Browse the evidence

Chronic supplementation with 15 g/day of essential amino acids (EAA) increases lean body mass and basal muscle protein synthesis in older women.

If you are an older woman experiencing muscle loss, consider taking 15 grams of essential amino acids daily, split into two doses between meals. This simple nutritional strategy can help increase your lean body mass and muscle protein synthesis, potentially counteracting age-related muscle loss.

Adopting a low glycaemic index (GI) diet improves glycaemic control (lower HbA1c and fasting glucose) and reduces insulin requirements in patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes compared to standard or high-GI diets.

For diabetic patients, replacing high-glycaemic index carbohydrates (like white bread and potatoes) with low-glycaemic index options (like pulses and legumes) is a highly effective dietary strategy. This swap significantly lowers HbA1c, reduces daily insulin needs, and stabilizes blood glucose levels without requiring drastic calorie restriction.

A low glycaemic index (GI) diet improves lipid profiles (lower total cholesterol, triglycerides, and VLDL; higher HDL) and reduces cardiovascular disease risk in both diabetic and healthy individuals.

To improve your cholesterol and triglyceride levels, focus on the glycaemic index of your carbohydrates. Swap refined carbs (white bread, sugar) for low-GI options like pulses, legumes, and whole grains. This approach lowers bad lipids (VLDL, Triglycerides) and raises good cholesterol (HDL), reducing your risk of heart disease more effectively than simply eating low-fat.

A low glycaemic index (GI) diet increases satiety and reduces voluntary energy intake, facilitating weight loss and fat mass reduction in overweight and obese individuals.

To lose weight more easily, choose low-glycaemic index carbohydrates like pulses, legumes, and whole grains. These foods prevent the blood sugar crash that triggers intense hunger and overeating. You will naturally consume fewer calories without feeling deprived, leading to better long-term weight control.

HMB supplementation enhances skeletal muscle mass, strength, and hypertrophy when combined with resistance or strenuous exercise, particularly in untrained individuals and the elderly.

If you are new to exercise or older, taking 3g of HMB daily alongside your resistance training may help you build muscle and strength faster than training alone. If you are already an elite strength athlete, you likely won't see much benefit from HMB alone. Do not expect muscle growth from HMB if you are sedentary.

Vitamin D deficiency causes proximal muscle weakness and myopathy, which is reversible with supplementation, independent of bone health status.

If you are experiencing unexplained muscle weakness or frequent injuries, get your Vitamin D levels checked. If you are deficient, supplementation can significantly improve muscle power and function, potentially reducing injury risk. Aim for levels above 30 ng/mL for optimal muscle function.

Tirzepatide, a dual GIP/GLP-1 receptor agonist, produces dose-dependent reductions in HbA1c (up to 2.4%) and body weight (up to 11.3 kg) in patients with Type 2 Diabetes, with efficacy superior to the GLP-1 receptor agonist dulaglutide.

If you have Type 2 Diabetes, Tirzepatide is a once-weekly injection that significantly lowers blood sugar (HbA1c) and promotes substantial weight loss, outperforming existing GLP-1 drugs like dulaglutide in clinical trials. It works by mimicking two gut hormones (GIP and GLP-1) to improve insulin response and reduce appetite. While gastrointestinal side effects like nausea are common, they are usually mild and can be managed by starting with a low dose and increasing gradually. This treatment is suitable for adults with T2DM, including those already taking metformin.

Short-term (3 weeks) low-load resistance training (20% 1RM) combined with blood flow restriction (BFR) induces significant proliferation of myogenic stem cells (MSCs) and myonuclei addition in human skeletal muscle, resulting in substantial myofiber hypertrophy and strength gains.

If you cannot lift heavy weights due to injury or joint issues, try low-load resistance training (20% of your max) combined with Blood Flow Restriction (BFR) cuffs. Perform 4 sets to failure with 30 seconds rest, using a cuff pressure of 100 mmHg. This protocol can stimulate muscle growth and strength gains similar to heavy lifting by triggering stem cell proliferation, provided you train frequently (almost daily) for at least 3 weeks.

