Browse the evidence

Co-ingesting protein with carbohydrate during endurance exercise does not improve performance or glycogen resynthesis when carbohydrate recommendations are met.

Do not rely on adding protein to your in-exercise nutrition for performance or glycogen storage. Stick to recommended carbohydrate intakes. Save protein for post-exercise recovery.

Caloric restriction alone in older adults with sarcopenic obesity leads to significant loss of lean muscle mass and grip strength, worsening sarcopenia.

If you are an older adult with obesity, simply eating less (caloric restriction) without exercise can cause you to lose muscle, not just fat. This makes you weaker and more frail. To avoid this, you must combine dietary changes with resistance exercise and ensure you are eating enough protein.

Consuming a high-protein breakfast (34g) versus a low-protein breakfast (6g) for 12 weeks increases subjective satiety but does not result in significant changes in body composition (fat mass, lean mass, weight) or cardiometabolic health markers in young women with overweight.

Eating a high-protein breakfast (around 34g) will likely make you feel fuller throughout the morning compared to a low-protein breakfast. However, if your goal is weight loss or improved blood markers, simply switching to a high-protein breakfast without other changes (like reducing overall calories or increasing exercise) is unlikely to produce results in young overweight women. The increased satiety did not lead to a significant reduction in daily energy intake or body fat in this study.

Compared with animal protein, plant protein results in lower muscle mass, with a stronger negative effect observed in younger adults (<60 years) than in older adults (≥60 years).

If your goal is maximizing muscle mass, animal protein may offer a slight advantage over plant protein, particularly in younger adults. However, the difference is small, and plant protein is still effective. Focus on getting enough total protein and combining plant sources if possible.

There is no significant difference between plant and animal protein for muscle strength or physical performance.

You do not need animal protein to build strength or improve physical performance. Plant protein is equally effective for these outcomes. Focus on consistent training and adequate protein intake.

Post-exercise supplementation with 40g of whey protein provides no additional benefit to cardiorespiratory fitness or cardiometabolic health adaptations compared to an isocaloric placebo when combined with low-volume high-intensity interval training (LOW-HIIT) in sedentary, healthy adults.

If you are sedentary and start doing low-volume high-intensity interval training (HIIT), you do not need to rush to consume 40g of protein immediately after your workout to get the best heart and metabolic health benefits. Consuming an equivalent amount of calories from carbohydrates (like maltodextrin or even just eating a normal meal) provides the same improvements in fitness and blood pressure. Focus on consistency with the training rather than expensive post-workout supplements.

Long-term carbohydrate manipulation (weeks to months) does not influence strength gains or hypertrophy in strength-trained individuals, provided total caloric and protein intake are adequate.

You do not need to eat a high-carbohydrate diet to build muscle or get strong. Focus on hitting your protein targets and maintaining a caloric surplus (if bulking) or deficit (if cutting). You can choose your carbohydrate intake based on preference, activity level, or metabolic health without sacrificing strength gains.

Obesity is a chronic, relapsing disease driven by a syndemic interaction of macro-systems (climate, globalization, policy) and micro-systems (behavior, environment), rather than solely individual choice.

Stop blaming yourself or others for obesity. Recognize it as a chronic disease shaped by your environment, food systems, and socioeconomic status. Seek medical help and policy changes rather than relying solely on willpower.

Body Mass Index (BMI) is an insufficient and potentially misleading sole diagnostic measure for obesity due to its inability to capture phenotypic heterogeneity and visceral adiposity.

Do not rely on BMI alone to assess your health. Ask your doctor for additional metrics like waist circumference, blood pressure, and blood sugar levels to get a complete picture of your metabolic health.

High-temperature cooking and prolonged storage can decrease protein quality by reducing the bioavailability of essential amino acids, particularly lysine, through the Maillard reaction and protein aggregation.

Avoid charring or overcooking meats and grains. High-temperature methods like grilling or prolonged roasting can chemically alter amino acids (especially lysine), reducing the protein's quality. Moderate cooking is generally better for preserving bioavailability.

A ketogenic diet (defined as <50g carbohydrate/day or blood ketones ≥0.5 mM) has largely neutral or detrimental effects on athletic performance compared to a higher-carbohydrate diet, despite significantly increasing fat oxidation rates.

If your goal is to improve athletic performance (endurance, strength, or power), a ketogenic diet is not recommended. While it increases fat burning, it does not translate to better performance and may actually hinder it, especially in elite athletes or high-intensity efforts. Stick to a higher-carbohydrate diet for optimal results.

Daily supplementation with 0.6 g/kg body weight of whey protein does not enhance body composition, core muscle endurance, or joint flexibility adaptations in trained women performing 10 weeks of Pilates training, despite increasing total daily protein intake to ~1.78 g/kg.

If you are a trained woman doing Pilates regularly, adding whey protein supplements on top of your normal diet will not make you lose more fat, gain more muscle, or improve your flexibility compared to just doing the training. Focus on consistent training and adequate whole-food protein intake rather than buying supplements.

Usual intakes of animal and plant protein are not adversely associated with all-cause, cardiovascular disease, or cancer-related mortality risk in adults.

