Browse the evidence

Sugar-sweetened beverages promote weight gain more effectively than solid sugar or artificial sweeteners due to poor compensation of liquid calories.

Avoid sugar-sweetened beverages. They promote weight gain because your body does not compensate for liquid calories as it does for solid food. Choose water or artificial sweeteners if you need a sweet drink.

Post-bariatric exercise training significantly improves physical function, measured by the 6-minute walk test (6MWD), adding approximately 29.67 meters compared to surgery alone.

If you have had bariatric surgery, adding exercise to your routine will help you improve your physical function and mobility compared to relying on surgery and diet alone. For the best results, wait at least one year after surgery to start a structured exercise program, and combine aerobic activities (like walking or cycling) with resistance training (weight lifting). Aim for 1.3 to 4 hours of exercise per week, spread over 2-3 sessions.

Supervised exercise training leads to greater improvements in blood glucose control and compliance compared to unsupervised training in individuals with Type 2 Diabetes.

If possible, seek out supervised exercise programs, such as those offered through hospitals, community centers, or certified trainers, as they lead to better glucose control and adherence. If supervised training is not accessible, focus on maintaining consistency with home-based exercises.

Prehabilitation (preoperative rehabilitation) improves self-reported knee function up to 2 years after ACL reconstruction, although it may not significantly affect early quadriceps strength.

If you are scheduled for ACL surgery, try to start a rehabilitation program before the operation. This prehabilitation can help you achieve better self-reported knee function two years after surgery. While it might not significantly increase your quadriceps strength in the first few weeks, the long-term functional benefits are worth the effort.

Individuals with type 2 diabetes can safely perform exercise, provided they take precautions for specific complications such as retinopathy, neuropathy, and cardiovascular disease.

You can likely exercise safely even with diabetes complications, but you must take specific precautions. If you have eye problems, avoid high-impact activities that strain your eyes. If you have nerve damage in your feet, wear proper shoes and check your feet daily. If you have heart issues, start in a supervised program. Always get medical clearance before starting if you have these conditions.

Regular physical exercise in coronary rehabilitation programs is associated with a mortality rate from recurrent coronary infarction that is approximately one-third of that found in patients receiving no specific exercise program.

If you are in coronary rehabilitation, regular exercise programs are associated with significantly lower mortality (about 1/3) compared to no specific exercise. However, be aware that this benefit might also be due to the discipline and selection of patients who choose to participate. Consult your doctor for a supervised program, as this is a high-priority area for medical research.

Orthorexia can be successfully treated with a combination of cognitive-behavioral therapy, psychoeducation, and medication (such as SSRIs or antipsychotics), managed by a multidisciplinary team.

If you are struggling with orthorexia, seek help from a team including a therapist, dietitian, and physician. Treatment typically involves CBT, education, and possibly medication. Be open to medications, even if you prefer 'natural' approaches, as they can be effective.

High levels of sedentary behavior are unfavorably associated with cognitive function, depression, physical activity levels, and physical health-related quality of life in adults.

To support your mental health and quality of life, avoid accumulating high levels of sedentary time. Break up long periods of sitting with movement, as this is associated with better cognitive function and lower depression risk.

Reducing or breaking up sedentary behavior may benefit body composition and markers of cardiometabolic risk.

If you have a desk job, try to break up long periods of sitting with short movement breaks. This pattern change may help improve body composition and cardiometabolic markers, even if you cannot eliminate sitting entirely.

Preoperative dietitian consultation improves postoperative weight loss outcomes in bariatric surgery patients.

See a dietitian before your surgery. This step helps you lose more weight afterward. It's a strong recommendation from experts.

Objective measurement of physical activity using accelerometers reveals a greater decline (7.4 min/day) compared to self-reported methods, suggesting self-report may underestimate the magnitude of the decline.

If you rely on how you *feel* or *report* your activity, you might be underestimating how much your activity has dropped. Objective tracking shows the drop is closer to 7.4 minutes per day. Use objective tracking to get a true picture.

Supervised exercise interventions produce larger reductions in depressive symptoms than unsupervised interventions.

To maximize mental health benefits, seek out supervised exercise programs. The data shows supervised exercise has large effects, while unsupervised exercise has smaller effects. If supervision is not possible, start with any exercise, but recognize that professional guidance significantly boosts efficacy.

Very-low-calorie diets (VLCD) combined with behavior modification and active follow-up yield the highest median success rate (38%) among specific regimen combinations.

