Browse the evidence

Regular exercise training in older adults largely negates the age-associated decline in skeletal muscle mitochondrial capacity, thereby preserving muscle health, insulin sensitivity, and physical function.

If you are an older adult, regular exercise training can significantly improve your muscle's energy production (mitochondrial capacity), insulin sensitivity, and physical performance, effectively counteracting many negative effects of aging. Focus on consistent physical activity rather than accepting decline as inevitable.

A brief (3-week) diet intervention emphasizing increased intake of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats while reducing processed foods, saturated fats, and refined sugars significantly reduces symptoms of depression in young adults with elevated baseline symptoms.

If you are a young adult struggling with low mood, try a 3-week experiment: significantly increase your intake of vegetables (5 servings/day), fruits, whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats (nuts, olive oil), while cutting back on processed foods, sugar, and fatty meats. You do not need to be perfect; even partial adherence can lead to noticeable improvements in depressive symptoms within weeks. Consider using a meal plan or getting help with grocery shopping to make it easier.

HMB supplementation enhances skeletal muscle mass, strength, and hypertrophy when combined with resistance or strenuous exercise, particularly in untrained individuals and the elderly.

If you are new to exercise or older, taking 3g of HMB daily alongside your resistance training may help you build muscle and strength faster than training alone. If you are already an elite strength athlete, you likely won't see much benefit from HMB alone. Do not expect muscle growth from HMB if you are sedentary.

Adherence to a Mediterranean Diet (MD) reduces the incidence and severity of metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease by mitigating systemic oxidative stress and chronic low-grade inflammation through the intake of polyphenols, fiber, and unsaturated fatty acids.

Replace processed foods and saturated fats with a diet centered on vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, and olive oil. Prioritize fiber-rich foods to support gut microbiota and reduce inflammation. This dietary pattern is a proven strategy to lower the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome.

Higher levels of physical activity are associated with a lower risk of incident obesity, coronary heart disease, and type 2 diabetes in adults.

Engage in regular physical activity to significantly lower your risk of developing obesity, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes. You do not need to be an elite athlete; higher levels of activity correlate with lower risk. Focus on consistency and increasing your overall activity volume over time.

Tirzepatide, a dual GIP/GLP-1 receptor agonist, produces dose-dependent reductions in HbA1c (up to 2.4%) and body weight (up to 11.3 kg) in patients with Type 2 Diabetes, with efficacy superior to the GLP-1 receptor agonist dulaglutide.

If you have Type 2 Diabetes, Tirzepatide is a once-weekly injection that significantly lowers blood sugar (HbA1c) and promotes substantial weight loss, outperforming existing GLP-1 drugs like dulaglutide in clinical trials. It works by mimicking two gut hormones (GIP and GLP-1) to improve insulin response and reduce appetite. While gastrointestinal side effects like nausea are common, they are usually mild and can be managed by starting with a low dose and increasing gradually. This treatment is suitable for adults with T2DM, including those already taking metformin.

Regular physical activity, particularly aerobic exercises like Tai Chi and Pilates, improves sleep quality in college students, whereas sedentary behavior and high screen time reduce it.

Incorporate regular aerobic exercise, such as Tai Chi or Pilates, into your weekly routine. Avoid sedentary behavior and excessive screen time, as these are linked to poorer sleep quality.

Accumulating up to 10,000 steps per day is associated with a lower risk of all-cause, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and cancer mortality, as well as reduced incidence of CVD and cancer.

Aim for more steps, but don't obsess over hitting 10,000 if it feels like a chore. The research shows significant mortality and disease risk reductions occur well before that number. Focus on increasing your daily average from your current baseline; every 2,000 steps adds benefit, with the curve flattening around 10,000.

Low muscle mass is a significant predictor of poor clinical outcomes, including higher surgical complications, longer hospital stays, reduced physical function, and shorter survival, across diverse patient populations in inpatient, outpatient, and long-term care settings.

For patients in clinical settings, low muscle mass is a critical risk factor for poor outcomes, regardless of body weight. Healthcare providers should prioritize measuring muscle mass (via CT, DXA, or BIA) over BMI alone to identify at-risk individuals. Interventions should focus on preventing and reversing muscle loss through multimodal approaches, including exercise and nutrition, to improve survival and reduce healthcare costs.

Plant-based diets significantly reduce the risk of chronic diseases (cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, certain cancers) and have a lower environmental impact (greenhouse gas emissions, land/water use) compared to meat-containing diets.

Adopting a plant-based diet offers significant health benefits, including reduced risk of heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, while also being more environmentally sustainable. This makes it a viable long-term strategy for overall health, even if performance benefits are neutral.

Adherence to high-quality dietary patterns, specifically the Mediterranean diet, is associated with a significantly lower risk of incident frailty in older adults.

Focus on eating more fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and olive oil while reducing meat and dairy. This pattern is consistently linked to lower frailty risk in older adults. You do not need to be perfect; even moderate adherence shows benefits.

Protein supplementation alone does not improve functional frailty outcomes (lean body mass, strength, gait speed) in pre-frail or frail older adults, but when combined with exercise training, it yields greater benefits than exercise alone.

Do not rely on protein supplements alone to fight frailty. They are ineffective without physical activity. Combine protein supplementation (up to 32g/day) with exercise training to see improvements in muscle mass and strength.

Mean propulsive velocity (MPV) provides a highly accurate estimate of relative load (%1RM) in the full back squat, allowing for real-time load monitoring and prescription without the need for traditional 1RM testing.

