Browse the evidence

Higher Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) scores are independently associated with an increased risk of Coronary Heart Disease (CHD), with a 1-unit increase in DII corresponding to an odds ratio of 1.049 for CHD after adjusting for confounders.

Focus on reducing pro-inflammatory foods and increasing anti-inflammatory ones, specifically paying attention to carbohydrate quality, ensuring adequate Vitamin C and Iron intake. While you don't need to calculate a complex index, these specific nutrients appear to drive the inflammatory response linked to heart disease risk.

The association between Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) and Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) is mediated by metabolic and lipid indicators, specifically Triglyceride-Glucose (TyG) index, Visceral Adiposity Index (VAI), Body Mass Index (BMI), Waist-to-Height Ratio (WHtR), High-Density Lipoprotein (HDL), and Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR).

Managing weight, blood sugar, and cholesterol through diet can help mitigate the heart disease risk associated with inflammatory diets. Specifically, improving HDL and reducing visceral fat are key steps.

The adverse impact of Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) on Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) is more pronounced in individuals aged <75 years, females, those with low cholesterol levels, and those with low Framingham risk scores.

If you are young, female, or have low traditional heart disease risk, your diet's inflammatory potential may have a disproportionately larger impact on your heart health compared to high-risk individuals.

Resistance training improves cognitive function and psychological well-being in older adults, and this benefit may be potentiated by high-quality protein intake.

Lift weights regularly. It helps your brain, mood, and memory. Combining it with good protein intake may offer the best protection against cognitive decline.

Loaded inter-set stretch (20s) during resistance training selectively enhances soleus muscle thickness compared to traditional rest, while having ambiguous or negligible effects on the gastrocnemii in untrained men.

If you are untrained and want to maximize soleus growth, add a 20-second loaded stretch using your working weight immediately after each calf raise set. This may help the soleus grow more than the gastrocnemii. However, do not expect this to significantly increase the size of your calf muscles (gastrocnemii) compared to just resting between sets. Strength gains are maintained regardless of the method.

Ingestion of 5g/day of fish protein (Alaska pollack protein) during 8 weeks of resistance training induces specific neural adaptations (changes in motor unit firing rates and patterns) without inducing measurable muscular hypertrophy in young adults.

If you are a young adult doing resistance training, consuming 5g of fish protein (Alaska pollack) daily alongside your training may improve your nervous system's efficiency (how your muscles fire) without necessarily making your muscles larger. This is different from older adults, where fish protein might help build muscle size. For young people, focus on the strength/efficiency gains rather than expecting this small dose of fish protein to cause visible muscle growth.

Combining a ketogenic diet with resistance training reduces body fat mass without compromising lean body mass in untrained individuals, whereas resistance training with a normal diet increases lean body mass without significantly altering body fat mass.

If your goal is to lose fat while keeping your muscle, combine resistance training with a ketogenic diet. This study found that doing both together resulted in significantly more fat loss than resistance training with a normal diet, without sacrificing muscle mass. Ensure you eat enough protein (around 2g per kg of body weight) and progressively challenge your muscles with weights.

An eight-week healthy vegan diet significantly reduces epigenetic age acceleration (PC GrimAge, PC PhenoAge, DunedinPACE) and systems-specific aging (Inflammation, Heart, Hormone, Liver, Metabolic) in adults, whereas a healthy omnivorous diet does not produce these epigenetic changes.

Adopting a healthy vegan diet for just eight weeks can significantly slow down biological aging markers, including inflammation, heart, and metabolic aging. This suggests that plant-based eating patterns can have rapid, measurable benefits on how your body ages at a molecular level, outperforming a healthy omnivorous diet in this specific context.

Combining neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) with high protein supplementation (HPRO) and physical therapy (PT) mitigates lower extremity muscle loss and restores positive nitrogen balance in critically ill, mechanically ventilated patients compared to standard care.

For critically ill patients who cannot actively exercise, combining high protein intake (approx 1.3g/kg/day) with twice-daily neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) on the legs and physical therapy significantly reduces muscle loss compared to standard care. This multimodal approach helps maintain muscle mass and improves nitrogen balance, which is crucial for recovery in the ICU.

Resistance training significantly improves muscle strength and physical function in older adults with sarcopenia, but the magnitude of improvement often fails to exceed the Minimal Important Difference (MID) thresholds for clinical relevance.

For older adults with sarcopenia, resistance training is beneficial for strength but may not be enough to restore full functional independence on its own. To maximize benefits, aim for a high frequency (3 times/week) and a total weekly volume around 1220 MET-min/week for grip strength, or 600 MET-min/week for walking speed. However, manage expectations: these improvements might not be large enough to drastically change daily functional status without additional interventions.

Higher training frequency (3 times/week vs. 2 times/week) and specific resistance types (Constant for knee extension, Combined for gait speed) are key effect modifiers for optimizing resistance training outcomes in sarcopenia.

To maximize strength gains from resistance training, aim for 3 sessions per week rather than 2. If your goal is knee strength, constant resistance machines may be best. If your goal is walking speed, a mix of resistance types (combined) might be superior. Individualize your program based on these specific goals.

High egg intake (up to 12 eggs/week) does not significantly increase cardiovascular risk, inflammatory biomarkers, or blood sugar levels in type 2 diabetic patients when part of a weight-loss diet.

You can likely include eggs in your diet. A study showed that eating up to 12 eggs a week did not worsen blood sugar or heart health markers in diabetics.

Cluster sets (CS) elicit similar muscular hypertrophy to traditional sets (TS) when volume (sets/reps) and effort (RIR 0-1) are equated.

