Browse the evidence

In critically ill ICU patients, early parenteral nutrition (PN) combined with enteral nutrition delays recovery and increases infection risk compared to withholding PN for the first week (late PN), regardless of illness severity.

For critically ill patients in the ICU, current guidelines recommending early, full-calorie parenteral nutrition when enteral feeding is insufficient should be reconsidered. Evidence suggests that withholding parenteral nutrition for the first week (allowing a caloric deficit) leads to faster recovery, fewer infections, and shorter ICU stays, regardless of how sick the patient is. The focus should be on tolerating hypocaloric enteral feeding rather than aggressively reaching caloric targets via IV nutrition early on.

The Sugar Research Foundation (SRF) sponsored a 1967 literature review that selectively discounted evidence linking sucrose to coronary heart disease (CHD) while promoting fat and cholesterol as the primary dietary causes, thereby successfully shifting public health policy and scientific consensus away from sugar risks.

Be skeptical of nutrition research funded by the food industry, particularly regarding sugar and heart health. Look for independent studies that examine multiple biomarkers, not just cholesterol, and consider mechanistic evidence linking sugar to metabolic issues.

Metchnikoff's historical theory that consuming yogurt (Lactobacillus bulgaricus) delays senility and extends life is scientifically unvalidated and based on a mechanism (L. bulgaricus surviving in the human intestine) that subsequent research disproved.

Do not rely on Lactobacillus bulgaricus (found in traditional yogurt) to extend your lifespan or delay aging. While a healthy lifestyle is important, this specific probiotic does not survive in the human gut, and Metchnikoff's longevity claims were never scientifically validated. Focus on evidence-based health practices instead.

GrimAge version 2 (GrimAge2), an epigenetic clock based on DNA methylation, is a superior predictor of all-cause mortality and age-related morbidity compared to the original GrimAge and other epigenetic clocks.

GrimAge2 is a blood test that measures your biological age based on DNA methylation patterns. It is a more accurate predictor of your risk for death and age-related diseases (like heart disease and diabetes) than your actual age or other aging clocks. While you cannot change your chronological age, your biological age can be influenced by lifestyle factors such as smoking, diet, and physical activity. Monitoring this metric can provide early warning signs of health decline, allowing for proactive lifestyle interventions.

Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections show no significant positive effect on muscle injury recovery compared to placebo in randomized clinical trials, despite widespread clinical use.

Do not expect PRP injections to significantly improve your muscle injury recovery compared to standard care or placebo. Current clinical trials do not support its efficacy for this specific use case.

Greater height in young adulthood is inversely associated with the incidence of coronary heart disease and all types of stroke.

You cannot change your height, but this finding highlights the importance of early life health and socioeconomic factors. Focus on what you can control: maintaining a healthy weight and building muscle strength.

There is no significant sex difference in the relative risk of cancer mortality associated with diabetes; the risk increase is comparable for both men and women.

While diabetes increases your risk of cancer, this relative increase is similar for both men and women. Focus on standard cancer screening and healthy lifestyle habits rather than worrying about a sex-specific cancer risk amplification from diabetes.

Self-reported sleep quality is NOT associated with neural health (white matter integrity) in healthy adults, despite associations in clinical populations.

Don't panic about occasional poor sleep causing permanent brain damage. This study found no link between self-reported sleep quality and white matter integrity in healthy adults. While clinical sleep disorders are serious, healthy sleep variations do not appear to harm brain structure.

DNA methylation patterns (epigenetic clocks) are among the best-studied and most accurate molecular biomarkers for predicting chronological age.

DNA methylation tests (epigenetic clocks) are currently the most reliable molecular tool for estimating your biological age, with some tests achieving an error margin of less than 5 years.

Long-term exercise training does not significantly reduce the risk of mortality or hospitalization in older adults.

For older adults, engaging in moderate-intensity multicomponent exercise 2-3 times per week for at least a year does not significantly reduce the risk of mortality or hospitalization. However, it does significantly reduce the risk of falls.

Ageing is not a genetically programmed process but results from the lifelong accumulation of somatic damage due to evolutionarily optimized, limited investments in maintenance and repair systems.

Focus on maintaining health and minimizing damage (through diet, exercise, and avoiding toxins) rather than seeking a 'genetic fix' for ageing. Your body's repair systems are limited by evolutionary trade-offs, so supporting them with a healthy lifestyle is the most effective strategy for longevity.

Multi-omics approaches (proteomics, transcriptomics) are necessary to accurately measure and understand the complexity of inflammaging, as single biomarkers like IL-6 or TNF-α are insufficient.

Current single-marker tests for inflammation are limited. Multi-omics approaches offer a more comprehensive view of inflammaging, which may lead to better diagnostics and targeted therapies in the future.

Resistance training increases skeletal muscle mass, strength, and physical function in healthy adults compared to no exercise.

If you are a healthy adult, engaging in resistance training is one of the most effective ways to increase muscle mass, strength, and physical function. You do not need a specific complex protocol to see benefits; simply performing resistance exercises against external resistance yields significant improvements compared to doing nothing.

Long-term combined diet and exercise interventions produce significantly greater reductions in body weight, fat mass, and cardiovascular risk factors than either diet or exercise alone.

