All Sauce from Weekly Sauce:

Vegetarian diets have been tied to a variety of health benefits – lower blood pressure, better blood sugar control and weight loss among them. Now a new study suggests those benefits might even extend to a person’s ability to ward off COVID-19. A predominantly plant-based diet is linked to 39% lower odds of contracting COVID,…  read on >  read on >

Women are four to five times more likely than men to develop early-onset rheumatoid arthritis, and a few hormonal factors could be why, new research suggests. Entering menopause early (before age 45), taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT), and having four or more kids are all related to heightened odds for developing rheumatoid arthritis, the study…  read on >  read on >

Could the immune system play a role in why some women become depressed during and after a pregnancy?   Swedish researchers have uncovered a “bidirectional relationship” between pregnancy-linked depression and autoimmune diseases such as psoriasis, multiple sclerosis, ulcerative colitis and celiac disease. In other words, women who experienced depression specific to a pregnancy were more…  read on >  read on >

Social media is abuzz with the possibility that newfangled weight loss drugs can also reduce cravings for alcohol, a new study says. Across a number of Reddit threads, users of weight-loss drugs like Ozempic reported that they felt less need to drink beer, wine and liquor. Threads bearing titles like “Did scientists accidentally invent an…  read on >  read on >

Teens who are active are doing their bones a lasting favor, Japanese researchers report. “Physical exercise in adolescence affects BMD [bone mineral density] more than 50 years later in older adults,” said lead researcher Dr. Yoshifumi Tamura, a faculty member at Juntendo University in Tokyo. “Our findings can guide the selection of sports played during…  read on >  read on >