If you choose a Very-Low-Calorie Diet (300-600 kcal/day), you significantly increase your chances of long-term success (up to 38%) ONLY if you also engage in behavior modification and receive active, regular follow-up from a clinic. This intensive approach was the most effective combination found, though data was limited.

Interventions specifically targeting Sedentary Behavior (SB) reduction, without necessarily focusing on increasing Physical Activity, result in the greatest reduction in sedentary time (approx. 42 min/day), although evidence quality is low due to limited study numbers.

If your goal is strictly to sit less, interventions that focus ONLY on reducing sitting time (without necessarily adding exercise or diet changes) are the most effective, cutting sitting by about 42 minutes a day. However, there is very little research on this, so it is less proven than broader lifestyle changes.

Mandatory energy (calorie) labelling on restaurant menus significantly reduces the amount of energy purchased per meal, though the evidence quality is low.

If you want to reduce calories when eating out, look for restaurants that display calorie counts on their menus. This information helps you make slightly healthier choices, potentially saving about 47 calories per meal on average.

Lifestyle interventions for gestational diabetes reduce the risk of postnatal depression and increase the likelihood of meeting postpartum weight goals.

For women with gestational diabetes, lifestyle interventions not only help manage blood sugar but also reduce the risk of postnatal depression and help achieve postpartum weight goals.

The health benefits of running are dose-dependent, with longer training durations yielding larger improvements in body mass and VO2max, although weekly duration (hours per week) showed a counterintuitive negative association with VO2max gains.

To maximize your cardiovascular fitness (VO2max) and weight loss, focus on how long you have been running consistently (total weeks) rather than trying to run many hours every single week. The study suggests that spreading your training out over a longer period (e.g., 20+ weeks) is more effective than high weekly volumes. Consistency over time is key.

Sleep extension in short sleepers reduces appetite, particularly for sweet and salty foods, and increases daytime physical activity, supporting weight management.

If you are a short sleeper, try extending your sleep by 1-2 hours. This can significantly reduce your cravings for sweet and salty foods and increase your daytime energy and activity levels. It is a feasible and effective strategy for improving weight management.

Subgroup analyses suggest weak trends where financial incentives might be more effective if they exceed 1.2% of personal disposable income, reward behavior change rather than just weight, are based on group performance, and are delivered by non-psychologists.

If using financial incentives, consider making them substantial (>1.2% of income), tied to behaviors (attendance, diet logs) rather than just weight, delivered in groups, and by non-clinical staff. However, these are only weak trends and not guaranteed to work.

Changes in the local built food environment (e.g., supermarket availability) have inconsistent and limited effects on diet quality and adiposity.

Building new supermarkets or grocery stores in 'food deserts' is not a guaranteed solution to obesity or poor diet. Focus on pricing strategies and marketing campaigns instead, as these have stronger evidence.

At a population level, distributing GLP-1 medications using extended dosing intervals (q2wk) allows twice as many obese adults to be treated for the same total cost, leading to greater reductions in national obesity rates and mortality.

For policymakers and insurers, extending GLP-1 dosing intervals to every two weeks allows the same budget to treat twice as many people. While each individual might lose slightly less weight, the overall public health benefit (reduced obesity and mortality) is significantly higher. This is a key strategy for making these drugs accessible at a national scale.

Percutaneous CT-guided cryovagotomy reduces hunger and caloric intake, leading to statistically significant weight loss and BMI reduction in patients with Class I or II obesity over 6 months.

This procedure targets the vagus nerve to reduce hunger signals. In a small pilot study, it led to an average weight loss of about 5 kg over 6 months in obese patients, largely by reducing their daily calorie intake by about 610 calories. It is not a magic bullet but a tool to help manage appetite.

At a population level, distributing GLP-1 medications using less frequent dosing regimens (e.g., every two weeks) allows twice as many obese adults to be treated with the same total drug supply, leading to greater reductions in national obesity rates and mortality compared to standard once-weekly dosing.

This finding is primarily for policymakers and insurers. It suggests that subsidizing GLP-1 drugs for less frequent dosing could save more lives by allowing more people to access treatment. For individual patients, this means that getting on a GLP-1 drug, even at a lower dose or frequency, is better than not getting it at all.

The Blue Zones longevity paradigm is invalid because extreme longevity records in these regions are statistically associated with poverty, illiteracy, and clerical errors rather than lifestyle factors.

Do not rely on Blue Zone recommendations as a guaranteed path to longevity. The evidence suggests that the extreme longevity often cited in these regions is likely due to administrative errors and fraud rather than their lifestyle. Focus on verifiable health metrics and accurate data rather than geographic myths.