Estimating the effect of hypothetical dietary protein interventions on changes in body composition of postmenopausal women over 3 years using data from the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) Study: an emulated target trial
This hypothetical emulated intervention suggests that postmenopausal women who maintain a hypothetical total protein intake of at least 1.2 g/kg/day could experience beneficial changes in abdominal VAT, SAT, and overall body composition over three years, with even greater estimated benefits observed at an intake of 1.5 g/kg/day. These findings suggest that protein intake higher than guideline recommendations may better support healthier body composition and lower chronic disease risk in postmenopausal women.
Authors
- Hind A. Beydoun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9704-328X)
- Philippe Jean-Luc Gradidge (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5225-1184)
- L. van Horn
- Longjian Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1900-1567)
- Phyllis A. Richey (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0757-212X)
- Nazmus Saquib
- Jiarui Li
- Simin Liu
- Luohua Jiang
- Jie Li
Institutions
- Northwestern University (US)
- Alexander T. Augusta Military Medical Center (US)
- University of Tennessee Health Science Center (US)
- University of the Witwatersrand (ZA)
- University of California, Irvine (US)
- Brown University (US)
- Sulaiman Al Rajhi Colleges (SA)
- Irvine University (US)
- Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences (CN)
- Drexel University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- International Journal of Obesity
- Published
- 2026-01-09
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41366-025-01978-0
- Primary Topic
- Body Composition Measurement Techniques
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00