Browse the evidence

Doubling the proportion of vegetarian meal options available in a cafeteria from 25% to 50% significantly increases the selection and sales of vegetarian meals while decreasing meat meal sales, with the largest effect observed among diners with the lowest prior levels of vegetarian consumption.

To encourage more plant-based eating in a cafeteria, simply double the number of vegetarian dishes offered relative to meat dishes (e.g., from 1 out of 4 options to 2 out of 4). This simple change in availability significantly increases vegetarian sales, especially among those who rarely eat vegetarian meals, without negatively impacting total sales or causing rebound meat consumption at other meals.

Semaglutide 2.4 mg administered subcutaneously once weekly reduces major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in patients with established cardiovascular disease and overweight or obesity, independent of diabetes status.

If you have established heart disease and are overweight or obese, but do not have diabetes, semaglutide 2.4 mg once weekly is a treatment option being tested to reduce your risk of heart attack, stroke, or cardiovascular death. It is taken as a weekly injection, started at a low dose to minimize stomach side effects, and used alongside standard heart health care. This approach targets obesity as a direct cause of cardiovascular risk, independent of blood sugar levels.

Low Energy Availability (LEA) causes Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S), leading to impaired performance, poor bone health, and increased injury risk in both male and female athletes.

Ensure your daily food intake covers both your training energy expenditure and your body's basic health needs. If you are losing weight unintentionally, feeling fatigued, or getting injured often, you may have Low Energy Availability. Consult a sports dietitian to increase energy availability.

Lifestyle interventions maintaining a carbohydrate-rich diet are safe and effective for preventing type 2 diabetes in high-risk individuals.

To prevent diabetes, focus on eating more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and stay active. You do not need to eliminate carbohydrates; in fact, a balanced diet with moderate carbs is safer and just as effective for long-term health.

Yoga interventions significantly improve physical function (balance, lower body flexibility, lower limb strength) and health-related quality of life (depression, mental/physical health, sleep quality, vitality) in older adults (mean age 60+) compared to both inactive and active controls.

If you are over 60, incorporating yoga into your routine can significantly boost your balance, flexibility, and strength, while also improving your mood, sleep, and overall quality of life. You don't need to be flexible to start; various types of yoga, including chair-based options, are available and effective. Aim for regular sessions to see these benefits, and consider it a valuable part of your physical activity guidelines alongside other exercises.

Increasing leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) in later adulthood (ages 40-61) after a period of inactivity reduces all-cause, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and cancer-related mortality to levels comparable to those who maintain high activity levels from adolescence.

If you have been inactive for most of your life, starting or significantly increasing your physical activity between ages 40 and 61 can drastically lower your risk of dying from any cause, heart disease, or cancer. You do not need to have been an athlete since youth to gain these life-extending benefits; the key is to become active in later adulthood.

Simple step-count monitoring interventions (pedometers) significantly increase daily step counts in community-dwelling adults, with effects sustained for up to 3-4 years, whereas more complex interventions (body-worn trackers, smartphone apps, counseling, or incentives) do not provide additional benefit and may be less effective.

Use a simple pedometer. It works. You don't need a smartphone app, a body-worn tracker, or expensive counseling to increase your steps. The data shows that simple step-count monitoring leads to sustained increases in physical activity for years, while more complex interventions offer no extra benefit and may even be less effective.

Caffeine supplementation (3-6 mg/kg body mass) taken 60 minutes before exercise consistently improves endurance performance by approximately 3.2% and high-intensity sprint performance by approximately 6.5%.

Take 3-6 mg of caffeine per kg of body weight about an hour before your event. For a 70kg athlete, this is roughly 210-420mg. This dose is proven to improve endurance by ~3% and high-intensity efforts by ~6.5%. Do not exceed this dose, as higher amounts increase side effects like anxiety and nausea without improving performance. This works regardless of whether you are a regular coffee drinker.

Weight loss of 5-10% significantly improves reproductive outcomes (ovulation, menstrual regularity) and metabolic markers (insulin resistance, lipids) in women with PCOS, regardless of the specific dietary composition used to achieve the weight loss.

Aim for a 5-10% reduction in body weight through a moderate energy deficit (500-750 kcal/day). You do not need to follow a specific restrictive diet (like low-carb or low-fat) to see benefits; any dietary approach that helps you achieve this weight loss will improve insulin resistance, lipids, and reproductive health.

Higher adherence to the Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS) is associated with a statistically significant reduction in all-cause mortality.

Adhere to a Mediterranean-style eating pattern, emphasizing vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains, fish, and olive oil, with moderate alcohol consumption if applicable. This dietary pattern is associated with a significant reduction in the risk of death from all causes.

Exercise is highly recommended for osteoarthritis patients, as it reduces pain, improves quality of life, and improves physical function, reversing previous guidelines that discouraged exercise.

If you have osteoarthritis, exercise is one of the best treatments. It reduces pain and helps you function better. Choose low-impact activities like swimming or cycling. If you feel pain during exercise, stop. If you have pain the next day, reduce the amount by half and build up slowly.

Higher levels of total, occupational, and nonoccupational physical activity are inversely associated with the risk of major cardiovascular diseases (CVD), including coronary events, stroke, and CVD death, in Chinese adults.

