Browse the evidence

Higher total dietary protein intake is positively associated with greater grip strength in adults aged 19+ years, with animal protein showing a stronger association than plant protein.

To support muscle strength, aim for higher total protein intake, prioritizing animal sources like dairy, meat, and eggs, especially if you are over 50. Plant proteins help, but animal proteins seem to offer a stronger boost to grip strength.

Consuming more than 20g of dietary protein at two or more meals per day is associated with higher grip strength compared to consuming less than 20g at zero meals.

Try to include at least 20g of protein in two or more of your daily meals. This pattern is linked to stronger grip strength, suggesting better muscle maintenance.

Higher leucine intake is positively associated with grip strength in adults aged 19+ years.

Ensure your protein sources are rich in leucine (e.g., dairy, meat, eggs) as higher leucine intake is associated with stronger grip.

COVID-19 lockdowns and associated lifestyle changes (reduced physical activity, increased screen time, comfort eating) led to significant weight gain and increased obesity prevalence in Saudi Arabia.

Be aware that external factors like lockdowns can significantly impact your weight by reducing activity and increasing stress-eating. Proactively manage your environment and stress levels to prevent weight gain.

Psychological traits, specifically emotional stability, influence the reliability and magnitude of work completed at velocity loss thresholds, with higher emotional stability associated with performing more repetitions across thresholds.

Your mental toughness and emotional stability affect how many reps you can grind out at slow speeds. If you are less emotionally stable, you might hit velocity thresholds with fewer reps than a more stable peer. Consider this when interpreting velocity data.

GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RA) are associated with significant weight regain after discontinuation, whereas non-GLP-1 related treatments did not show statistically significant regain in this meta-analysis.

If you are on a GLP-1 medication (like semaglutide or liraglutide), stopping it is likely to cause significant weight regain due to the loss of appetite suppression. Other drugs may not show this same statistical pattern of regain in this analysis, but individual responses vary.

Low-carbohydrate diets (LCDs) and calorie restriction can improve cognitive function and combat age-related cognitive decline through mechanisms involving reduced oxidative stress, anti-inflammatory responses, and enhanced neurogenesis.

Limit carbohydrates to less than 20% of your calories, focusing on fats and proteins from meat, poultry, fish, eggs, cheese, nuts, and seeds. This approach may help combat age-related cognitive decline, especially if you have obesity or type 2 diabetes. Monitor your lipid profile as high fat intake can raise LDL.

Time-restricted eating (16/8) with ad libitum intake reduces body weight and improves lipid profiles (total cholesterol and LDL-C) in overweight females, but does not significantly reduce body fat percentage or improve diet quality compared to energy-restricted diets.

If you are an overweight female looking to lose weight and improve cholesterol, a 16/8 fasting window is effective for weight loss and lipid improvement. However, do not expect it to significantly reduce body fat percentage or improve your overall diet quality compared to a structured calorie-restricted diet. You must maintain your current activity level.

Energy-restricted diets (ERD) are superior to Time-Restricted Eating (TRE) for improving diet quality and reducing body fat percentage in overweight females, despite both interventions yielding similar weight loss.

If your primary goal is to lose body fat and improve your diet quality, a structured energy-restricted diet is more effective than time-restricted eating. Calculate your maintenance calories, subtract 500, and follow a balanced macronutrient distribution. This approach will yield better body composition results than simply restricting your eating window without counting calories.

Persistent, intrusive, and dysphoric thoughts about food (food noise) are a distinct psychological construct that can be significantly reduced by GLP-1 receptor agonists, leading to improved quality of life and weight management outcomes.

If you experience constant, intrusive, and unpleasant thoughts about food that interfere with your life, this may be 'food noise,' a distinct psychological construct. GLP-1 receptor agonists (like semaglutide) have been shown to significantly reduce this noise, leading to better weight loss outcomes and improved quality of life. This is not a failure of willpower but a treatable condition.

A machine learning model using Heterogeneous Mixture Learning Technology (HMLT) can predict 3-year body weight changes with accuracy comparable to multiple regression, while uniquely identifying subgroups where lifestyle factors have a profound impact on weight loss.

Use predictive modeling to identify which lifestyle factors (like breakfast skipping or walking speed) are most likely to impact your weight based on your age and BMI. Standard advice may not work for you; personalized simulation of lifestyle changes can improve motivation and effectiveness.

Post-exercise protein ingestion stimulates myofibrillar muscle protein synthesis (MPS) but has little to no effect on mitochondrial MPS rates during recovery from endurance exercise.

Eat protein after your endurance workout to help repair muscle fibers. However, don't expect it to directly boost your mitochondrial energy production; that is driven more by the exercise itself.

Co-ingestion of caffeine with creatine may blunt the ergogenic effects of creatine on performance, although it does not appear to alter creatine uptake into muscle.

If you use both caffeine and creatine, consider taking them at different times. Caffeine might cancel out the strength benefits of creatine, even if it doesn't stop your muscles from absorbing it. Try taking caffeine before your workout and creatine after.

