Why women mustn’t skip breakfast and MEN ... need their MUSSELS!

The new diet rules that show the sexes really are from different planets

EATING together, we’re told, is key to a healthy relationship. But growing research suggests that, for optimal health, men and women might be better off preparing separate meals.

It’s already known that men need more calories to maintain their weight — the NHS recommends 2,500 a day for men compared with 2,000 for women.

This is because, on average, men have larger frames and 30 to 40 per cent more muscle mass. Women also have specific nutritional needs during pregnancy and breast feeding.

However, some experts believe that thanks to differences in our hormones, reproductive functions, metabolism and body composition men and women have different dietary requirements.

‘As we are finding out more I think it will help us to draw up dietary recommendations tailored to the needs of men and women,’ says Helen Bond, a dietitian and spokesman for the British Dietetic Association.

Last month, research from Harvard School of Public Health suggested that eating chocolate up to six times a week could cut a man’s risk of developing atrial fibrillation, the most common heart rhythm problem, by a fifth.

But for women the healthiest amount was just one 30 g bar a week. Any more and the benefits went down, though the reason was unclear.

Here, we take a look at other surprising ways in which male and female diets should potentially differ . . .

WOMEN SHOULD . . . EAT LESS PASTA

We ALL need carbohydrates as a source of energy — carbs should make up about half the food intake of both men and women, UK guidelines recommend.

However, women may want to go easy on the pasta. A 12-year study by Harvard School of Public Health found a link between pasta-heavy diets and low mood among women.

The study, published in the journal Brain, Behaviour and Immunity in 2014, found that women whose diet was high in refined grains, such as white pasta, were about one third more likely to suffer from depression.

The findings were backed by a further study of more than 70,000 postmenopausal women published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2015. The more refined carbs women ate, and the higher their blood sugar levels as a result, the more they were at risk of depression. The low mood may be explained by the ‘high’ and crash some people get after eating refined carbs, the scientists said.

Women could be more susceptible because blood sugar can affect levels of the hormone oestrogen, which can also impact mood, says Nitu Bajekal, a consultant gynaecologist at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust.

‘This area is not fully understood, but it’s sensible to eat vegetables with your pasta, because the fibre dampens the glucose response,’ she says.

EMBRACE CHEESE

IT IS known that calcium — found in nuts, green leafy vegetables and dairy — is good for the bones. But women need more of the mineral to ward off osteoporosis.

This is because they start with a much lower bone density than men and lose bone mass more quickly as they age. And after the menopause, they lose the protective effect of oestrogen, which also plays a role in bone health.

According to the NHS, women and men should include 700 mg of calcium in their diet a day — the equivalent of 320 g of broccoli. But many organisations, including the Linus Pauling institute at Oregon State University, advise women to increase that amount to 1,200 mg post-menopause when their levels of oestrogen fall off.

Helen Bond says: ‘eight per cent of the adult female population has a lower intake than they should from their diets.’

NEVER SKIP BREAKFAST

We often hear about the importance of breakfast, but it may be especially sound advice for women, says Peter Whorwell, a professor of gastroenterology at the Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester.

‘There is something called the gastrocolonic response, whereby when you eat, the stomach stretches and stimulates the colon to empty. This reflex is only active in the morning. If you don’t eat until lunch you miss the opportunity for this to happen.’

Professor Whorwell says it’s a good idea for everyone to have breakfast, but women could benefit even more because they are more prone to constipation.

This may be because food moves more slowly through their digestive systems as female sex hormones seem to slow the squeezing action of the intestine. Women should also be more careful about indulging in fatty meals.

‘Fatty foods delay gastric emptying,’ says Professor Whorwell. ‘Because the female stomach empties more slowly, a woman is more likely to feel uncomfortable after a high-fat meal.’

DRINK LESS (SORRY!)

LAST year, concerns over the health risks of alcohol meant the guidelines on alcohol were changed in Britain. Now both sexes are advised to drink no more than 14 units a week — roughly seven glasses of wine.

Under previous rules, men could technically consume 28 units a week. However, most other countries, such as Denmark, still allow men much more than women.

It seems women really are the weaker sex when it comes to alcohol. Consuming between seven and 13 drinks a week may put women at risk of alcohol-related liver disease, a 2013 study in the journal Gastroenterology and Hepatology found — half the amount that is risky for men.

This may be because men produce five times more of an enzyme (alcohol dehydrogenase) in their stomachs and livers which breaks down alcohol before it enters the bloodstream.

‘This may explain why women become drunk more quickly than men from the same amount of alcohol,’ says Dr Marek Glezerman, a gynaecologist and author of Gender Medicine: The GroundBreaking New Science of Gender and Sex-Based Diagnosis and Treatments.

MEN SHOULD . . . CHOOSE CHOCOLATE

THE health advantages that men in particular can reap from chocolate go beyond helping with their heart rhythm, as Harvard’s study revealed last month.

Dark chocolate improves blood quality in both sexes — but the effect was greater in men, according to 2012 research by Aberdeen University. Male and female volunteers ate chocolate with at least 70 per cent cocoa.

Tests showed that platelets — cells that clump together to form clots — floated more freely in men’s blood. This effect, thought to be due to plant compounds called flavonoids, could reduce their risk of stroke. The reason for the difference was unclear but hormones may be involved, researchers said.

But as chocolate is high in fat and calories, such studies should not be seen as a green light for chaps to go chocolate mad, warns Helen Bond.

TUCK INTO MUSSELS

ZINC is an essential mineral, which helps make the enzymes needed for cell division, growth, wound healing and a healthy immune system. Men need 9.5 mg a day, compared with 7 mg for women, because it’s also important for the production of sperm.

‘Zinc is easy to get from proteinrich foods such as seeds, nuts, shellfish and oysters,’ says Helen Bond. Twenty steamed mussels provide 4.7 mg of zinc.

EAT FOUR MEALS

THOUGH women are more prone to constipation, both sexes are advised to have 30 g of fibre a day.

‘Although extra fibre might help women with constipation, women’s guts tend to be more sensitive than men’s, so it can also make them more likely to bloat,’ says Professor Whorwell.

These physiological differences in the digestive systems may not affect what men and women should eat but may have implications for how often they should eat, suggests Dr Glezerman.

‘Men would probably fare better if they ate smaller amounts but more often — say four times a day — and women may want to restrict their food intake to twice a day.’

eating little and often means men — whose guts are more efficient at emptying — can fully digest their food throughout the day without getting hungry.

‘If your gut is overloaded, it makes sense to give it more time before you next fill it up,’ says Dr Glezerman.