Browse the evidence

Orlistat reduces body weight by inhibiting gastric and pancreatic lipases, thereby reducing the absorption of dietary fats, with efficacy demonstrated in obese patients.

Orlistat helps you lose weight by blocking the absorption of about 30% of the fat you eat. You take it with meals, but you must keep your fat intake low (less than 30% of calories) to avoid unpleasant gastrointestinal side effects. It is effective for weight loss, especially when combined with a hypocaloric diet, but may be less effective than newer GLP-1 drugs.

Acute ingestion of plant proteins generally stimulates Muscle Protein Synthesis (MPS) to a lesser extent than animal proteins when matched for protein mass, due to lower leucine content and digestibility.

If you eat a small amount of plant protein, it won't spike muscle building as much as whey. However, this doesn't mean it doesn't work; it just means you need to eat more of it to get the same 'signal' to build muscle.

High carbohydrate intake (defined as the highest category in prospective cohorts) is associated with a significantly increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), with a pooled hazard ratio of 1.15 compared to the lowest intake.

If you consume a high-carbohydrate diet, particularly if carbohydrates make up more than 60% of your total daily calories, consider reducing this proportion. This meta-analysis suggests that lowering high carbohydrate intake is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease. Focus on balancing macronutrients rather than eliminating carbs entirely.

Orlistat provides modest weight loss and cardiovascular risk reduction, but its efficacy is heavily dependent on dietary fat restriction.

Orlistat is an older weight loss medication that works by blocking fat absorption. It is less effective than newer drugs and requires you to eat a low-fat diet to avoid unpleasant gastrointestinal side effects like oily diarrhea. It may offer some cardiovascular benefits for people with metabolic syndrome.

Short-term (10-day) time-restricted eating (8-hour window) does not impair daily myofibrillar protein synthesis rates compared to an extended 12-hour eating window when protein intake is matched.

If you are an overweight or obese male who exercises recreationally, switching to an 8-hour eating window (e.g., 10 AM to 6 PM) for 10 days will not hurt your muscle protein synthesis, provided you eat the same amount of protein (1g/kg) as you would over a longer period. Focus on hitting your daily protein goal rather than worrying about the clock.

Processing and cooking methods that reduce antinutrients, denature proteins, and reduce food particle size improve dietary protein quality by increasing essential amino acid (EAA) digestibility and bioavailability.

Don't fear processing plant proteins. Cooking beans, lentils, and grains, or using protein isolates/powders, often makes the protein more digestible and bioavailable than eating them raw or in their whole, unprocessed form. This is especially important if you rely on plant-based proteins to meet your daily needs.

High fructose intake, particularly from sweet beverages, drives hepatic de novo lipogenesis and steatosis in NAFLD, independent of total caloric intake.

Eliminate sugar-sweetened beverages (soda, juice, sweet tea) and limit added fructose. This reduces liver fat production directly, even if your total calorie intake doesn't change. Focus on whole foods rather than processed sugars.

Protein intake in indoor team sports is the macronutrient most likely to meet official recommendations, with roughly 35.7% of studies showing compliance, though non-compliance is split evenly between under- and over-consumption.

You are more likely to hit your protein targets than your carb or energy targets, but you are still at risk of under-eating protein. Ensure you are eating enough protein to support recovery, but be aware that half of athletes in these studies under-consume it.

Sarcopenic obesity, characterized by increased fat stores and decreased muscle mass, is a distinct and dangerous body composition status in the elderly that is often masked by net weight loss.

For older adults, weight loss can be dangerous if it involves muscle loss. Focus on maintaining muscle mass through resistance exercise and adequate protein intake, rather than just trying to lose weight, to avoid 'sarcopenic obesity'.

A ketogenic diet has similar effects on maximal strength or strength gains from resistance training compared to a higher-carbohydrate diet, although a minority of studies show superior effects for non-ketogenic diets.

If your goal is to build strength, you can do so on a ketogenic diet. Studies show similar strength gains compared to high-carbohydrate diets. However, some studies suggest non-ketogenic diets might be slightly superior, so monitor your progress and adjust if needed.

A moderate increase in protein intake (from ~0.8 to ~1.2 g/kg/day) provides a small additional improvement in functional capacity (specifically longer walk tests) but does not improve muscle strength or lean mass quality in postmenopausal women following resistance exercise.

If you are a postmenopausal woman starting resistance training, aim for about 1.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight daily. This moderate increase over the standard recommendation (0.8 g/kg) may help you walk faster and perform daily tasks better, but it will not necessarily make your muscles stronger or larger compared to eating the standard amount. Focus on consistent resistance training.

NuSH therapies induce significant weight loss that often includes loss of lean mass and skeletal muscle, creating a risk for sarcopenic obesity if body composition is not monitored.

Monitor your body composition, not just your weight. If you are on NuSHs, ensure your treatment plan includes resistance training and protein optimization to preserve muscle mass, as weight loss alone may hide muscle loss.

A 1-week diet break (increasing carbohydrate intake to energy balance) following intermittent energy restriction improves leg muscle endurance in adult athletes without compromising fat loss goals.

