Browse the evidence

Coffee consumption (caffeinated and decaffeinated) is inversely associated with liver fibrosis, abnormal liver function tests, and hepatocellular carcinoma risk in NAFLD patients.

If you tolerate it, drinking coffee (caffeinated or decaf) may help protect your liver from scarring and cancer. It is a simple, low-cost addition to a liver-healthy lifestyle.

HMB supplementation provides minor, inconsistent support for increasing or retaining lean soft-tissue mass (LSTM) in older or clinical populations, but has no evidence of improving physical function.

If you are older or clinically frail, HMB might offer a small benefit for retaining lean mass, especially if you are not exercising. However, do not expect it to improve your strength or physical function. It is not a substitute for exercise or adequate protein intake. If you are healthy and exercising, HMB likely adds no value.

Transdermal TRT has a minimal or inconsistent effect on reducing fat mass (FM) in men with spinal cord injury, unlike its consistent effect on increasing lean body mass.

While testosterone therapy will likely help you build muscle, don't expect it to automatically melt away fat if you have a spinal cord injury. Your reduced mobility and lower energy expenditure make fat loss harder to achieve through hormones alone. You may need to focus more on dietary adjustments and any possible physical activity to see changes in fat mass, even as your muscle mass improves.

Liraglutide attenuates nicotine-induced dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens (NAc), potentially reducing the addictive properties of nicotine while maintaining weight loss benefits.

GLP-1 drugs might reduce the 'high' or addictive feeling associated with nicotine, which could make it easier for smokers to quit or use nicotine-based therapies without the usual addiction risks.

Nutritional interventions, including supplements, do not provide additional benefit to mobility outcomes when combined with physical activity in older adults.

Do not rely on nutritional supplements to improve mobility. Focus on physical activity instead, as supplements have shown no additional benefit when combined with exercise for this population.

Brown adipose tissue (BAT) activation and the 'browning' of white adipose tissue (WAT) represent a potential therapeutic avenue for increasing energy expenditure and reducing body weight, although its clinical relevance in humans remains debated.

You can potentially increase your energy expenditure by activating brown fat, but this is not a guaranteed or standalone solution for weight loss. Strategies like cold exposure and sustained physical activity may promote 'browning' of white fat, turning it into heat-producing tissue. However, since its clinical impact is still debated, focus on these as complementary tools to a balanced diet and regular exercise, not replacements.

Inhibition of the p38 MAPK pathway in white adipose tissue promotes the reprogramming of white adipocytes to beige adipocytes, leading to resistance against diet-induced obesity.

Research suggests that targeting specific signaling pathways like p38 MAPK could potentially help convert energy-storing white fat into energy-burning beige fat, offering a potential future therapeutic strategy for obesity.

Consuming milk or fortified milk does not improve muscle mass, strength, or physical performance in older adults compared to control groups, regardless of whether it is combined with resistance exercise.

If you are an older adult trying to maintain or build muscle, drinking milk or fortified milk alone, or even with exercise, has not been shown to provide additional benefits over your normal diet or exercise routine. Focus on ensuring you meet your overall daily protein needs (potentially >1.0 g/kg body weight) through a balanced diet, as milk alone is not a magic bullet for sarcopenia.

Promoting adipogenesis (the creation of new, functional adipocytes) through therapeutic agents can improve lipid storage capacity and prevent the transition from MHO to MUO by avoiding adipocyte dysfunction, hypoxia, and inflammation.

Current lifestyle interventions do not directly target adipogenesis. However, maintaining a healthy weight and avoiding excessive fat accumulation may help preserve adipocyte function. Future therapies may target transcription factors like PPAR-γ to promote healthy fat storage.

GLP-1 receptor agonists (semaglutide, tirzepatide) can cause excessive appetite suppression leading to restrictive eating behaviors, severe food aversion, dehydration, and acute kidney injury when used without intensive clinical monitoring.

If you are taking GLP-1 agonists (like Ozempic or Mounjaro), do not use them without regular medical supervision. Watch for signs of extreme food aversion, dehydration, or rapid weight loss. If you experience severe side effects like kidney issues or inability to eat, contact your doctor immediately. These drugs are powerful and require monitoring, especially if you have a history of eating disorders or have had bariatric surgery.

Individuals with the FADS haplotype D (high-efficiency LC-PUFA biosynthesis) face increased susceptibility to severe COVID-19 when consuming a modern diet high in omega-6 fatty acids, due to the resulting proinflammatory state and cytokine storm.

If you have a family history of high inflammation or belong to a group with higher prevalence of FADS haplotype D (often correlated with African or Hispanic ancestry), prioritize balancing your fatty acid intake. Reduce oils high in omega-6 (corn, soybean, sunflower) and increase omega-3 sources (fish, flax, walnuts) to lower the risk of severe inflammatory responses to infections like COVID-19.

High intake of omega-6 fatty acids and fructose, combined with obesity, creates a chronic low-grade inflammatory state that increases susceptibility to and severity of COVID-19.

To reduce the risk of severe illness from respiratory infections, focus on reducing ultra-processed foods, sugary drinks, and seed oils. Prioritize whole foods, fruits, vegetables, and healthy fats to lower chronic inflammation, which is a key driver of disease severity.

