Browse the evidence

High protein intake, specifically rich in leucine, mitigates muscle loss and anabolic resistance during periods of reduced physical activity.

Eat 0.4 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight every 4 hours. Ensure these sources are rich in leucine (e.g., whey, meat, eggs) to maximize muscle protein synthesis and prevent muscle loss during inactivity.

Higher protein intake is associated with weight loss maintenance, with maintainers consuming significantly more protein (g/kg body weight) than regainers.

Ensure adequate protein intake (approx 0.9-1.0 g/kg body weight) to help maintain weight loss. This may help with satiety and preserving muscle mass.

Essential amino acid (EAA) supplementation enriched with leucine effectively augments daily and per-meal protein intake in older adults without suppressing appetite or compromising total energy intake, unlike intact protein sources such as whey.

If you are an older adult struggling to eat enough protein to maintain muscle, try an EAA supplement enriched with leucine (3-15g) taken as a gel or liquid before or between meals. Unlike protein shakes, these won't make you feel too full to eat your regular food, helping you hit your protein goals without losing energy intake. Combine this with resistance exercise for the best results, especially if you have sarcopenia or obesity.

Adopting vegetarian or vegan diets significantly improves cardiometabolic risk factors, including lower total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, blood pressure, BMI, and fasting glucose, compared to omnivorous diets.

To improve heart health and metabolic markers, shift your diet towards plant-based sources (vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains) and reduce or eliminate animal products. Expect improvements in cholesterol, blood pressure, and weight management, though you should monitor nutrient status, particularly B12.

Adopting a healthful plant-based diet (high in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes; low in refined grains, sweets, sugar-sweetened beverages, and animal foods) is associated with favorable health outcomes, including reduced risk of obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and mortality.

To improve your health, focus on the quality of your plant-based foods. Prioritize whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and legumes while minimizing refined grains, sweets, and sugar-sweetened beverages. You do not need to eliminate animal products entirely to see benefits; simply increasing the quality of plant foods in your diet is associated with lower risks of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and mortality.

A low-carbohydrate diet (LCD) with carbohydrate intake restricted to <14% of total energy (approx. <50g/day) enables significant medication withdrawal and superior glycemic control compared to a low-fat diet (LFD) in type 2 diabetes patients, without increasing adverse events.

To achieve medication withdrawal in Type 2 Diabetes, restrict carbohydrates to under 50 grams per day (less than 14% of calories) while ensuring adequate protein and unsaturated fats. This approach, combined with regular exercise and clinical monitoring, allows for significant reduction in diabetes medications and better blood sugar control compared to traditional low-fat diets, without increasing the risk of hypoglycemia.

Implementing a Low Carbohydrate Diet (LCD) with 12% carbohydrate intake significantly reduces glucose variability (M value) and average blood glucose in Type 2 Diabetes patients compared to standard Calorie Restriction (CR) diets within 48 hours.

For Type 2 Diabetics, switching to a Low Carbohydrate Diet (around 12% carbs, ~1400 calories) for just two days can significantly stabilize blood sugar swings compared to standard calorie-restricted diets. This suggests that reducing carbohydrate intake is a potent lever for managing glucose variability, even in the short term.

Distributing protein intake into moderate doses (~20g) at regular intervals (~3h) post-exercise yields greater whole-body net protein balance than consuming larger doses (40g) less frequently, despite identical total daily protein intake.

If you are resistance training, do not just focus on hitting your total daily protein goal. Distribute that protein into moderate servings of roughly 20-40 grams every 3-4 hours. This pattern appears to maximize your body's net protein retention compared to eating the same amount in fewer, larger meals.

Adherence to a healthy dietary pattern (high in fiber, low in fat/sugar) is significantly associated with a lower prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors, specifically obesity, hypertension, and high serum triglycerides, in middle-aged adults.

Focus on your overall dietary pattern rather than single nutrients. A 'good' pattern involves eating vegetables, fruits, nuts, and fish regularly, choosing whole grains and low-fat dairy, and limiting sweets, soda, and salty foods. Adhering to this pattern is strongly linked to lower risks of obesity, high blood pressure, and high triglycerides in middle age.

Whey protein hydrolysate (WPH) supplementation improves peak torque and muscle hypertrophy associated with strength training more effectively than whey protein concentrate (WPC) or whey protein isolate (WPI).

If your goal is maximizing strength and muscle size from training, choose Whey Protein Hydrolysate (WPH) over Concentrate (WPC) or Isolate (WPI). Take it before and immediately after your workout. While WPC and WPI support muscle protein synthesis, WPH is specifically noted to be more effective for improving peak torque and hypertrophy.

Carbohydrate intake of 10 g/kg/day for 36-48 hours prior to competition optimizes glycogen stores and improves sports performance without requiring prior depletion.

If you are an athlete preparing for a major event, eat 10 grams of carbohydrates for every kilogram of your body weight each day for the two days before the race. Keep your meals light, low in fat and fiber, and easy to digest to avoid stomach issues. You do not need to starve yourself of carbs beforehand.

Protein intake of 1.2-2.0 g/kg bodyweight per day is required for athletes to repair muscle damage and avoid catabolism, with post-exercise doses of 0.25-0.3 g/kg being optimal for synthesis.

