Browse the evidence

Higher dietary and supplemental intakes of folate and vitamin B6 are associated with a significantly reduced risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) in women, with the greatest benefit observed when intakes exceed current Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA).

For women looking to support heart health, aiming for higher intakes of folate and vitamin B6 than the minimum RDA may be beneficial. This can be achieved through a diet rich in leafy greens, fortified cereals, and legumes, or by using multiple vitamin supplements. The study suggests that intakes above 400 µg/d for folate and 3 mg/d for vitamin B6 are associated with the lowest risk of coronary heart disease.

Consuming an additional daily serving of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) is associated with significantly increased risk of coronary heart disease, type II diabetes, and stroke, but has among the lowest environmental impacts.

Limit or eliminate daily consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages. This is linked to higher risks of heart disease, diabetes, and stroke. While SSBs have low environmental impact, their health risks are significant. Replace with water, unsweetened tea, or coffee.

Age-related skeletal muscle loss (sarcopenia) is fundamentally driven by 'anabolic resistance,' a blunted muscle protein synthesis response to nutritional and exercise stimuli, compounded by reduced physical activity.

As you age, your muscles become less sensitive to protein and exercise. To maintain muscle, you likely need to consume more protein per meal and engage in resistance training, as your body's natural response to these stimuli is blunted compared to when you were younger.

A dietary intervention reducing fat intake to approximately 15-20% of calories significantly improves relapse-free survival in women with early-stage breast cancer, with a greater benefit observed in those with estrogen receptor-negative (ER-negative) tumors.

For breast cancer survivors, adopting a low-fat diet (targeting ~15-20% of calories from fat) is a feasible lifestyle change that may improve survival outcomes, particularly for those with ER-negative tumors. This should be done under the guidance of a dietitian to ensure nutritional adequacy, focusing on fat gram counting and self-monitoring without necessarily aiming for weight loss.

Dietary supplement use, particularly multivitamins and calcium-containing antacids, contributes significantly to total nutrient intake in US adults and must be accounted for in epidemiological studies to avoid confounding.

If you take supplements, especially multivitamins or calcium antacids, they significantly impact your nutrient intake. Researchers and health professionals must account for this when assessing your diet, as ignoring supplements can lead to incorrect conclusions about your health and nutritional status.

Calcium-containing antacids are a significant source of supplemental calcium for many adults, often exceeding the intake from dedicated calcium supplements.

If you take antacids for heartburn, you are likely getting supplemental calcium. This contributes to your total calcium intake and should be considered when assessing your health, especially regarding bone health.

Excess body weight and adiposity are significant contributors to the development of hypertension in normotensive adults, independent of measurement artifacts caused by large arm circumference.

If you are overweight, your risk of developing high blood pressure increases significantly. This is a physiological reality of carrying excess weight, not just a measurement error. Losing weight or preventing weight gain after age 25 is a proven strategy to lower blood pressure and prevent hypertension.

Weight gain after musculoskeletal growth (age 25+) leads to increased blood pressure, while weight loss leads to decreased blood pressure, regardless of whether the individual is obese or non-obese.

Your blood pressure reacts to your weight changes. If you gain weight, your blood pressure goes up. If you lose weight, it goes down. This applies to everyone, not just those who are obese. Maintaining a stable, healthy weight is key to keeping blood pressure in check.

Higher muscular strength is inversely and independently associated with reduced all-cause and cancer mortality in men, even after adjusting for cardiorespiratory fitness.

Prioritize resistance training for major muscle groups (upper and lower body) two or three days a week. This builds muscular strength, which is independently linked to a significantly lower risk of dying from all causes and cancer, regardless of your cardio fitness level.

Fermentation and germination of cereals and legumes improve nutritional value by activating endogenous enzymes (e.g., phytase, alpha-amylase) that degrade antinutritional factors (phytates, trypsin inhibitors) and break down complex matrices, thereby increasing the bioavailability of minerals, proteins, and phytochemicals.

To maximize nutrient absorption from grains and legumes, prioritize fermented (e.g., sourdough, tempeh) or germinated (sprouted) versions over unprocessed ones. These processing methods activate enzymes that break down antinutrients like phytates, freeing up minerals and proteins for your body to use.

Fermentation reduces the glycemic index (GI) of fermented foods through the production of organic acids (lactic, acetic, propionic) which suppress starch-hydrolyzing enzymes and delay gastric emptying.

If you are managing blood sugar, consider incorporating fermented grain products like sourdough bread. The organic acids produced during fermentation can help blunt post-meal glucose spikes compared to unfermented breads.

Activation of brown and beige adipose tissue through adaptive thermogenesis increases whole-body energy expenditure, thereby protecting against diet-induced obesity and type 2 diabetes.

Your body has a biological mechanism to burn extra calories as heat through brown and beige fat. While you cannot directly 'take' this fat, understanding that it exists and can be stimulated (e.g., by cold or exercise) offers a biological pathway to increase energy expenditure beyond just diet and exercise alone. This is not a magic bullet, but a physiological lever that can support metabolic health.

