Browse the evidence

The overall prevalence of dietary supplement use among athletes is high, with approximately 60% of athletes using any type of supplement.

You are in the majority if you use supplements, but this doesn't mean you need them. Focus on whole foods first, and use supplements only to fill specific, identified gaps.

Medically tailored meals (MTM) for high-need patients with complex medical conditions reduce overall healthcare costs and hospital admissions.

If you have a complex chronic condition and struggle to prepare healthy meals, ask your doctor about medically tailored meal programs. These are often covered by insurance for high-risk patients and can significantly reduce hospital visits and costs.

Higher density of BMI-healthy food outlets (supermarkets, fruit/vegetable markets, natural food stores) within a half-mile residential network buffer is associated with lower mean BMI and lower prevalence of obesity, independent of neighborhood walkability.

Living in a neighborhood with more supermarkets, fruit/vegetable markets, and natural food stores is linked to a slightly lower BMI. However, this effect is modest and exists alongside the benefits of walkable neighborhoods. Simply adding healthy food options without improving walkability or addressing other lifestyle factors may have limited impact on obesity rates.

High volumes of sedentary time (prolonged sitting) are an independent predictor of chronic disease risk, metabolic dysfunction, and weight gain, regardless of whether an individual meets standard physical activity guidelines.

Do not rely solely on your workout to protect your health. If you sit for long periods, break it up. Stand up, walk, or move for a few minutes every hour. This 'breaking up' of sitting time is crucial for metabolic health and weight management, independent of your gym routine.

Lifestyle management, including healthy lifestyle and emotional well-being, is a core component of PCOS care, with a specific emphasis on avoiding weight stigma.

Focus on healthy habits and mental well-being, not just weight loss. If you have PCOS, your care should include support for your emotional health and quality of life, without judgment about your weight.

Myofunctional therapy (MT) significantly reduces the Apnea-Hypopnea Index (AHI) in adults with Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) by approximately 50% and in children by 62%, while also improving lowest oxygen saturation, snoring, and subjective sleepiness.

If you have OSA, myofunctional therapy involves specific tongue and throat exercises that can significantly reduce your apnea events and improve sleep quality. While protocols vary, consistent daily practice (often multiple times a day) for several months is required. It is not a replacement for CPAP for everyone but can be a valuable adjunct, especially for those who struggle with other treatments or want to improve their condition further.

Quality of life in older adults is significantly influenced by psychosocial factors such as perceived control, enjoyment, and satisfaction with diet and exercise, rather than just biomedical endpoints.

Pay attention to how you feel and enjoy your diet and exercise routines. Satisfaction and enjoyment are key to maintaining a good quality of life.

PCOS contributes to weight gain and hinders weight loss maintenance through indirect mechanisms including mental health issues (depression, anxiety, poor body image) and emotional barriers to physical activity.

Recognize that PCOS symptoms like hirsutism and irregular periods can cause anxiety and depression, which make weight loss harder. Addressing mental health and body image is a crucial part of managing PCOS and achieving weight loss goals.

Aerobic and resistance training are both effective for reducing depressive symptoms, but mixed training (aerobic + resistance) showed smaller effects in subgroup analysis.

You can choose either aerobic exercise (like running or cycling) or resistance training (weight lifting) to treat depression; both are highly effective. You do not necessarily need to combine them, as the data suggests mixed training showed smaller effects in this analysis.

Implementing excise taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) reduces their consumption and leads to modest reductions in population-level obesity and BMI.

To reduce obesity rates at a population level, governments can implement excise taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages. Evidence suggests that as prices rise, consumption drops significantly (elasticity ~-1.3), leading to modest but measurable decreases in BMI and obesity prevalence, particularly among lower-income groups who are more price-sensitive.

Health claims can improve consumer knowledge of diet-disease relationships and support better food choices, but their impact on actual purchase behavior and health outcomes is limited and inconsistent.

Health claims can help you learn about the benefits of certain nutrients (like fiber for heart health). However, do not expect them to automatically make you buy healthier foods. Their impact is often limited to people who are already health-conscious. Use claims as a learning tool, but make your purchasing decisions based on the full nutrition label and your personal dietary needs.

Emotional eating acts as a behavioral mediator linking psychological distress (depression, anxiety, stress) to increased body weight and obesity.

If you find yourself eating more when stressed or sad, recognize this as 'emotional eating.' It is a learned behavior that links mood to weight gain. To break the cycle, focus on developing non-food coping strategies for negative emotions, such as stress management techniques or therapy, rather than just restricting food intake.