If you are an athlete cutting weight, schedule a 1-week 'diet break' where you eat at maintenance calories (focusing on carbs) every 3-4 weeks. This will not add fat, but it will significantly improve your leg endurance and mental alertness, making your training sessions more effective. Time this break before a key training block or competition.

Animal protein intake may have a mild protective association with cancer mortality, but plant protein intake is not associated with cancer mortality risk.

While animal protein may have a mild protective association with cancer mortality, plant protein does not show this specific benefit in this study. You do not need to avoid animal protein for cancer prevention, and plant protein is not uniquely protective.

Incretin receptor activators (GLP-1RA and GIP/GLP-1 dual agonists) cause a reduction in skeletal muscle mass (SMM) that is proportional to fat loss, with approximately 5% of lean body mass lost for every 10% reduction in total body weight, potentially leading to sarcopenia in a subset of treated patients.

If you are taking GLP-1RA or similar weight-loss medications, be aware that you will lose some muscle along with fat. To minimize this, engage in structured exercise programs and discuss monitoring your muscle mass with your doctor, especially if you are older or have existing frailty.

Higher relative carbohydrate intake (42-51% of energy) causally reduces hypertension risk by 71% compared to lower intake, independent of protein and fat intake.

If you have hypertension, increasing your carbohydrate intake to represent 42-51% of your total daily energy may help lower your blood pressure risk, provided you adjust other macronutrients accordingly. This finding is based on genetic evidence from large European cohorts, suggesting a causal protective effect of relative carbohydrate intake over protein and fat.

Replacing saturated fatty acids (SFA) with polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) reduces coronary heart disease (CHD) risk by 2-3% for every 1% of energy substituted, whereas replacing SFA with low-quality carbohydrates (refined starches/sugars) provides no such benefit and may increase risk.

If you want to lower your heart disease risk by reducing saturated fats (like those in animal fats), you must replace them with unsaturated fats (like those in fish, nuts, or olive oil). Do not replace them with refined carbohydrates like white bread, pasta, or sugar, as this offers no cardiovascular benefit and may increase risk. Focus on the quality of the replacement, not just the reduction of fat.

High carbohydrate intake is associated with increased all-cause mortality, whereas high fat intake (including saturated fat) is associated with lower all-cause mortality and lower stroke risk.

Consider reducing high carbohydrate intake, as it is associated with higher all-cause mortality. Moderate saturated fat intake may be beneficial for stroke prevention, but the overall impact on cardiovascular mortality is unclear.

Low-carbohydrate diets (ketogenic diets) lead to greater short-term weight loss and improved triglyceride levels compared to low-fat diets, but may have less favorable effects on LDL cholesterol.

For short-term weight loss and improved triglyceride levels, a low-carbohydrate diet may be more effective than a low-fat diet. However, monitor LDL cholesterol levels, as they may not improve or may worsen.

Hypercaloric 16:8 time-restricted eating (TRE) allows well-trained individuals to achieve similar gains in fat-free mass and strength as continuous feeding (FED) during resistance training, despite a reduction in total training volume.

If you are already training regularly and want to build muscle, you can compress your eating into an 8-hour window without losing gains, as long as you eat enough total calories (a slight surplus) and hit your protein targets (around 2.2g/kg). You might train slightly less volume, but your strength and muscle mass will still increase similarly to eating throughout the day. Focus on consistency and total intake, not just when you eat.

A single day of an isocaloric high-fat diet (74% fat, 11% carbs) significantly improves insulin sensitivity and lowers postprandial glucose and insulin levels compared to high-carbohydrate or control diets in healthy young men.

For healthy individuals, switching to a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet for a single day can improve insulin sensitivity and reduce blood sugar spikes compared to high-carb or standard balanced diets, provided total calories remain constant.

Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and other unsaturated fats inhibit Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) activation and pro-inflammatory cytokine release, thereby ameliorating chronic inflammation driven by saturated fats and LPS.

To support a healthy immune response that can resolve inflammation effectively, prioritize unsaturated fats, particularly Omega-3s. These fats actively inhibit inflammatory pathways like TLR4, counteracting the pro-inflammatory effects of saturated fats found in typical Western diets.

In the Iranian adult population, total fat intake (38.3% of energy in adults, 35.88% in the elderly) significantly exceeds the Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Range (AMDR) of 20-30%, with 55.77% of women and 43.53% of men consuming fat above this limit.

Check your fat intake. In this population, more than half of women and nearly half of men eat too much fat (over 30% of calories). Focus on reducing added fats and high-fat ingredients to align with health guidelines, as this is a major contributor to chronic disease risk.

High intake of simple sugars increases the risk of metabolic syndrome regardless of weight change, whereas the risk associated with refined grains and total carbohydrates is modified by weight status.

Focus on reducing added sugars and simple sugars, as they increase metabolic syndrome risk independently of weight. Be mindful of refined grains, especially if you are gaining weight, as their risk is amplified in that context. Total carbohydrate quantity is less critical than the source.