If you prefer cluster sets (pausing between reps/blocks), you can build muscle just as effectively as traditional sets, provided you match the total number of reps and train close to failure (0-1 reps in reserve). Don't worry about the total weight moved being lower in CS; focus on hitting your rep targets with high effort.

Nutritional supplementation can attenuate quadriceps muscle atrophy and promote hypertrophy following ACL injury and reconstruction through three primary mechanisms: direct stimulation of muscle protein synthesis, indirect enhancement of training capacity, and direct effects on satellite cell proliferation.

If you have had ACL surgery, do not rely on exercise alone to rebuild your thigh muscle. Incorporate nutritional strategies that support muscle protein synthesis (like adequate protein intake) and potentially supplements like creatine or caffeine (if appropriate for your rehab phase) to help your muscles grow and recover more effectively than exercise alone.

Creatine supplementation may enhance muscle hypertrophy following ACL injury by increasing intramuscular phosphocreatine, thereby improving high-intensity exercise capacity, and potentially stimulating mTOR and satellite cell proliferation.

Consider creatine supplementation during the later stages of your ACL rehab when you start doing more intense exercises. It can help your muscles generate energy faster and may support muscle growth.

Dietary cholesterol intake between 216 and 373 mg/day is associated with the lowest all-cause mortality risk, forming a U-shaped curve where both lower and higher intakes increase mortality risk.

Aim for a daily dietary cholesterol intake of approximately 300 mg (roughly 1-2 eggs) to potentially minimize all-cause mortality risk. Avoid both very low intake (under 124 mg/day) and very high intake (over 373 mg/day), as both are associated with higher mortality risks in this study. This suggests that moderate consumption of cholesterol-rich foods is healthy, and extreme restriction may be detrimental.

Longer-muscle length resistance training (LML-RT) produces greater longitudinal hypertrophy (fascicle length increases) and overall muscle size compared to shorter-muscle length resistance training (SML-RT).

To maximize muscle growth, especially in terms of muscle length (fascicle length), prioritize exercises that allow you to train at longer muscle lengths (e.g., deep squats, overhead extensions). While shorter-range training can build muscle, training through a fuller or lengthened range of motion appears to offer a superior hypertrophic advantage, particularly for longitudinal growth.

Combining pharmacotherapy with lifestyle interventions (diet/exercise) or bariatric surgery yields superior weight loss and maintenance compared to either intervention alone.

For the best long-term results, do not rely on medication or diet/exercise alone. Use medication to help manage hunger while you establish sustainable diet and exercise habits. This combination is proven to help you keep the weight off after you stop the medication.

Primary Obesity Surgery Endoluminal (POSE) 2.0 and Endomina Gastric Plication are effective endoscopic gastric remodeling techniques that produce significant weight loss and metabolic improvements, though with varying efficacy profiles compared to ESG.

POSE 2.0 and Endomina are endoscopic options that use full-thickness plications to reduce stomach size. They are effective for weight loss and metabolic improvement, though ESG may offer higher weight loss percentages in some studies. They are suitable for patients seeking minimally invasive alternatives to surgery.

In individuals with pre-diabetes or metabolic syndrome, incorporating meal replacements into a weight loss intervention yields small, clinically important reductions in body weight, BMI, LDL-c, non-HDL-c, and systolic blood pressure compared to conventional food-based diets.

If you have pre-diabetes or metabolic syndrome, using meal replacements for 1-2 meals a day as part of a calorie-restricted diet will help you lose more weight and improve your cholesterol and blood pressure than just eating a standard healthy diet. Aim for replacements to make up about 28% of your daily calories. This is a short-term tool to jumpstart your health before transitioning to regular food.

The molecular signaling responses to acute resistance and endurance exercise are often similar in untrained or recreationally active individuals, suggesting the interference effect may be less pronounced or mechanistically distinct in this population.

If you are new to exercise, you likely won't experience the 'interference effect' as strongly as an athlete. You can probably combine cardio and weights without worrying too much about blunting gains, as your body is still adapting to both stimuli.

Low-intensity cycling with blood flow restriction (BFR) produces similar acute muscle thickness and voluntary contraction responses as high-intensity cycling when total exercise volume is matched.

If you cannot perform high-intensity cycling due to joint issues or preference, try low-intensity cycling (40% VO2max) combined with Blood Flow Restriction (BFR) cuffs. Ensure the total work (volume) matches what you would do at high intensity. This approach yields similar acute muscle swelling and fatigue markers as heavy cycling, making it a viable joint-friendly alternative for stimulating muscular adaptations.

Creatine supplementation (20 g/d) augments post-exercise muscle glycogen storage when combined with a high carbohydrate diet, with effects evident as early as 24 hours post-exercise.

If you are using creatine monohydrate (20 g/d) and consuming a high carbohydrate diet, you may experience greater muscle glycogen storage compared to carbohydrates alone. This effect is visible within 24 hours and lasts up to 6 days. However, consider that creatine loading also causes a 1-2% increase in body weight due to water retention, which might be a trade-off for endurance athletes.

Adherence to a healthful plant-based diet pattern is associated with a statistically significant reduction in both the risk of contracting COVID-19 and the severity of the disease.

Adopting a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains (high healthful plant-based diet score) is associated with a lower risk of getting COVID-19 and a significantly reduced risk of severe outcomes. This benefit appears to be especially important for individuals in areas with higher socioeconomic deprivation, suggesting that improving access to healthy foods is a key public health strategy.