Browse the evidence

Consumption of chickpeas and hummus is associated with lower body mass index (BMI), reduced waist circumference, and lower likelihood of obesity compared to non-consumers.

Include chickpeas or hummus in your diet regularly. Observational data suggests people who eat these foods tend to have lower body weight and waist circumference, likely due to the filling nature of their fiber and protein.

Brown and beige adipose tissue (BAT) enhances systemic glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity through increased energy expenditure, glucose uptake, and secretion of beneficial factors (batokines), although their role in human insulin resistance resolution is complex and context-dependent.

Activating brown fat through cold exposure or exercise can improve glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity by burning energy and taking up glucose. However, the extent of this benefit in humans varies, and it is not a standalone cure for obesity-induced insulin resistance.

Frequent consumption of fast food is associated with higher total and saturated fat intake, lower vegetable intake, and higher obesity rates in African American adults.

For African American adults, frequent fast food eating is linked to higher fat intake, lower vegetable intake, and obesity. Interventions should focus on addressing convenience barriers and strengthening the belief in diet-disease relationships rather than just providing nutritional knowledge.

Brown Adipose Tissue (BAT) activation and 'browning' of white fat are promising anti-obesity strategies that increase energy expenditure and improve glucose homeostasis.

Adults can have metabolically active brown fat, which burns calories as heat. While cold exposure activates it, future drugs may mimic this effect. Currently, maintaining a healthy weight helps preserve BAT function, which is often reduced in obesity.

Combined diet and exercise interventions during pregnancy may reduce the risk of caesarean section compared to standard care, with moderate-quality evidence.

Adopting a healthy diet and exercise routine during pregnancy might lower your chances of needing a caesarean section. While the evidence is not conclusive, the potential benefit exists alongside other health advantages for you and your baby.

Exercise alone, independent of significant weight loss, improves insulin sensitivity, visceral fat, and glucose metabolism in obese individuals with NAFLD.

You don't need to lose weight to improve your liver's insulin sensitivity. Aim for 400 calories of moderate aerobic exercise (like brisk walking or cycling) three times a week. This improves glucose uptake and reduces visceral fat even if the scale doesn't move much. Focus on consistency and energy expenditure rather than extreme intensity.

Consumption of sugar-sweetened soft drinks (SSD) is associated with increased body weight and obesity, but the effect size is generally small and statistically significant only in specific subgroups (e.g., children overweight at baseline, high consumers, or specific demographics like females in some studies).

If you drink sugar-sweetened soft drinks, reducing them may help with weight management, especially if you are already overweight or consume them in large quantities. However, simply cutting SSD without addressing overall diet and physical activity may have a small impact. Be aware that diet sodas are not necessarily a 'free' pass, as some studies suggest they may also be associated with weight issues in certain groups.

High fructose intake is a significant independent environmental risk factor for NAFLD in lean, non-obese individuals, particularly children and adolescents.

If you are lean and have fatty liver, reducing sugary drinks and high-fructose foods is a critical first step. This is especially important for children and adolescents, where fructose intake was the only independent predictor of NAFLD in one study.

Fast-food consumption frequency is longitudinally associated with the development of obesity in adolescent girls, and fast-food outlets are more densely located in deprived areas.

For parents of adolescent girls, limiting the frequency of fast-food consumption is a key factor in preventing obesity. Additionally, be aware that fast-food outlets are often concentrated in lower-income neighborhoods, potentially increasing exposure.

Low energy availability (EA), defined as dietary energy intake minus exercise energy expenditure normalized to fat-free mass, is strongly associated with increased risk of menstrual dysfunction, poor bone health, metabolic issues, haematological detriments, psychological disorders, cardiovascular impairment, and gastrointestinal dysfunction in female athletes.

If you are a female athlete, getting enough energy is critical for your overall health and performance. Low energy availability is linked to serious health issues like menstrual dysfunction, poor bone health, metabolic problems, and psychological disorders. It also hurts your performance by decreasing your endurance, coordination, and concentration. Don't rely on BMI to judge your fueling; use screening tools like the LEAF-Q or consult a sports medicine professional if you suspect you are not eating enough to support your activity level.

Low energy availability is associated with negative performance effects including decreased training response, impaired judgement, decreased coordination, decreased concentration, irritability, depression, and decreased endurance performance in female athletes.

If you are a female athlete, getting enough energy is critical for your overall health and performance. Low energy availability is linked to serious health issues like menstrual dysfunction, poor bone health, metabolic problems, and psychological disorders. It also hurts your performance by decreasing your endurance, coordination, and concentration. Don't rely on BMI to judge your fueling; use screening tools like the LEAF-Q or consult a sports medicine professional if you suspect you are not eating enough to support your activity level.

Weight loss interventions, including caloric restriction and bariatric surgery, reduce levels of DNA damage and improve genomic stability in obese individuals.