You do not need to restrict your protein intake, whether from animal or plant sources, to avoid increasing your risk of death from all causes, heart disease, or cancer. The data suggests that typical protein intakes within recommended ranges are safe and not linked to higher mortality.

Pre-sleep protein supplementation (20g or 60g bolus) does not improve performance, body composition, or recovery in British Army recruits undergoing basic training.

If you are undergoing intense military-style or high-volume training, taking 20-60g of protein right before bed will not give you extra strength, muscle, or recovery benefits compared to just eating enough protein throughout the day. Focus on total daily intake and training quality instead of specific supplement timing.

There is no significant evidence that total fat intake or protein intake interacts with polygenic risk to affect BMI, based on pooled meta-analyses.

Don't rely on simply increasing total protein or total fat to manage genetic obesity risk. The evidence suggests that the specific type of fat (omega-3 vs. trans/SFA) is the key dietary lever, not the total amount of protein or fat.

Orlistat produces minimal weight loss (2.78-3.16%) and has a high gastrointestinal side effect profile, making it a less effective first-line treatment compared to GLP-1RAs.

Orlistat is an over-the-counter medication that produces minimal weight loss (approx 3%). It has significant gastrointestinal side effects and is considered less effective than prescription options like GLP-1RAs. It is not recommended as a first-line treatment.

Pre-sleep protein supplementation (20g or 60g) does not improve acute muscle recovery (function, soreness, or damage markers) following load carriage in British Army recruits.

If you are doing heavy load carriage (marching with weight), adding extra protein right before bed (20g or 60g) will not speed up your recovery, reduce soreness, or protect your muscle function compared to just eating your normal diet. Focus on getting your total daily protein needs met rather than stressing about pre-sleep dosing for this specific activity.

Adopting a restricted carbohydrate diet defined as less than 45% of total energy intake does not significantly alter the risk of all-cause, cardiovascular disease (CVD), or cardiometabolic disease (CMD) mortality compared to consuming 45-65% of energy from carbohydrates.

If you choose to eat a diet where less than 45% of your calories come from carbohydrates, current large-scale data suggests this will not increase your risk of dying from heart disease, metabolic disease, or any other cause compared to eating the standard recommended amount (45-65%). You do not need to fear moderate carbohydrate restriction regarding mortality risk, provided you maintain a balanced intake of fats.

Higher percentage of energy from protein or fat at breakfast is associated with a higher risk of major cardiovascular events, myocardial infarction, and stroke.

In this study, eating a breakfast where protein and fat make up a larger percentage of energy was linked to higher heart disease risk. This suggests that for Chinese adults, a breakfast higher in carbohydrates and lower in protein/fat may be more cardioprotective.

Isoenergetic pre-exercise meals with varying carbohydrate content (high vs. low) do not improve resistance training volume performance compared to a low-calorie placebo in resistance-trained individuals.

If you are eating a pre-workout meal, the specific amount of carbohydrates matters less than the total calories and protein, provided you are already eating a moderate amount of carbs throughout the day. You do not need to force-feed high-carb meals before lifting to maximize volume; a lower-carb, isoenergetic meal works just as well.

In untrained older adults with adequate baseline protein intake (≥1.0 g/kg/day), consuming 40 g of protein either post-exercise or pre-sleep does not enhance resistance exercise training-induced improvements in muscle thickness or strength compared to resistance exercise training alone.

If you are an older adult (60+) who is new to resistance training and already eating at least 1.0 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight every day, you do not need to stress about drinking protein immediately after your workout or eating casein right before bed. Your muscles will grow and get stronger just from doing the resistance exercises consistently. Save your money and focus on eating enough protein throughout the day and sticking to your training schedule.

Commercial protein bars in Brazil frequently overestimate their protein content by more than 20% compared to laboratory analysis, primarily due to non-protein nitrogen compounds being counted as protein by standard testing methods.

Do not blindly trust the protein number on the bar's label. This study found that 35% of bars had protein levels significantly higher than stated (overestimation). While this means you might get more protein than expected, it indicates poor quality control. If you are tracking macros precisely, assume the label is an estimate, not a guarantee, and prioritize brands with transparent third-party testing.

Increasing protein intake to 1.6 g/kg body weight via whole foods for 17 weeks, with or without strength training, does not adversely affect gastrointestinal microbiota composition, richness, or diversity in community-dwelling older adults.

If you are an older adult (65-85) looking to maintain muscle, you can safely increase your protein intake to about 1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight daily. This study used whole foods (dairy, meat, plant proteins) rather than powders, and combined this diet with strength training for the last 8 weeks of a 17-week period. The key takeaway is that this level of protein does not harm your gut bacteria or cause inflammation, provided you are generally healthy and not on antibiotics. Focus on diverse protein sources like milk, soups, and lean meats.

High intake of linoleic acid (LA) does not impair the conversion of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) to long-chain omega-3s (EPA/DHA) to a clinically significant degree, and the ratio of LA to ALA is less important than absolute intake levels.

You do not need to restrict seed oils to improve your omega-3 status. If you want more EPA/DHA, eat fish or algae supplements directly, as the body's conversion from plant sources (ALA) is inefficient regardless of how much seed oil you eat.