Auricular acupoint stimulation does not significantly reduce hip circumference or waist-to-hip ratio in overweight and obese adults.

Do not expect auricular stimulation to change your hip size or waist-to-hip ratio. It primarily affects overall weight, body fat percentage, and waist circumference.

GIP (Glucose-dependent Insulinotropic Polypeptide) promotes fat storage and has unfavorable vascular effects, contrasting with the protective effects of GLP-1.

High-GI foods trigger GIP, which may promote fat storage and inflammation. Avoiding high-GI foods helps minimize GIP release, potentially aiding in weight management and reducing cardiovascular risk factors associated with GIP, such as hepatic steatosis and atherosclerosis.

Environmental cold exposure and specific bioactive compounds (e.g., resveratrol, menthol) induce the browning of white adipose tissue (WAT) and activation of brown adipose tissue (BAT), thereby increasing energy expenditure and improving metabolic health.

You can potentially boost your metabolism by exposing yourself to cold or consuming specific compounds like resveratrol or menthol. These actions encourage your body to convert energy-storing white fat into energy-burning brown or beige fat. While cold exposure is effective, it may be uncomfortable, so exploring dietary sources of these compounds or exercise-induced browning might be more sustainable alternatives for long-term metabolic health.

Obesity and aging are associated with the 'whitening' of brown adipose tissue, characterized by lipid accumulation, loss of mitochondria, and impaired thermogenesis, which contributes to metabolic dysfunction.

As you age or gain weight, your body's ability to burn fat as heat (via brown fat) naturally declines, contributing to further weight gain and metabolic issues. This process is called 'whitening.' While you cannot reverse aging, you can potentially slow this decline by maintaining physical activity and exposing yourself to cold, which may help preserve your brown fat function and metabolic health.

Peanut protein supplementation (30g/day) does not significantly enhance resistance training adaptations (strength, hypertrophy, or myofibrillar protein synthesis) in younger adults compared to a control group.

If you are a younger adult starting resistance training, adding 30g of peanut protein daily on top of your training will not give you extra muscle or strength benefits compared to not taking it. It is not harmful, but it is not a magic bullet for hypertrophy in this demographic. Focus on your training and overall protein intake rather than specific plant-based supplements for enhanced results.

Aging blunts the ability for serial sarcomerogenesis (addition of new sarcomeres in series), leading to shortened fascicle length and impaired muscle mechanical function, primarily due to age-related impairments in mechanotransduction pathways like mTOR, IGF-1, and SRF signaling.

For older adults, maintaining or improving muscle function may require specific interventions that promote muscle lengthening, such as eccentric resistance training or chronic stretching. While muscle mass loss is common, the shortening of muscle fascicles (due to loss of serial sarcomeres) contributes significantly to stiffness and reduced power. Targeted training that emphasizes the lengthening phase of movements may help mitigate these age-related architectural changes, though the response may be slower or smaller than in younger individuals.

Barriers to implementing weight management services in community pharmacies include lack of pharmacist time, lack of private consultation areas, and difficulty in following up with patients.

To effectively provide weight management services, pharmacies need to address operational barriers such as lack of time and private consultation areas. This may involve scheduling dedicated time for counseling and designating private spaces for patient interactions.

Women are more susceptible to the association between dietary cholesterol intake and serum cholesterol levels than men.

Women in this population show a stronger link between dietary cholesterol and blood cholesterol levels than men. Women may benefit from paying closer attention to cholesterol intake levels.

Dietary fatty acids (Saturated, Monounsaturated, and Polyunsaturated) are not significantly associated with serum lipid concentrations in this population.

In this population, changing saturated or unsaturated fat intake did not significantly change blood cholesterol levels. Focus may be better placed on dietary cholesterol intake.

Skeletal muscle releases myokines (such as Irisin and Myostatin) during exercise, which mediate interorgan crosstalk to improve metabolic health, regulate adipose tissue, and protect against cardiovascular disease.

Understand that exercise is a systemic therapy. When you move, your muscles release signals that improve the health of your heart, brain, and fat tissue, not just the muscles themselves.

Tirzepatide (TRZD) may increase the risk of cancer progression, specifically pancreatic and medullary thyroid cancer (MTC), through GLP-1R/GIPR-mediated activation of oncogenic pathways (PI3K/Akt/mTOR, Ras-Raf-ERK) and calcitonin release, particularly in patients with prior pancreatitis or family history of MTC.

If you have a personal or family history of Medullary Thyroid Cancer (MTC) or Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia type 2 (MEN2), you should not use Tirzepatide. If you have a history of pancreatitis, use with caution and monitor for symptoms. For other diabetic patients, the long-term cancer risk is currently unknown, but the drug is approved for weight loss and glucose control. Discuss your specific cancer history with your provider before starting.

Tirzepatide (TRZD) and other GLP-1R/GIPR agonists may exhibit anti-cancer properties by sensitizing cancer cells to chemotherapy, inducing apoptosis, and inhibiting proliferation via pathways like PI3K/Akt/mTOR and AMPK, particularly in pancreatic, breast, and colorectal cancers.

Current research shows that drugs like Liraglutide and Exenatide can kill cancer cells or make chemo work better in lab mice. However, there is no proof yet that Tirzepatide does this in humans. Do not use these drugs as a cancer treatment outside of clinical trials.