Browse the evidence

Adherence to the Healthy Eating Index-2015 (HEI-2015) dietary pattern is associated with a significantly reduced risk of all-cause, cardiovascular disease, and cancer mortality in multiethnic adult populations.

To lower your risk of dying from heart disease, cancer, or other causes, aim for a diet that closely follows the 2015 Dietary Guidelines. This means eating more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins, while limiting refined grains, sodium, added sugars, and saturated fats. You do not need a perfect diet; simply moving from a low-quality diet to a higher-quality one (as measured by the HEI-2015) significantly reduces your mortality risk over the long term.

Functional and balance training performed at least twice weekly significantly reduces the rate of falls in adults over 50, with high-certainty evidence supporting this intervention for fracture prevention.

Perform balance and functional exercises at least twice a week. Focus on activities that challenge your stability, such as standing on one foot, heel raises, or agility drills. Progressively make these exercises harder by increasing speed, complexity, or resistance. This is the most effective non-pharmacological way to prevent falls in older adults.

Pharmacotherapy is recommended for postmenopausal females and males aged 50+ who have had a previous hip or vertebral fracture, or have a 10-year major osteoporotic fracture risk of 20% or more.

If you are over 50 and have had a hip or vertebral fracture, or have a high 10-year fracture risk (20% or more), you should strongly consider pharmacotherapy. This is a strong recommendation based on high-certainty evidence. Your doctor will help you choose the right medication based on your specific risks and preferences.

Consumption of yoghurt and fermented milk products is associated with reduced cardiovascular disease risk factors, including lower total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood pressure.

Include yoghurt or fermented milk in your diet to support heart health. High intake is linked to lower cardiovascular mortality and improved cholesterol profiles. Whole-fat yoghurt may offer metabolic benefits comparable to or better than low-fat options.

Aerobic exercise training significantly reduces HbA1c levels in individuals with type II diabetes, with the magnitude of reduction increasing as program duration extends beyond 12 weeks.

Engage in aerobic exercise regularly. While any amount helps, extending your program duration beyond 12 weeks is key to maximizing HbA1c reductions. Aim for a median of 150 minutes per week, spread over 3 sessions, to see significant clinical improvements in blood sugar control.

Vigorous intensity aerobic exercise produces superior improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness (peak VO2) compared to low or moderate intensity exercise in Type II Diabetes patients.

If your doctor clears you for it, aim for vigorous intensity aerobic exercise. It provides significantly greater improvements in heart and lung fitness (peak VO2) than moderate or low intensity exercise. If you cannot tolerate vigorous intensity, moderate exercise still offers health benefits.

Aerobic exercise training significantly improves insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and fasting serum glucose levels in individuals with Type II Diabetes.

Regular aerobic exercise directly improves how your body uses insulin and lowers your fasting blood glucose levels. This is a key benefit of exercise for managing Type II Diabetes, alongside improving overall fitness and HbA1c.

Endurance exercise training increases muscle GLUT4 protein content and mitochondrial density, which shifts substrate utilization toward fat oxidation and spares muscle glycogen during sustained exercise.

If you train consistently, your body adapts by building more fuel pumps (GLUT4) and power plants (mitochondria). This allows you to burn more fat and save your sugar stores (glycogen) for longer or more intense efforts. Don't worry if you feel like you aren't 'burning' as much sugar; this efficiency is the goal of endurance training.

Resistance training combined with amino acid supplementation is the most effective current strategy to prevent age-related muscle wasting and weakness.

To prevent muscle loss as you age, the best approach is to engage in resistance training and ensure you are getting enough amino acids (protein) in your diet. This is more effective and safer than pharmaceutical interventions.

The additional energy requirement for exclusive breastfeeding is approximately 670 kcal/day, but allowing for gradual maternal weight loss reduces the net dietary increment needed to approximately 500 kcal/day.

To support milk production, aim to eat an extra 500 to 670 calories per day compared to your pre-pregnancy needs. This accounts for the energy in the milk and the energy your body provides by slowly losing pregnancy weight.

An energy-reduced Mediterranean diet combined with behavioral support and physical activity promotes significantly greater adherence and improvement in cardiovascular risk factors compared to an energy-unrestricted Mediterranean diet in patients with metabolic syndrome.

For individuals with metabolic syndrome, simply following a Mediterranean diet is not enough for optimal metabolic health; you must actively reduce caloric intake (by about 600 calories a day) and increase physical activity. The key to success is not just the food list, but the behavioral support and structured guidance (like monthly coaching) that helps you stick to the reduced calorie target.