If you are obese, losing weight is one of the most effective ways to protect your cells from DNA damage. Whether through dietary changes or surgery, reducing body fat lowers the inflammation and oxidative stress that harm your DNA. This benefit occurs even if you don't reach a 'normal' BMI, as any reduction in obesity-related stress improves genome stability.

Increased television viewing is associated with higher body weights in children and adults, potentially through increased eating rather than decreased physical activity.

Limit television viewing time to reduce exposure to food advertising and mindless eating.

Metformin reduces visceral fat mass and improves energy metabolism by upregulating adaptive thermogenesis, specifically through the upregulation of UCP-1 in brown adipose tissue and UCP-3 in skeletal muscle.

If you have Type 2 Diabetes or significant visceral fat, metformin (typically 1500mg/day) may help reduce that stubborn belly fat by boosting your body's heat production (thermogenesis). However, it is not a magic weight-loss pill for everyone, and its effectiveness varies. It works best when combined with lifestyle changes.

Increased physical activity and dietary restriction can reduce fat accumulation and improve metabolic complications in HIV patients with lipodystrophy.

Focus on maintaining a healthy weight through diet and exercise. This can help manage the metabolic side effects of HIV medication, such as high cholesterol and blood sugar, even if it doesn't fully reverse body shape changes.

Intervention with intermittent fasting reduces lipotoxicity in MASLD patients more effectively than switching to a normal diet.

If you have MASLD, try intermittent fasting. According to the review, it reduces liver fat toxicity better than just switching to a normal diet. You don't need to know the exact hours, but the pattern of fasting helps your liver recover.

High doses of added sugars (>20% of calories) in hypercaloric trials increase fasting triglycerides and visceral abdominal fat, but these effects are confounded by weight gain and total caloric excess.

If you are consuming very high amounts of sugar (over 20% of calories) and eating more calories than you burn, you may see increases in triglycerides and belly fat. However, this is largely due to the extra calories and weight gain, not the sugar itself. Reducing total calories is the primary solution.

Weight gain after breast cancer diagnosis, particularly following adjuvant chemotherapy, is a common occurrence that is associated with increased recurrence risk and reduced survival.

It is common to gain weight after starting chemotherapy for breast cancer. This weight gain is not just cosmetic; it is linked to a higher chance of the cancer coming back and lower survival rates. Patients should be monitored for weight changes during treatment, as preventing this gain may improve long-term outcomes.

Activation of brown adipose tissue (BAT) or induction of beige fat in white adipose tissue (WAT) increases energy expenditure and protects against obesity and type 2 diabetes.

You can naturally boost your metabolic rate by activating brown fat. The most accessible method is moderate cold exposure (around 17°C/63°F) for about 2 hours daily. This has been shown to increase energy expenditure and reduce body fat mass in adults. Additionally, exercise promotes the release of factors like irisin and FGF21, which help convert white fat into energy-burning beige fat.

A higher ratio of evening-to-morning energy intake is positively associated with increased BMI and lower diet quality.

If you are trying to manage your weight, try to shift more of your daily calories to earlier in the day. Specifically, aim to have a higher proportion of your energy intake in the morning compared to the evening. Studies suggest that a higher ratio of evening-to-morning intake is linked to higher BMI.

Higher energy intake at lunch is associated with an increased likelihood of overweight in pre-school children.

For parents of pre-school children, monitoring lunch energy intake is important. A 100 kcal increase at lunch is associated with a significant increase in the likelihood of the child being overweight.

Exercise and caloric restriction promote longevity and healthy aging by downregulating mTORC1 activity and upregulating autophagy, thereby maintaining proteome quality.

To support longevity, incorporate regular physical activity and consider moderate caloric restriction (20-40% reduction) while ensuring adequate nutrition. These interventions work by inhibiting mTORC1 and boosting autophagy, which clears damaged cellular components. This is not about starvation or extreme exercise, but consistent, moderate lifestyle habits.

Activation of PPARβ/δ by agonists like GW501516 improves fatty acid oxidation and glucose utilization in skeletal muscle, shifting muscle fiber type from fast-twitch glycolytic to slow-twitch oxidative, thereby enhancing exercise capacity and metabolic flexibility.

PPARβ/δ activation helps muscles burn fat and sugar more efficiently and shifts them to be more endurance-oriented. While drugs like GW501516 show this effect in studies, they are not approved for human use. Exercise naturally activates this pathway.

Higher habitual fruit intake is inversely associated with weight change (decrease) and waist circumference, whereas vegetable intake alone shows no significant association with weight change.

To support weight management, prioritize increasing your daily fruit intake. For every 100 grams of fruit you add to your diet, you can expect a small reduction in annual weight gain (approx. 14g). While vegetables alone did not show a significant weight effect in this analysis, high fruit intake is linked to reduced waist circumference and a lower risk of developing obesity.