High-protein diets (exceeding 0.8 g/kg BW) promote weight loss and fat mass reduction primarily by increasing satiety through anorexigenic hormones (GLP-1, CCK, PYY) and decreasing orexigenic hormones (ghrelin), while simultaneously increasing energy expenditure via the thermic effect of food (DIT).

To lose fat while keeping muscle, increase your protein intake to at least 0.8g per kg of body weight, ideally higher (up to 2.3g/kg for athletes). This works by making you feel fuller (via hormones like GLP-1 and CCK) and burning more calories during digestion (thermic effect). Focus on high-quality sources like whey, casein, or plant proteins, and ensure you are in a caloric deficit for weight loss.

Early time-restricted feeding (eTRF), defined as an 8-hour eating window between 06:00 and 15:00, significantly improves insulin sensitivity, reduces fasting glucose, lowers body mass and adiposity, and reduces inflammation in healthy non-obese adults compared to ad libitum eating.

If you are healthy and not obese, try eating all your meals within an 8-hour window that ends by 3 PM (e.g., 7 AM to 3 PM). You do not need to count calories or restrict food types, just the timing. This specific timing window has been shown to improve insulin sensitivity and reduce body fat more effectively than eating later in the day or eating whenever you want.

Daily vitamin D supplementation (800-1000 IU) improves muscle strength, gait, and reduces fall risk in elderly and frail populations, whereas large intermittent high doses are ineffective.

If you are elderly or frail, take 800-1000 IU of Vitamin D daily. Do not rely on large, infrequent 'bolus' doses (like 150,000 IU every few months) as they do not improve muscle strength or prevent falls effectively. Consistency is key to maintaining the muscle benefits.

Sleeping less than 6 hours per day significantly increases the risk of developing chronic diseases, specifically stroke and cancer, compared to sleeping 7-8 hours.

Aim for 7-8 hours of sleep per night to minimize the risk of stroke and cancer. If you sleep less than 6 hours, your risk for these conditions increases significantly. For those with hypertension, daytime napping may increase risk, whereas for non-hypertensive individuals, it might be protective. Prioritize consistent, adequate night sleep over compensatory napping if you are hypertensive.

Adopting a flexitarian or semi-vegetarian diet (SVD) is associated with a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes and improved metabolic health markers (glucose, insulin, blood pressure) compared to non-vegetarian diets.

To lower your risk of type 2 diabetes and improve metabolic health, consider a flexitarian diet. This involves eating meat occasionally (e.g., less than once a week) or excluding red meat while eating poultry and fish. Studies show this pattern is associated with lower diabetes prevalence and better blood pressure control compared to standard non-vegetarian diets.

Low glycemic index (GI) diets significantly improve glycemic control (HbA1c) in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes, comparable to medication, and reduce hypoglycemic events.

For newly diagnosed Type 2 Diabetes, choosing foods with a lower Glycemic Index (GI) is a highly effective strategy. This approach improves blood sugar control (HbA1c) to a degree similar to medication and reduces the risk of dangerous low blood sugar episodes. Combine this with weight management and exercise for best results.

High carbohydrate availability during prolonged exercise enhances performance time and delays fatigue by maintaining higher carbohydrate combustion rates and slower plasma glucose decline compared to high fat diets.

For prolonged exercise, eating a high-carbohydrate diet for several days prior significantly extends your time to exhaustion compared to a high-fat diet. This is due to better maintenance of blood glucose and higher carbohydrate usage. Simply drinking glucose during exercise when you are already tired does not significantly extend your performance time, suggesting that pre-exercise fuel stores are critical.

Incorporating low glycemic index (GI) starchy foods (e.g., legumes, pasta, barley, parboiled rice, pumpernickel) into the diet significantly reduces postprandial glycemic excursions compared to high GI foods (e.g., white bread, potatoes, regular rice), leading to improved glucose control in diabetic patients and reduced LDL/triglycerides in hyperlipidemic patients.

To manage blood sugar and cholesterol, swap high-glycemic starchy foods like white bread, regular rice, and potatoes for low-glycemic alternatives such as pasta, legumes (lentils, beans), barley, parboiled rice, bulgur, and pumpernickel bread. These foods digest more slowly, leading to flatter blood glucose spikes and improved lipid profiles, without restricting your eating habits to boring or unfamiliar foods.