Diabetes screening should begin at age 35 for all adults, or age 19 for those with specific risk factors, utilizing FPG, HbA1c, or OGTT.

If you are 35 or older, get your blood sugar checked now, even if you feel fine. If you are younger than 35 but have risk factors like abdominal obesity, start screening at 19. Early detection prevents long-term damage.

Nutrient-based dietary guidelines (e.g., limiting fat or sugar) are less effective for public understanding and policy translation than food-based or processing-related terms (e.g., 'ultra-processed foods' or specific food examples).

When following dietary guidelines, look for recommendations that specify *which* foods to limit (like sugary drinks or ultra-processed snacks) rather than just abstract nutrients (like fat or sugar). This approach is easier to understand and less likely to be manipulated by food companies through reformulation. If a guideline uses nutrient-based terms, try to translate them into specific food choices you can identify on a label.

GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) are prescribed for Type 2 Diabetes (ADM) and obesity (AOM), with semaglutide being the most commonly prescribed agent overall.

GLP-1 RAs like semaglutide are widely prescribed for diabetes and weight management. If you are considering this treatment, discuss insurance coverage and potential costs with your healthcare provider, as access can be limited by these factors.

Tirzepatide, a dual GIP/GLP-1 receptor agonist, is associated with a high signal for gastrointestinal adverse events (specifically gastroesophageal reflux disease and dyspepsia) and injection site reactions in real-world post-marketing data, alongside unexpected signals for increased appetite and food craving.

If you are taking tirzepatide, expect gastrointestinal issues like reflux or dyspepsia and injection site reactions (pain, bruising) to be common. Interestingly, while the drug is designed to suppress appetite, some users report increased appetite or food cravings in real-world reports. Monitor your blood glucose if you have diabetes, and report severe abdominal pain (pancreatitis risk) or severe injection site bleeding to your doctor immediately.

Consuming hard-textured foods significantly reduces daily energy intake and slows eating rate compared to soft-textured foods, regardless of industrial processing level.

To reduce calorie intake without counting calories, choose foods with a harder texture (e.g., whole vegetables, chewy meats, nuts) over soft, processed alternatives (e.g., purees, soft breads, smoothies). This forces slower eating and increases satiety signals, naturally leading to eating less, even if the food is processed.

Semaglutide treatment significantly reduces body weight and BMI in patients with acquired hypothalamic obesity, with effects stabilizing after 12 months.

For patients with hypothalamic obesity, semaglutide (weekly injection) is an effective treatment for significant weight loss, even with prior hypothalamic damage. Treatment should be titrated to a tolerated dose (up to 2.5 mg), and patients should be aware that stopping treatment leads to rapid weight regain, so adherence and side-effect management are critical.

Reducing saturated fat intake significantly reduces combined cardiovascular events in adults, with moderate certainty of evidence.

To lower your risk of heart attacks and other cardiovascular events, consider reducing your intake of saturated fats (found in red meat, full-fat dairy, and tropical oils) and replacing them with unsaturated fats (found in olive oil, nuts, seeds, and fish). This change is supported by moderate-quality evidence from randomized trials and shows a significant reduction in combined cardiovascular events, even if it doesn't immediately change your risk of death.

Phentermine/Topiramate combination therapy significantly reduces the rate of weight regain in patients who have undergone Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB).

If you are regaining weight after gastric bypass, ask your doctor about Phentermine/Topiramate. It is an oral medication that can help slow down weight regain. It requires a gradual dose increase to minimize side effects like dry mouth or tingling. While not as new as GLP-1 drugs, it has shown promise in keeping weight off in the years following surgery.

Orlistat is effective in promoting weight loss in patients who have undergone Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric Banding (LAGB) and have plateaued, but its use is not recommended after malabsorptive surgeries.

If you had gastric banding and your weight loss has stopped, Orlistat might help. It is an oral pill taken with meals that blocks fat absorption. It can lead to significant weight loss, but you must strictly limit fat in your diet to avoid unpleasant gastrointestinal side effects like diarrhea. It is not suitable for patients who had malabsorptive surgery.

Weight-neutral health strategies (HAES) improve psychological well-being, body image, and intuitive eating without requiring weight loss, but lack long-term evidence for physical health outcomes compared to weight-loss strategies.

If you are tired of yo-yo dieting, a weight-neutral approach (HAES) focuses on how you feel and behave rather than the number on the scale. It emphasizes intuitive eating and enjoyable movement. This can significantly improve mental health and body image, though long-term physical health benefits are still being studied.

The Mediterranean diet yields the largest estimated reduction in Major Adverse Cardiovascular Events (MACE) risk among dietary patterns for T2DM patients, primarily driven by reductions in HbA1c and Systolic Blood Pressure, although this estimate is not statistically significant.

While no diet is statistically proven to prevent heart attacks in T2DM patients in this study, the Mediterranean diet showed the strongest potential to reduce cardiovascular risk by improving blood pressure and blood sugar. It is a strong candidate for heart health, even if the statistical certainty is low.