Aim for about 1 hour of moderate activity (like brisk walking) daily. This benefit applies whether you get it from work, chores, commuting, or leisure time. If you have high blood pressure, talk to your doctor before starting vigorous exercise, as the benefits may be less clear or potentially risky at very high intensities if uncontrolled.

Adherence to a Mediterranean Diet reduces the risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes by 19-30% and improves glycemic control (HbA1c) in existing patients.

Adhere to a Mediterranean Diet to significantly lower your risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes. This dietary pattern is recommended by major diabetes associations for improving glucose and lipid metabolism.

Adherence to a Mediterranean Diet improves cardiovascular risk factors (lipids, blood pressure) and reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease events in patients with Type 2 Diabetes.

If you have Type 2 Diabetes, following a Mediterranean Diet can significantly improve your blood sugar, cholesterol, and blood pressure levels, reducing your risk of heart disease and stroke.

Calcium supplementation (1,000-1,200 mg/day) combined with Vitamin D reduces the risk of osteoporotic fractures and improves bone mineral density in postmenopausal women.

If you are a postmenopausal woman at risk for osteoporosis, take 1,000-1,200 mg of calcium daily along with 800 IU of Vitamin D. This combination has been shown to significantly reduce your risk of fractures. Consult your doctor to determine the right dose for you.

Semaglutide 2.4 mg once weekly improves symptoms, exercise capacity, and reduces inflammation in patients with obesity-phenotype heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) across all obesity classes (BMI 30-34.9, 35-39.9, and ≥40 kg/m²), with clinical benefits directly proportional to the magnitude of weight loss.

If you have heart failure with preserved ejection fraction and obesity, semaglutide (2.4 mg weekly) is a proven treatment that improves your heart symptoms, exercise ability, and inflammation. The more weight you lose, the more you benefit, regardless of whether your obesity is Class I, II, or III. This treatment works best when combined with a moderate caloric deficit (500 kcal/day) and regular physical activity.

Adherence to the Healthy Eating Index-2015 (HEI-2015) dietary pattern is associated with a significantly reduced risk of all-cause, cardiovascular disease, and cancer mortality in multiethnic adult populations.

To lower your risk of dying from heart disease, cancer, or other causes, aim for a diet that closely follows the 2015 Dietary Guidelines. This means eating more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins, while limiting refined grains, sodium, added sugars, and saturated fats. You do not need a perfect diet; simply moving from a low-quality diet to a higher-quality one (as measured by the HEI-2015) significantly reduces your mortality risk over the long term.

Functional and balance training performed at least twice weekly significantly reduces the rate of falls in adults over 50, with high-certainty evidence supporting this intervention for fracture prevention.

Perform balance and functional exercises at least twice a week. Focus on activities that challenge your stability, such as standing on one foot, heel raises, or agility drills. Progressively make these exercises harder by increasing speed, complexity, or resistance. This is the most effective non-pharmacological way to prevent falls in older adults.

Pharmacotherapy is recommended for postmenopausal females and males aged 50+ who have had a previous hip or vertebral fracture, or have a 10-year major osteoporotic fracture risk of 20% or more.

If you are over 50 and have had a hip or vertebral fracture, or have a high 10-year fracture risk (20% or more), you should strongly consider pharmacotherapy. This is a strong recommendation based on high-certainty evidence. Your doctor will help you choose the right medication based on your specific risks and preferences.

Consumption of yoghurt and fermented milk products is associated with reduced cardiovascular disease risk factors, including lower total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood pressure.

Include yoghurt or fermented milk in your diet to support heart health. High intake is linked to lower cardiovascular mortality and improved cholesterol profiles. Whole-fat yoghurt may offer metabolic benefits comparable to or better than low-fat options.

Aerobic exercise training significantly reduces HbA1c levels in individuals with type II diabetes, with the magnitude of reduction increasing as program duration extends beyond 12 weeks.

Engage in aerobic exercise regularly. While any amount helps, extending your program duration beyond 12 weeks is key to maximizing HbA1c reductions. Aim for a median of 150 minutes per week, spread over 3 sessions, to see significant clinical improvements in blood sugar control.

Vigorous intensity aerobic exercise produces superior improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness (peak VO2) compared to low or moderate intensity exercise in Type II Diabetes patients.

If your doctor clears you for it, aim for vigorous intensity aerobic exercise. It provides significantly greater improvements in heart and lung fitness (peak VO2) than moderate or low intensity exercise. If you cannot tolerate vigorous intensity, moderate exercise still offers health benefits.

Aerobic exercise training significantly improves insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and fasting serum glucose levels in individuals with Type II Diabetes.

Regular aerobic exercise directly improves how your body uses insulin and lowers your fasting blood glucose levels. This is a key benefit of exercise for managing Type II Diabetes, alongside improving overall fitness and HbA1c.

An energy-reduced Mediterranean diet combined with behavioral support and physical activity promotes significantly greater adherence and improvement in cardiovascular risk factors compared to an energy-unrestricted Mediterranean diet in patients with metabolic syndrome.

For individuals with metabolic syndrome, simply following a Mediterranean diet is not enough for optimal metabolic health; you must actively reduce caloric intake (by about 600 calories a day) and increase physical activity. The key to success is not just the food list, but the behavioral support and structured guidance (like monthly coaching) that helps you stick to the reduced calorie target.