In patients with Type 2 Diabetes and NAFLD, adding liraglutide or sitagliptin to metformin significantly reduces intrahepatic lipid, visceral adipose tissue, and body weight, whereas adding insulin glargine does not.

If you have Type 2 Diabetes and fatty liver, adding a GLP-1 agonist (like liraglutide) or a DPP-4 inhibitor (like sitagliptin) to your metformin can significantly reduce liver fat and belly fat. Adding insulin, however, does not appear to reduce liver or belly fat, even though it controls blood sugar.

Time-restricted feeding (TRF) or early meal timing improves metabolic health (weight loss, insulin sensitivity, glucose control) by aligning peripheral tissue clocks with feeding rhythms, whereas mistimed feeding (eating during the inactive phase) causes circadian misalignment and metabolic dysfunction.

Align your eating window with your active hours. Prioritize eating the majority of your calories earlier in the day (e.g., breakfast and lunch) and finish eating several hours before bedtime. This extends your overnight fast and aligns your peripheral metabolic clocks with your feeding, improving insulin sensitivity and weight management. Avoid late-night snacking, especially high-carb meals, as this causes circadian misalignment and metabolic dysfunction regardless of total calories.

Low-carbohydrate diets (defined as <30% energy from CHO or <50-100g/day) acutely reduce fasting glucose, insulin, and triglycerides while promoting rapid initial weight loss, primarily through glycogen depletion and increased fat oxidation.

If you reduce carbohydrates to under 100g per day, you will likely see a quick drop in weight (mostly water/glycogen initially) and improved blood sugar markers. This is driven by lower insulin levels allowing your body to burn fat. However, this is an acute effect, and long-term weight loss depends on total calorie intake.

Oral supplementation with beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate (HMB) increases plasma concentrations to levels sufficient to activate mTORC1 and stimulate protein synthesis, whereas endogenous conversion from oral leucine fails to reach these effective thresholds.

If your goal is maximizing muscle protein synthesis via the mTORC1 pathway, direct HMB supplementation is more effective than relying on your body to convert Leucine into HMB. Direct HMB intake raises plasma levels to ~400 µM, while Leucine only raises it to ~10 µM, which is insufficient for significant anabolic effects.

Diets with a high glycemic load (high-GI carbohydrates) are independently associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, whereas low-GI diets improve glycemic and lipid control.

Focus on the quality and type of carbohydrates you eat, not just the total amount. Choose low-glycemic index foods like legumes, whole grains, pasta, and most fruits and vegetables. These foods help manage blood sugar and insulin levels, reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Be aware that high-glycemic foods, even those with sugar, can spike blood glucose and insulin, potentially leading to weight gain and metabolic issues, especially if you are overweight or sedentary.

Whey protein supplementation combined with resistance training produces greater skeletal muscle hypertrophy and lean body mass gains compared to soy protein or carbohydrate placebo.

If you are lifting weights to build muscle, choose whey protein (isolate or hydrolysate) over soy or carbohydrate supplements. Take 15-25g of whey immediately before or after your workout. This strategy leverages whey's fast absorption and high leucine content to maximize muscle growth more effectively than other protein sources.

Resistance training improves insulin sensitivity and glucose uptake in individuals at risk for Type 2 Diabetes, acting synergistically with the reduction of low-grade systemic inflammation to prevent disease progression.

If you are at risk for Type 2 Diabetes, resistance training is a critical tool. It directly improves your muscles' ability to take up glucose and reduces the chronic inflammation that drives insulin resistance. Combine it with other healthy habits for the best protection against diabetes.

Regular moderate-intensity physical activity improves sleep quality and reduces sleep disorders (e.g., insomnia) in adults, with benefits observed across age groups including children and the elderly.

Aim for 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise, three times a week. This is the most effective dose for improving sleep quality and managing insomnia. If you are short on time, even 10 minutes of light morning exercise can provide benefits. Avoid high-intensity exercise within 3 hours of bedtime, as it may disrupt sleep.