Ad libitum diets with a low glycemic index (LGI) significantly reduce high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) levels beyond the reduction achieved by weight loss alone, independent of protein content.

If you are trying to lower inflammation markers like CRP after losing weight, prioritize foods with a low glycemic index (like legumes, whole grains, and non-starchy vegetables) over high-glycemic foods (like white bread and sugary snacks). This dietary choice provides an additional anti-inflammatory benefit beyond just maintaining your weight loss.

Creatine monohydrate (CM) is the most effective, safe, and well-studied form of creatine for increasing muscle creatine/phosphocreatine and enhancing anaerobic exercise capacity, with no newer forms demonstrating superior efficacy or safety.

Stick with creatine monohydrate. It is the most researched form, proven to increase muscle creatine by 15-40% and improve strength and power. Newer, more expensive forms have not been shown to be better.

Increasing dietary fiber intake significantly reduces systolic and diastolic blood pressure in adults with hypertension, regardless of concurrent antihypertensive medication use.

If you have high blood pressure, increasing your daily fiber intake by about 6-12 grams (e.g., adding more beans, oats, or vegetables) can significantly lower your blood pressure. This benefit holds true even if you are already taking blood pressure medication, making it a powerful addition to your current treatment plan.

Resistance training interventions lasting 8 weeks or more significantly improve muscular strength, physical performance, and body composition in older adults (≥65 years) diagnosed with pre-sarcopenia, sarcopenia, pre-frailty, or frailty.

If you are 65 or older and experiencing signs of frailty or muscle loss, start a supervised resistance training program at least twice a week. Focus on progressive overload, meaning you gradually increase the weight or difficulty over time. Consistency is key, with benefits seen even after just 8 weeks, though longer programs (around 23 weeks on average in studies) yield more robust results. This approach helps build muscle, improve balance, and maintain independence.

Combined diet and physical activity interventions significantly decrease the risk of Type 2 Diabetes in high-risk populations (e.g., prediabetes, obesity, impaired fasting glucose).

If you are at high risk for Type 2 Diabetes (e.g., prediabetes, obesity), combine dietary changes with physical activity. Focus on reducing calories/carbohydrates and engaging in supervised aerobic or resistance exercise. This combined approach is highly effective at preventing the onset of Type 2 Diabetes.

Higher levels of leisure-time physical activity are consistently and positively associated with higher cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) in adults.

To improve your cardiorespiratory fitness, prioritize your leisure-time physical activity. This doesn't necessarily mean joining a gym; it includes any recreational exercise you do. The evidence shows that doing more of this activity consistently leads to better fitness levels, which is a strong predictor of long-term health.

Exercise therapy improves aerobic/functional capacity and muscle strength in patients with various chronic diseases without accelerating disease progression.

If you have a chronic condition, exercise is likely safe and beneficial for your functional capacity and strength. Consult your doctor for a tailored program, but expect that it will not worsen your disease and may improve your quality of life.

Exercise therapy reduces all-cause and cardiac mortality in patients with coronary heart disease.

For those with coronary heart disease, exercise-based rehabilitation is a critical intervention that significantly reduces the risk of death.

Exercise therapy significantly lowers glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Regular exercise is an effective way to lower blood sugar levels (HbA1c) in type 2 diabetes, reducing the risk of complications.

Exercise therapy reduces pain and improves physical function in patients with osteoarthritis.

If you have osteoarthritis, therapeutic exercise can help reduce your pain and improve your ability to function physically.

Exercise therapy lowers blood pressure in hypertensive subjects through aerobic training.

Aerobic exercise is an effective non-pharmacological intervention for lowering blood pressure in people with hypertension.

Adherence to healthy dietary patterns (e.g., Mediterranean, DASH) significantly reduces the risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) events and all-cause mortality, with effect sizes comparable to pharmacological interventions.

Focus on eating more plants (fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts) and fish, while cutting back on sugary drinks, refined grains, and processed meats. This pattern, whether called Mediterranean or DASH, is as effective for heart health as many prescription drugs.

Alcohol consumption increases cancer risk, and the best level of consumption for cancer prevention is zero.

For cancer prevention, the safest amount of alcohol is none. While moderate drinking might have some heart benefits, it increases cancer risk, so zero is the best choice for your overall health.