Increasing access to supermarkets and places to exercise, along with improving neighborhood safety, are promising strategies to reduce obesity-related health disparities in disadvantaged populations.

For communities with high obesity rates, simply providing information on healthy eating is insufficient. Interventions must prioritize structural changes: increasing the number of supermarkets with affordable produce, ensuring safe, accessible places for physical activity, and improving neighborhood safety to encourage outdoor movement.

Initiation of sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT-2i) in patients with type 2 diabetes is associated with a significantly lower risk of hospitalization for heart failure and all-cause death compared to other glucose-lowering drugs, representing a class-wide benefit.

For patients with Type 2 Diabetes, starting an SGLT-2 inhibitor (such as canagliflozin, dapagliflozin, or empagliflozin) is associated with a significantly lower risk of heart failure hospitalization and death compared to other common diabetes medications. This benefit appears to apply to the entire class of drugs, not just one specific brand, and extends to patients without established heart disease. Patients should discuss these cardiovascular benefits with their healthcare provider when selecting a treatment plan.

High carbohydrate intake is positively associated with the abundance of the archaeal genus Methanobrevibacter and the fungal genus Candida in the human gut microbiome, whereas high protein, amino acid, and fatty acid intake is negatively associated with these taxa.

If you eat a diet high in carbohydrates, you are likely to have higher levels of Methanobrevibacter (an archaea) and Candida (a fungus) in your gut. Conversely, diets high in protein, amino acids, and fats are associated with lower levels of these specific taxa. This relationship holds for both long-term dietary habits and recent food intake, particularly for Candida.

Adding protein to carbohydrate beverages during endurance exercise does not improve performance but suppresses markers of muscle damage and reduces feelings of muscular soreness.

If you are doing long endurance events, stick to carbohydrates for fuel. You can add a small amount of protein (0.25 g/kg/hour) to help reduce muscle soreness the next day, but do not expect it to make you faster or last longer.

Pre-sleep ingestion of 30–40 g of casein protein increases overnight muscle protein synthesis and metabolic rate without influencing lipolysis.

If you want to support muscle growth overnight, eat 30–40 grams of casein protein (like cottage cheese or a casein shake) right before bed. It boosts muscle repair and metabolism without hindering fat loss.

Excise taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) effectively reduce consumer purchases, with a 10% price increase leading to a 12% decline in purchases, particularly among lower-income populations.

Government policies that increase the price of sugary drinks through excise taxes have been shown to significantly reduce their purchase, especially among lower-income groups. This suggests that fiscal interventions are a viable tool for public health officials aiming to reduce sugar consumption and its associated health risks like obesity and diabetes.

Aging causes a steady decline in muscle strength (approx. 1-2% per year after age 60) primarily due to sarcopenia (loss of muscle mass and motor units), with concentric strength declining more than eccentric strength.

If you are over 60, expect your strength to naturally drop by about 1-2% each year unless you actively work to maintain it. This loss happens faster when you shorten your muscles (concentric) than when you lengthen them (eccentric). To fight this, you need to exercise, as your body can still adapt and build strength even in old age.

Exercise activates AMPK in skeletal muscle through mechanisms involving both LKB1-dependent (energy stress) and LKB1-independent (calcium-dependent) pathways, with the degree of activation depending on the intensity and type of exercise relative to the individual's fitness level.

Exercise activates your body's energy sensor (AMPK). However, your body adapts to the specific type of exercise you do. If you only do endurance training, strength training might be needed to trigger a strong AMPK response, and vice versa. Varying your exercise types can help maintain metabolic sensitivity.

Exogenous advanced glycation end products (AGEs) from heat-processed foods contribute significantly to systemic AGE accumulation, promoting oxidative stress, inflammation, and insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes.

Limit high-heat cooking methods like grilling, frying, and baking. Opt for moist-heat cooking (steaming, boiling, poaching) to reduce dietary AGE intake, which may help lower systemic inflammation and improve insulin sensitivity in type 2 diabetes.

Insufficient sleep reduces dietary restraint in women, leading to significant weight gain, whereas men maintain weight gain regardless of sleep duration due to higher baseline caloric intake and lack of dietary restraint.

Women may be more vulnerable to weight gain from poor sleep because they lose their natural dietary restraint. If you are a woman, prioritizing 7-9 hours of sleep is especially important to prevent overeating.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) prevalence in the US adult population is approximately 19.0%, with strong independent associations to obesity, diabetes, insulin resistance, and dyslipidemia.

NAFLD is a common condition affecting nearly 1 in 5 US adults, strongly linked to obesity, diabetes, and insulin resistance. It is often silent, meaning normal blood tests do not rule it out. Focus on metabolic health through weight management and blood sugar control to reduce liver fat.

Prolonging the nightly fasting interval (≥11-13 hours) is associated with reduced odds of elevated HbA1c, lower inflammatory markers, and reduced breast cancer recurrence risk.

Aim for at least 13 hours of fasting between dinner and breakfast. This simple timing strategy is associated with lower inflammation and potentially better long-term health outcomes, including reduced cancer recurrence risk.