Exercise increases gut microbiota biodiversity and the abundance of health-promoting taxa (e.g., Akkermansia, Faecalibacterium), which correlates with better physical performance and muscle function.

Regular physical activity, especially resistance and aerobic training, naturally improves your gut bacteria diversity. This helps your muscles work better and recover faster, adding to the direct benefits of exercise.

Residing in high-walkability neighborhoods is associated with a slower increase in overweight/obesity prevalence and a significant decline in diabetes incidence compared to low-walkability neighborhoods.

If you have control over where you live, prioritize neighborhoods with high walkability scores (high density, mixed destinations, connected streets). This environmental factor is associated with stabilizing weight and reducing diabetes risk over time, independent of some individual lifestyle factors.

Social isolation increases the risk of depression, anxiety, and neurocognitive problems, which can be mitigated by reinforcing social care measures and using technology for contact.

Stay connected with friends and family using phone calls or video chats. This helps reduce depression and anxiety. Ensure you have access to necessary supplies.

Bedtime procrastination—the voluntary delay of going to bed despite no external constraints—is a distinct behavioral phenomenon negatively associated with self-regulation and a significant predictor of insufficient sleep, daytime fatigue, and experienced sleep insufficiency, independent of general procrastination traits and demographic factors.

If you consistently go to bed later than you intend, you are likely engaging in 'bedtime procrastination,' a self-regulation failure distinct from general laziness. This behavior directly causes insufficient sleep and daytime fatigue. To fix this, do not rely on willpower in the evening when it is depleted. Instead, use 'implementation intentions' (e.g., 'If it is 10 PM, then I will turn off the TV and brush my teeth') to create automatic cues that bypass the need for active decision-making. This approach requires less cognitive effort and is more effective for people with low self-control.

Early rehabilitation interventions, including assistive technologies like cycle ergometry and electrical stimulation, are safe and feasible in the ICU and can improve functional outcomes, although optimal timing and dosage remain to be fully elucidated.

Early rehabilitation in the ICU, including assisted cycling and electrical stimulation, is safe and can improve outcomes. It should be started as early as possible, ideally within 48 hours, and integrated with sedation minimization strategies.

Insoluble dietary fiber (IDF) from whole grains aids in weight management and gastrointestinal health by increasing satiety, fecal mass, and decreasing intestinal transit time.

Include insoluble fiber sources like wheat bran and rye in your diet to improve digestion and feel fuller longer, which may help with weight management.

Binge drinking and heavy alcohol consumption are related to increased all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease, and injury.

Limit alcohol intake, specifically avoiding binge drinking patterns. Reducing heavy alcohol consumption is a critical factor in lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease and injury in this demographic.

Among Saudi male college students, higher frequency of snacking and eating away from family is associated with higher BMI and visceral fat levels, whereas eating with family and consuming dates are inversely correlated with these adiposity metrics.

For young adults, especially students living away from home, prioritizing meals with family or social groups may help maintain a healthier weight. Additionally, incorporating snacks into your daily routine might not be harmful if it prevents you from overeating during main meals. Focus on the total amount of food consumed per sitting rather than just the number of eating occasions.

University students who eat breakfast daily or three to four times per week have healthier eating habits compared to those who do not, and this habit is associated with lower prevalence of overweight/obesity in females.

Try to eat breakfast daily or at least 3-4 times a week. In this study, female students who did this had healthier overall eating habits and lower obesity rates than those who didn't. It’s a simple behavioral anchor for better dietary adherence.

Dietary treatment for obesity yields a median long-term success rate of 15% over 3-14 years, defined as maintaining all initial weight loss or at least 9-11 kg.

Expect that long-term weight maintenance is difficult, with only 1 in 7 people successfully keeping off significant weight loss over several years. To improve your odds, combine your diet with active follow-up (regular contact with a clinic) and group therapy, which were associated with higher success rates (up to 27%) compared to diet alone.

Conventional Diet (CD) combined with group therapy yields better long-term success rates (median 27%) than CD alone or CD with behavior modification.

If you prefer a Conventional Diet (800-1800 kcal/day), joining a group therapy program significantly improves your chances of long-term success (median 27%) compared to dieting alone or using behavior modification alone. The social support of a group appears to be a key factor for maintaining weight loss with this diet type.

Using a mobile app to self-monitor dietary intake results in lower energy intake compared to using a paper journal, although it does not significantly differ from using a website for diet monitoring.

If you are tracking food, a mobile app may help you eat fewer calories than using a paper journal, likely because it is easier and faster. However, this study did not find that app users lost more weight or had lower BMI than those using websites or paper journals, so the method matters less than the act of tracking itself.