Eat 1.2 to 2.0 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight daily. After exercise, aim for 15-25 grams of protein. Ensure you are also eating enough carbohydrates and total calories so your body uses the protein for muscle building rather than energy.

Consuming yerba mate drink (YMD) alongside a pre-exercise carbohydrate meal significantly increases fat oxidation and improves time trial cycling performance compared to consuming either YMD alone in a fasted state or a carbohydrate meal alone.

If you are a trained cyclist, drinking yerba mate daily and eating a carbohydrate-rich meal (1g per kg of body weight) about an hour before your workout can boost your fat burning and improve your performance. This combination works better than drinking yerba mate while fasted or just eating the carbs alone.

Female volleyball players should consume 1.6–2.2 g/kg/day of protein to optimize training adaptation and preserve lean mass, particularly during energy deficits.

Aim for 1.6 to 2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of your body weight every day. This helps your muscles recover and grow, especially if you are training hard or trying to lose fat. You can get this from food like chicken, fish, eggs, or dairy, or supplements if needed.

Female volleyball players should consume 6–10 g/kg/day of carbohydrates to optimize muscle glycogen storage and 7–10 g/kg/day for recovery.

Eat 6 to 10 grams of carbohydrates for every kilogram of your body weight each day. On days with heavy training or matches, aim for the higher end (7-10 g/kg) to help your muscles recover and store energy. Good sources include pasta, rice, fruits, and vegetables.

Distributing protein evenly across the day (0.4g.kg per meal, minimum 4 meals) optimizes muscle protein synthesis, recovery, and adaptation in rugby players compared to disproportionate intake.

To maximize muscle growth and recovery, eat 0.4 grams of protein per kilogram of your body weight at four different meals. For a 90kg player, that is 36g of protein at breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a snack. This keeps your body in an anabolic state throughout the day. If you struggle to eat enough, use protein supplements, especially after training.

Higher dietary protein intake is significantly associated with higher Phase Angle (PhA) in athletes, independent of fat-free mass, sex, and age.

If you are an athlete, ensure your daily protein intake is sufficient (likely >1.2 g/kg/day, with higher intakes up to ~1.8-2.1 g/kg/day potentially offering higher Phase Angle benefits). Focus on high-quality protein sources like meat and eggs, as these were specifically linked to better Phase Angle values independent of total calories or muscle mass. This suggests that optimizing protein intake supports cellular health and muscle integrity, which can be monitored via Phase Angle.

Whey protein supplementation (30g/day for 8 weeks) preserves fat-free mass and reduces fat mass more effectively than maltodextrin in women 18-24 months post-bariatric surgery.

If you had bariatric surgery recently, standard protein intake might not be enough to keep your muscle while losing fat. Adding 30g of whey protein daily for at least two months can help you lose more fat and keep more muscle than just eating your regular diet, even if your total protein grams look similar to others.

Periodization, defined as the systematic modulation of training variables (volume, intensity, density) over time, is necessary to direct specific physiological adaptations and optimize performance, whereas unstructured or constant loading leads to suboptimal results and increased injury risk due to fatigue.

Do not train at the same intensity and volume every day. Structure your training into phases that vary these loads (periodization) to manage fatigue and ensure you peak when it matters. Constant high effort leads to injury and stagnation; structured variation leads to adaptation.

Distributing protein intake evenly across meals (approx. 30g per meal) maximizes muscle protein synthesis compared to skewed distributions, particularly in older adults.

Try to eat about 30 grams of protein at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This helps your body build and maintain muscle better than eating most of your protein at one meal, especially as you age.

Supplementation with 15g of gelatin or hydrolyzed collagen, combined with vitamin C, 1 hour before tendon-loading exercise, significantly increases tendon collagen synthesis and may reduce injury risk.

If you are prone to tendon issues (like patellar or Achilles tendinopathy), try consuming 15g of gelatin or hydrolyzed collagen mixed with 50mg of Vitamin C one hour before your tendon-loading exercises (like jumping or sprinting). This specific timing and combination has been shown to double tendon collagen synthesis compared to placebo.

Increasing dietary protein to 2.3 g/kg body mass during energy restriction helps attenuate the loss of lean body mass in injured athletes.

If you are injured and need to reduce calories to avoid gaining fat, do not cut protein. Instead, increase your protein intake to 2.3 grams per kilogram of body weight daily. This helps protect your muscle mass while you heal.

Supplementation with Essential Amino Acids (EAA, 20g twice daily) starting one week before and continuing two weeks after Total Knee Replacement (TKR) reduces quadriceps muscle atrophy and accelerates functional mobility recovery.

If you are having knee replacement surgery, ask your doctor or dietitian about taking Essential Amino Acid (EAA) supplements. The study suggests starting 20g of EAAs twice daily one week before surgery and continuing for two weeks after. This may help preserve your leg muscle strength and help you move better faster than standard care alone.

Evenly distributing protein intake across 3-4 meals (approx. 0.3-0.4 g/kg per meal) is a pragmatic strategy to maximize daily muscle protein synthesis, particularly for older adults or during energy restriction, though total daily protein remains the primary driver.

Aim to spread your protein intake across 3-4 meals, targeting roughly 30 grams per meal. This is especially important if you are older or trying to lose weight, as your body becomes less efficient at using protein for muscle building. If you currently eat most of your protein at dinner, try moving a portion to breakfast and lunch.