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January 2026: Key nutrition and lifestyle medicine updates
New consensus guidance on GLP-1 weight-loss drugs stresses that these medications require ongoing nutrition, physical activity and behavioural support. Appetite suppression can increase risks of nutrient deficiency and muscle loss, and weight regain after stopping treatment is common, with cardiometabolic benefits often reversing.
High-level evidence links whole grains, legumes, fruits and nuts with healthier body weight over time, while sugar-sweetened drinks and red meat are associated with weight gain. Small, combined improvements in diet quality, physical activity and sleep are associated with meaningful reductions in mortality, even when individual changes are modest.
Lifestyle interventions in pregnancy, particularly those including physical activity, reduce gestational diabetes risk, with long-term benefits for both mother and child. Plant-based diets consistently improve gut microbiota diversity and metabolic health, helping explain their links to lower chronic disease risk.
Lifestyle medicine is increasingly recognised as foundational in mental health care, with strong evidence for physical activity, sleep, diet quality and social connection in managing depression. Environmental analyses also show that meaningful reductions in food-related emissions will require lower beef consumption and more plant-predominant diets.
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