Use a velocity sensor to track your squat reps. If you can move a weight faster than usual (higher MPV), it is effectively lighter than you think, so increase the weight. If you move it slower, decrease the weight. This replaces the need to test your max every few weeks.

Early time-restricted feeding (eTRF), defined as an 8-hour eating window between 06:00 and 15:00, significantly improves insulin sensitivity, reduces fasting glucose, lowers body mass and adiposity, and reduces inflammation in healthy non-obese adults compared to ad libitum eating.

If you are healthy and not obese, try eating all your meals within an 8-hour window that ends by 3 PM (e.g., 7 AM to 3 PM). You do not need to count calories or restrict food types, just the timing. This specific timing window has been shown to improve insulin sensitivity and reduce body fat more effectively than eating later in the day or eating whenever you want.

Improving cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is a more effective strategy for reducing mortality risk and improving pancreatic beta-cell function in metabolic syndrome than weight-loss strategies focused solely on fat loss.

Stop obsessing over the scale. Focus on getting fitter. Activities that raise your heart rate and improve your cardiorespiratory fitness (like brisk walking, cycling, or swimming) are more critical for your long-term health and survival than just trying to lose pounds. You can be 'fit and fat' and have better health outcomes than being 'unfit and thin.'

Professional football players with limited game time (<60 minutes) require a compensatory training session (MD+1C) the day after competition to replicate competition-level external loads, as standard recovery sessions fail to maintain their high-intensity running and acceleration/deceleration capacities.

If you are a coach or athlete managing a team where not everyone plays the full 90 minutes, do not give non-starters a passive recovery session the day after the game. Instead, design a high-intensity small-sided game session that mimics the accelerations and decelerations of a match. This compensatory training is essential to maintain the fitness levels of players who get limited game time, preventing them from falling behind their starters in physical capacity.

Short sleep duration (defined as <7 hours per night) is consistently associated with an increased risk of developing obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in adults and children, with a dose-response relationship where shorter sleep correlates with higher risk.

Aim for 7-8 hours of sleep per night. Consistently getting less than 7 hours is a significant risk factor for gaining weight and developing type 2 diabetes. This is not just about feeling tired; it affects your body's energy balance and insulin sensitivity. Protecting your sleep duration is as critical for metabolic health as your diet and exercise habits.

For endurance events lasting longer than 2.5 hours, ingesting 60-70 g/h of carbohydrates (up to 90 g/h if tolerable) improves performance by maximizing exogenous carbohydrate oxidation rates.

If your race is longer than 2.5 hours, aim to consume 60-70 grams of carbohydrates per hour. If you can handle it, try up to 90 grams per hour. To maximize absorption and reduce stomach upset, use drinks that contain both glucose and fructose. Practice this exact intake during your long training runs to ensure your stomach can handle it on race day.

Following the thirst mechanism and drinking ad libidum (400-800 mL/h) is the recommended hydration strategy for endurance athletes to avoid exercise-associated hyponatremia (EAH).

Don't force yourself to drink large amounts of water if you aren't thirsty. Instead, drink when you feel thirsty, aiming for about 400-800 mL per hour. If you sweat a lot or exercise for a long time, include some sodium in your drinks (300-600 mg/h) to help prevent low sodium levels.

Adopting a flexitarian or semi-vegetarian diet (SVD) is associated with lower body weight, reduced BMI, and lower body fat percentage compared to non-vegetarian diets.

If you want to lose weight or improve metabolic health, you don't need to go fully vegan. Adopting a flexitarian diet—where you eat meat occasionally (e.g., less than once a week) or exclude red meat but eat poultry/fish—is associated with lower BMI and body fat compared to standard non-vegetarian diets. Focus on reducing red and processed meats while increasing plant-based foods.

Adopting a flexitarian or semi-vegetarian diet (SVD) is associated with a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes and improved metabolic health markers (glucose, insulin, blood pressure) compared to non-vegetarian diets.

To lower your risk of type 2 diabetes and improve metabolic health, consider a flexitarian diet. This involves eating meat occasionally (e.g., less than once a week) or excluding red meat while eating poultry and fish. Studies show this pattern is associated with lower diabetes prevalence and better blood pressure control compared to standard non-vegetarian diets.

Adherence to a Mediterranean Diet (MedDiet) improves insulin sensitivity and glycemic control in obese individuals with type 2 diabetes or insulin resistance, independent of significant weight loss.

Adopt a Mediterranean-style eating pattern focusing on extra-virgin olive oil, nuts, vegetables, and whole grains. This specific combination improves insulin sensitivity more effectively than standard low-fat diets, even if you don't lose a lot of weight. Prioritize food quality over strict calorie counting for metabolic health.

Daily self-weighing is an effective, low-cost intervention for preventing or slowing weight gain during periods of lifestyle disruption, such as home confinement.

Use a bathroom scale every morning. This is an inexpensive, easy tool to help prevent or slow weight gain during confinement. If you have access to an electronic scale, it can be integrated into telemedicine for remote monitoring.

Specific dietary components, including omega-3 fatty acids, Mediterranean diet patterns, B-vitamins, probiotics, polyphenols, and weight loss, acutely and chronically improve HRV, while high saturated/trans fats and high glycemic carbohydrates reduce it.

To improve your HRV, focus on a Mediterranean-style diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids (found in fish), B-vitamins, probiotics, and polyphenols. Avoid high intakes of saturated and trans fats, as well as high glycemic carbohydrates, which have been shown to reduce HRV. Weight loss is also associated with improved HRV. These dietary changes support autonomic nervous system balance and reduce inflammation, leading to better overall health.