Browse the evidence

Reducing daily sedentary time to less than 2 hours is associated with significantly higher odds of successful aging in middle-aged and older adults, independent of physical activity levels.

If you are middle-aged or older, try to keep your total daily sitting time under 2 hours. This recommendation stands even if you are already exercising. The goal is to minimize the total time spent in sedentary postures, as this is independently linked to better physical, psychological, and social aging outcomes.

In patients with Type 2 Diabetes and NAFLD, adding liraglutide or sitagliptin to metformin significantly reduces intrahepatic lipid, visceral adipose tissue, and body weight, whereas adding insulin glargine does not.

If you have Type 2 Diabetes and fatty liver, adding a GLP-1 agonist (like liraglutide) or a DPP-4 inhibitor (like sitagliptin) to your metformin can significantly reduce liver fat and belly fat. Adding insulin, however, does not appear to reduce liver or belly fat, even though it controls blood sugar.

Reduction in body weight is an independent determinant of reduced intrahepatic lipid in patients with T2DM and NAFLD, regardless of the specific antidiabetic agent used.

Losing weight is the key to reducing liver fat, regardless of whether you use a GLP-1, a DPP-4 inhibitor, or lifestyle changes. The drug helps you lose weight, and the weight loss reduces the liver fat.

Adopting a vegan diet is associated with significantly lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure and a lower prevalence of hypertension compared to a meat-based diet, primarily mediated by a lower body mass index (BMI).

If you are looking to lower your blood pressure, adopting a vegan diet is associated with significantly lower rates of hypertension and lower blood pressure readings compared to meat-eating diets. The study indicates this benefit is largely driven by a lower body weight (BMI). However, vegans in the study also tended to have lower sodium and alcohol intake, suggesting that dietary quality supports the weight-related benefits. To replicate these results, focus on a whole-food plant-based diet that naturally supports a healthy weight.

Time-restricted feeding (TRF) or early meal timing improves metabolic health (weight loss, insulin sensitivity, glucose control) by aligning peripheral tissue clocks with feeding rhythms, whereas mistimed feeding (eating during the inactive phase) causes circadian misalignment and metabolic dysfunction.

Align your eating window with your active hours. Prioritize eating the majority of your calories earlier in the day (e.g., breakfast and lunch) and finish eating several hours before bedtime. This extends your overnight fast and aligns your peripheral metabolic clocks with your feeding, improving insulin sensitivity and weight management. Avoid late-night snacking, especially high-carb meals, as this causes circadian misalignment and metabolic dysfunction regardless of total calories.

Adherence to a prudent dietary pattern, characterized by high intake of wholemeal bread, fruits, vegetables, and fish, is associated with significantly reduced all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in middle-aged adults.

Adopt a dietary pattern rich in wholemeal bread, fruits, vegetables, and fish. This combination is linked to lower mortality rates in middle-aged adults, regardless of gender. This approach is more predictive of health outcomes than focusing on single nutrients like fat or carbohydrates.

A 12-month moderate-intensity home-based exercise program significantly reduces stress-induced systolic and diastolic blood pressure reactivity in older family caregivers compared to a nutrition education control.

If you are a caregiver feeling stressed, try adding 30-40 minutes of brisk walking, 4 times a week. You don't need a gym membership; do it at home or in your neighborhood. Use a phone app or a simple watch to keep your heart rate up (you should be able to talk but not sing). This specific routine has been shown to help lower your blood pressure spikes when you are under emotional stress.

A 12-month moderate-intensity home-based exercise program significantly improves rated sleep quality in older family caregivers compared to a nutrition education control.

If you are a caregiver struggling with sleep, try adding 30-40 minutes of brisk walking, 4 times a week. This specific routine has been shown to improve sleep quality over a year. Start slowly and use phone check-ins to stay on track.

A 12-month moderate-intensity home-based exercise program significantly increases total energy expenditure and time spent in physical activity in older family caregivers compared to a nutrition education control.

To increase your daily energy expenditure, aim for 4 sessions of 30-40 minutes of brisk walking per week. This specific routine has been shown to significantly increase total energy expenditure in older caregivers.

Supervised exercise programs significantly improve maximal walking time and distance in patients with intermittent claudication compared to usual care or placebo, with benefits sustained for up to two years.

If you have leg pain when walking due to narrowed arteries, do not stop moving. Engage in a supervised exercise program, walking until you feel pain, resting, and repeating. Doing this at least twice a week can significantly increase how far and how long you can walk, with benefits lasting for years. This is a low-risk, effective first-line treatment.

Resistance exercise stimulates muscle protein synthesis (MPS), but net muscle growth requires a sustained positive balance between MPS and muscle protein breakdown (MPB), which is best achieved by consuming adequate protein (1.6 g/kg/day) distributed across meals rather than in a single bolus.

To build muscle, lift weights and eat enough protein (about 1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight daily). Don't obsess over drinking a shake immediately after your workout. Instead, spread your protein intake evenly across 3 or 4 meals throughout the day to keep your body in a growth state.

Low-carbohydrate diets (defined as <30% energy from CHO or <50-100g/day) acutely reduce fasting glucose, insulin, and triglycerides while promoting rapid initial weight loss, primarily through glycogen depletion and increased fat oxidation.