To lose the most weight and improve heart health over the long term (1+ years), you must combine dietary changes with physical activity. Do not rely on exercise alone; diet is actually more effective for weight loss than exercise by itself. However, adding exercise to your diet gives you the best possible results for both your waistline and your blood pressure/lipids. Aim for a sustainable caloric deficit and regular moderate-to-vigorous activity (aerobic and resistance) for at least a year.

Combining low-carbohydrate intake (26% of calories) with calorie restriction (1200-1500 kcal) yields the greatest reduction in BMI, body weight, waist circumference, and body fat compared to either intervention alone.

For the fastest and most comprehensive weight loss, combine a low-carbohydrate diet (26% of calories from carbs) with a moderate calorie restriction (1200-1500 kcal/day). This dual approach was shown to reduce BMI, body weight, waist circumference, and body fat more effectively than either strategy used alone. This is the most potent dietary intervention for overweight/obese individuals in this study.

In Thai adults with obesity and metabolic syndrome, a 12-week lifestyle education intervention combined with partial meal replacement (two meals daily) produces significantly greater weight loss and glycemic improvement than lifestyle education alone.

If you have obesity and metabolic syndrome, replacing two of your daily meals with a high-protein meal replacement shake, while also receiving basic lifestyle education on diet and exercise, will help you lose more weight and improve your blood sugar levels compared to just receiving lifestyle education alone. However, be aware that this benefit is most pronounced during the 12-week intervention period, and long-term maintenance requires ongoing support or continued use of the strategy.

A 3-month calorie-restricted ketogenic diet (KD) produces significantly greater weight loss than a calorie-restricted Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) in adults with obesity.

To lose more weight than a standard Mediterranean diet in 3 months, switch to a ketogenic diet with a 600-calorie daily deficit. This means eating very few carbs (5% of calories), moderate protein (30%), and high fat (65%). Ensure you are consuming enough calories to maintain basic function but below your maintenance level.

Adherence to a healthful plant-based diet (high in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, and vegetable oils; low in refined grains, sugary beverages, and animal foods) is associated with a significantly lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

To lower your risk of type 2 diabetes, focus on building your diet around high-quality plant foods like whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, and vegetable oils. While you don't need to eliminate animal products entirely, prioritizing these healthy plant foods and limiting refined grains, sugary drinks, and potatoes is key. Simply being 'plant-based' isn't enough; the quality of the plants matters significantly.

In resistance-trained men, increasing training volume from 1 set to 5 sets per exercise per session significantly enhances muscle hypertrophy (specifically in elbow flexors, mid-thigh, and lateral thigh) without providing additional strength or endurance benefits.

If you are an experienced lifter, doing 1 set per exercise to failure is enough to build strength and endurance, saving you significant time. However, if your primary goal is maximizing muscle size, you should perform 3-5 sets per exercise. The extra sets will yield more muscle growth, but you won't get stronger faster by doing them. Prioritize volume for hypertrophy, but don't expect strength to improve just by adding sets.

Resistance exercise training (RET) is as effective as aerobic exercise training (AET) for reducing the risk of chronic diseases including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer, and is superior for maintaining physical mobility in older adults.

Incorporate resistance training 2-3 times per week into your routine. You do not need to lift extremely heavy weights; moderate intensity (where you can complete 8-12 reps with some effort) is effective for reducing chronic disease risk and maintaining mobility. This is as important for your long-term health as your cardio workouts.

Resistance exercise training reduces cancer mortality and recurrence risk in cancer survivors, with benefits seen even at low-to-moderate intensities.

If you are a cancer survivor, aim to do resistance training at least once a week. Even low-to-moderate intensity exercises can significantly reduce your risk of cancer recurrence and death. This is especially important for breast and prostate cancer survivors to maintain muscle and quality of life.

Resistance training to the point of contractile failure is the primary driver of hypertrophy, rendering specific load selection (light vs. heavy) less important as long as failure is reached.

Focus on pushing your sets to the point where you cannot complete another repetition with good form (contractile failure), regardless of whether you are using heavy weights or lighter weights. This effort level is what triggers muscle growth, making the specific weight you choose secondary to the intensity of your effort.

Step reduction (SR) to <1,500 steps/day for two weeks causes significant declines in muscle protein synthesis (MPS), leg lean mass, and insulin sensitivity in older adults, with incomplete recovery upon return to habitual activity.

If you are older, do not underestimate the impact of even mild inactivity, such as reducing your steps to under 1,500 per day for a couple of weeks due to illness or weather. This causes your muscles to stop building protein and your blood sugar control to worsen. Crucially, your body may not fully bounce back to its previous state even after you start moving normally again. To protect your muscle, try to maintain your usual step count even during minor illnesses or bad weather, or use countermeasures like light resistance exercise and high-quality protein.

Periodizing carbohydrate intake by performing high-intensity training with high carbohydrate availability followed by overnight restriction ('sleeping low') and subsequent low-intensity training with low carbohydrate availability significantly improves 10 km running performance and submaximal cycling efficiency in trained endurance athletes compared to maintaining high carbohydrate availability throughout.

If you are a trained endurance athlete, try a 'Sleep Low' strategy for 3 weeks. Keep your total daily carbohydrate intake the same (around 6g/kg), but change when you eat it. Eat high carbohydrates before and after your hardest workouts (like intervals). Then, skip carbohydrates after that workout and do not eat them during your next morning's easy, low-intensity workout. This may improve your running speed and cycling efficiency without reducing your overall training volume or intensity.