeling more satisfied.”

“I had a few test panel members who lost as much as seven pounds in the first seven days,” she said, noting that some of the loss was water weight.

Participants reported reductions in weight and waist circumference and improvements in blood sugar, sleep and next-day energy.

The Reset

Below, Palinski-Wade breaks down the five components of the SLEEP system.

S – Set your rhythm

Setting a rhythm involves timing meals consistently to help improve sleep. This means avoiding skipped meals, which can lead to blood sugar fluctuations throughout the day, Palinski-Wade said.

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“We want to be fueling our body all throughout the day so that our body is expecting to sleep in the evening,” she said.

Skipping meals and consuming excess food and calories in the evening tells the body that it’s time to burn energy, which is not going to be conducive to sleep, according to the expert.

L – Leveraging light

Exposure to sunlight within the first hour of waking can help set the body’s circadian rhythm, Palinski-Wade noted.

“When your body gets that natural light, whether you go outside or put your desk by the window, that’s helping your body get more in tune with that rhythm where you’re awake,” she said.

In the evening, Palinski-Wade recommends dimming the lights and avoiding electronics and bright overhead lighting, which helps the body wind down and prepare for restful sleep.

E – Eat with intention

Eating with intention means choosing meals and snacks with nutrients that support healthy sleep, according to Palinski-Wade.

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“Whether it’s serotonin and tryptophan, anti-inflammatory nutrients, we want to make sure that we’re eating with intention, so we’re giving our body the building blocks it needs to create sleep in the evening,” she said.

E – Evening out blood sugar

Palinski-Wade recommends combining lean protein, healthy fats and fiber to help keep blood sugar steady throughout the day and support better sleep.

P – Powering down your night

Powering down involves creating a consistent nighttime routine, including limiting electronics and caffeine and maintaining regular sleep and wake times, according to Palinski-Wade.

“That also applies to having a set bedtime and a set wake time … in those seven days to reset that circadian rhythm, so we can have the best results moving forward,” she said.

“We want to be fueling our body all throughout the day so that our body is expecting to sleep in the evening.”

For those who are “trying everything,” like diet and exercise, without seeing results, Palinski-Wade stressed that it is “not because you don’t have enough willpower.”

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“It could just be your biology working against you, and many times it’s as simple as improving your sleep,” she said. “If you start to improve your sleep within just a few days, you can see major changes in how you feel, how your body is processing food, in your metabolism, and then ultimately in your body weight.”

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External research by the National Institutes of Health has also linked adequate sleep with appetite regulation and healthy weight management.

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute states that sleep helps regulate hormones involved in hunger and fullness, while sleep deficiency can affect the body’s response to insulin and has been linked to a higher risk of obesity.

Heavy drinking has been shown to raise mortality risk, but, at lower levels, what’s in your glass may also matter, a new study suggests.

In recent research of data from 340,924 participants in the UK Biobank, wine was linked to lower mortality, while beer and spirits were tied to higher death risk.

Data were collected between 2006 and 2022, with more than 13 years of average follow-up. The findings were presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session in New Orleans.

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In the study, participants reported their alcohol intake as never/occasional, low, moderate or high.

High consumption was defined as more than 40 grams per day for men (about three standard drinks) and more than 20 grams per day for women (about 1.4 standard drinks).

Participants with high alcohol consumption had a 24% higher risk of all-cause death, 36% higher risk of cancer death and 14% higher risk of cardiovascular death when compared to people who never or occasionally drank, according to the study findings.

With low or moderate alcohol consumption, however, the mortality risk appeared to differ according to the type of beverage.

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Spirits, beer and cider were associated with significantly higher mortality, the researchers found, while the same amount of wine intake was linked to significantly lower mortality. Moderate wine drinkers had a 21% lower risk of cardiovascular death than those who never or occasionally drank.

Conversely, those who drank low amounts of spirits, beer or cider were found to have a 9% higher risk of cardiovascular death.

“These results come from the general population, and in certain high-risk groups, such as people with chronic diseases or cardiovascular conditions, the risks could be even higher,” Dr. Zhangling Chen, a professor at the Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University in China and the study’s senior author, said in a press release.

“These findings can help refine guidance, emphasizing that the health risks of alcohol depend not only on the amount of alcohol consumed but also on the type of beverage.”

“Not everybody should have daily consumption of an alcoholic substance, whether it’s wine, beer or certain liquors.”

One potential reason for wine’s lower mortality association could be that it contains compounds such as polyphenols and antioxidants, which could have beneficial effects on blood vessels, inflammation and cardiovascular health, the researchers noted.

Jessica Steinman, a Los Angeles addiction specialist and chief clinical officer for No Matter What Recovery, said the study’s information is “helpful” but cautioned against broadly applying the findings to individuals, particularly those with a history of substance misuse.

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While certain ingredients or substances might help someone with a specific issue, she expressed her concern when it comes to mental health issues and addiction.

“When we hear these stories or get this research, it becomes a ‘black and white’ larger generalization for the population, and we want to be careful with that,” Steinman, who was not involved in the research, told Fox News Digital.

“Not everybody should have daily consumption of an alcoholic substance, whether it’s wine, beer or certain liquors. … If there’s someone who’s struggling with substances, then they really shouldn’t be having it at all.”

Different substances have different levels of alcohol in them, and each person metabolizes alcohol uniquely, the expert noted.

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“All those kinds of things are so specific to one person or a small sect of people,” she said. “So, we want to make sure anytime there’s research given about something, that we’re not taking it as a society and saying, ‘Let’s do this,’ and not keeping it as black and white.

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“Overall, more is not better, but also the higher potency of alcohol and higher percentages of alcohol is going to affect people negatively as well.”

Steinman recommended consulting with a medical professional for individual guidance.

The researchers acknowledged some limitations of the study. Because it was observational in design, the study could not prove that drinking wine led to lower mortality or that other alcoholic beverages directly caused higher mortality.

Also, the participants reported their baseline alcohol intake at the start of the study, which means any changes in drinking patterns during the follow-up period were not recorded.

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There was also the chance that wine drinkers may have different dietary or other lifestyle habits that could affect their health outcomes, the researchers noted.

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The UK Biobank participants also tend to be healthier than the overall population, which could limit the ability for the finding to be generalized to wider populations.

The authors called for high-quality randomized studies to confirm the differences in how drinking habits reflect mortality risk.