If you reduce carbohydrates to under 100g per day, you will likely see a quick drop in weight (mostly water/glycogen initially) and improved blood sugar markers. This is driven by lower insulin levels allowing your body to burn fat. However, this is an acute effect, and long-term weight loss depends on total calorie intake.

Consuming complex, whole plant foods containing diverse dietary fibers and phytonutrients increases gastrointestinal tract (GIT) microbiota diversity and stability more effectively than consuming purified fiber isolates or ultra-processed foods.

Prioritize whole plant foods (fruits, vegetables, whole grains) over isolated fiber supplements or highly processed foods. The physical structure and variety of fibers and phytonutrients in whole foods are essential for feeding a diverse and healthy gut microbiome, which in turn supports metabolic health and reduces inflammation.

A 3-month low-calorie lacto-ovo vegetarian diet and a low-calorie Mediterranean diet produce equivalent reductions in body weight, BMI, and fat mass in overweight omnivores.

If you are overweight and want to lose weight, both a low-calorie vegetarian diet (including eggs and dairy) and a low-calorie Mediterranean diet will work equally well over 3 months. The key is the caloric deficit, not the specific exclusion of animal products, provided you follow a structured plan.

Strict adherence to a gluten-free diet is the primary determinant of intestinal mucosal recovery in adults with celiac disease, with non-adherence being the main cause of persistent intestinal damage.

For adults with celiac disease, the single most important factor for healing the gut is strict, lifelong avoidance of gluten. While blood tests (EMA) are good at detecting active damage, they are poor at ruling it out. The most reliable, non-invasive way to ensure your gut is healing is to maintain strict dietary compliance, verified by trained interviews, rather than relying solely on serology or feeling asymptomatic.

Weight loss reverses the metabolic and autonomic alterations associated with obesity, including sympathetic overactivity.

Achieving weight loss is not just about reducing mass; it actively reverses the harmful nervous system adaptations (like high sympathetic tone) that contribute to heart disease risk in obesity.

Diets high in ultra-processed foods (UPF) have the least healthful nutritional profile (higher in fat, saturated fat, sugar, and sodium; lower in fiber and protein), even if UPF items themselves do not always have the worst profile.

When evaluating food, look at the whole diet, not just individual items. A diet high in ultra-processed foods tends to be less healthy (more fat/sugar, less fiber/protein). However, not every UPF item is bad; it is the overall pattern of consumption that matters.

Oral supplementation with beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate (HMB) increases plasma concentrations to levels sufficient to activate mTORC1 and stimulate protein synthesis, whereas endogenous conversion from oral leucine fails to reach these effective thresholds.

If your goal is maximizing muscle protein synthesis via the mTORC1 pathway, direct HMB supplementation is more effective than relying on your body to convert Leucine into HMB. Direct HMB intake raises plasma levels to ~400 µM, while Leucine only raises it to ~10 µM, which is insufficient for significant anabolic effects.

Maintaining euhydration and minimizing dehydration (body mass loss <2%) during exercise in the heat is critical to prevent impaired aerobic performance and exacerbated cardiovascular strain.

Start your event well-hydrated by drinking 6 mL of water per kg of body weight every 2-3 hours before you start. During the event, drink fluids containing 0.5-0.7 g/L of sodium. Do not rely solely on thirst, as you will likely be dehydrated by the time you feel it, which hurts performance.

Pre-cooling strategies (e.g., cooling vests, ice slurry, cold water immersion) can improve endurance performance in hot environments by reducing cardiovascular strain and heat storage.

For long events in the heat, try pre-cooling. Wear a cooling vest or drink an ice slurry (about 1 liter) before you start. This helps your body handle the heat better. Avoid cooling your legs too much if you need to sprint, as it might slow you down.

Replacing saturated fatty acids (SAFA) with unsaturated fatty acids (specifically polyunsaturated fatty acids, PUFA) lowers LDL-C and reduces cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk.

To lower your LDL cholesterol and heart disease risk, swap saturated fats (found in fatty meats, butter, and full-fat dairy) for unsaturated fats (found in vegetable oils, nuts, and seeds). Specifically, replacing 5% of your daily calories from saturated fat with polyunsaturated fat can reduce heart disease risk by about 10%. Avoid coconut oil for this purpose, as it raises LDL cholesterol.

Adopting the Portfolio Diet, which combines viscous fiber, plant protein, nuts, and phytosterols, lowers LDL-C by approximately 17-30%, comparable to low-dose statins.

To significantly lower LDL cholesterol, adopt the Portfolio Diet. This involves consuming 20g of viscous fiber (from oats/barley), 50g of plant protein (soy/legumes), 42g of nuts, and 2g of phytosterols (from fortified margarine) daily, while keeping saturated fat below 7% of total energy. This combination can lower LDL-C by 17-30%, comparable to low-dose statins.

Carbohydrate-electrolyte drinks are superior to water alone for restoring fluid balance and endurance capacity post-exercise, particularly when fluid losses are significant.

After intense exercise, drink a carbohydrate-electrolyte solution (around 6-8% carbs) rather than just water. This helps your body absorb the fluid better, reduces urine loss, and restores your ability to perform again faster.

Immobility and bedrest during COVID-19 hospitalization significantly accelerate muscle loss, with ICU stays associated with an 18.5% decrease in rectus femoris muscle mass within 7 days.

If you are recovering in the hospital, ask for early mobilization. Even small movements can prevent the rapid muscle loss (up to 18.5% in a week) seen in ICU patients.