BMI, Brain Volume, White Matter Lessions

A May 2024 report by Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University said,

• “High cumulative BMI is detrimental to brain health, especially for younger adults under 45 years, where it corresponds to approximately 12 years of brain aging,”

• “Maintaining a BMI below 26.2 kg/m² is suggested for better brain health.”

•  “This research provides crucial insights into the relationship between BMI and brain health, emphasizing the need for public health strategies to control BMI for better neurological outcomes,”

• “Future studies should focus on acquiring longitudinal neuroimaging data to further explore these associations.”

Ketogenic diet and Cognitive Behaviour, Blood Lipids and Motor Function

An April 2024 study by the University of California and Istinye University said,

• “intermittent ketogenic diet (IKD) or ketogenic diet (KD) intervention did not improve measures of cognitive or motor behavior in TgF344-AD rats; however, both IKD and KD positively impacted circulating lipids.”

• “it remains to be determined whether long-term consumption of a ketogenic diet can mitigate declines in cognitive or motor behavior in a rat model of AD. Therefore, the current study aimed to determine whether a KD improves cognitive or motor behavior in the TgF344-AD rat.”

• “the IKD or KD did not improve motor coordination or spatial learning memory compared to the control diet. However, KD, and to a lesser extent IKD, mitigated elevations in plasma lipids in the TgF344-AD rats. Furthermore, the KD diet decreased plasma levels of total Tau in females.”

Informed Diabetics

A March 2024 study by the University of Coimbra said,

• “Our main motivation was to contribute to the reduction of the existing disparity in the knowledge that diabetic patients have regarding their disease,”

• “With this study we evidenced the need to improve the disease knowledge of type 2 diabetic patients.”

•  “One of the main reasons for this disparity in knowledge is probably the behavior of health professionals and the areas that are prioritized when informing patients,”

• “We focused on patients’ own knowledge of their disease, rather than disease management being based solely on biological indicators. We hope that the results obtained will allow professionals to change the way they inform patients,”

Non-invasive blood glucose monitoring

In a March 2024 study by Tomoya Nakazawa of Hamamatsu Photonics (Japan) on near-infrared light (NIR) to estimate blood glucose levels, said

“[The] phase delay-based metabolic index, which has not been reported by other researchers, is a scientifically important discovery,”

“The proposed method can in principle be implemented in existing smart devices with a pulse oximetry function and is inexpensive, battery-saving, and simple compared with other noninvasive blood glucose monitoring techniques. Thus, our approach could be a powerful tool towards portable and accessible BGL monitoring devices in the future.”

Nudged towards Healthier Deits

A February 2024 study by the University of Göttingen said,

• “Understanding public support – and its drivers – is important for designing politically viable, ethical, and effective nudges,”

• “We were surprised to find that the personal circumstances of our participants and whether their own behaviour would be affected by the nudge had little effect on their support. We found that the perception of upholding free choice and of effectiveness were key to public support.”

Walking and Diabetes

A November 2023 study said

“The present meta-analysis of cohort studies suggests that fairly brisk and brisk/striding walking, independent of the total volume of physical activity or time spent walking per day, may be associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes in adults.”

“While current strategies to increase total walking time are beneficial, it may also be reasonable to encourage people to walk at faster speeds to further increase the health benefits of walking.”

heart health, sitting, activity

A November 2023 study by the University College London said,

• “The big takeaway from our research is that while small changes to how you move can have a positive effect on heart health, intensity of movement matters. The most beneficial change we observed was replacing sitting with moderate to vigorous activity – which could be a run, a brisk walk, or stair climbing – basically any activity that raises your heart rate and makes you breathe faster, even for a minute or two.”

• “Though it may come as no surprise that becoming more active is beneficial for heart health, what’s new in this study is considering a range of behaviours across the whole 24-hour day. This approach will allow us to ultimately provide personalised recommendations to get people more active in ways that are appropriate for them.”

• “We already know that exercise can have real benefits for your cardiovascular health and this encouraging research shows that small adjustments to your daily routine could lower your chances of having a heart attack or stroke. This study shows that replacing even a few minutes of sitting with a few minutes of moderate activity can improve your BMI, cholesterol, waist size, and have many more physical benefits.”

• “Getting active isn’t always easy, and it’s important to make changes that you can stick to in the long-term and that you enjoy – anything that gets your heart rate up can help. Incorporating ‘activity snacks’ such as walking while taking phone calls, or setting an alarm to get up and do some star jumps every hour is a great way to start building activity into your day, to get you in the habit of living a healthy, active lifestyle.”

Obesity - Root Dietary Cause - Fructose

An October 2023 study by the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus found that, the primary problem in obesity is fructose, which is present in table sugar and high fructose corn syrup.

• “Essentially, these theories [the “fructose survival hypothesis”], which put a litany of metabolic and dietary drivers at the center of the obesity epidemic, are all pieces of a puzzle unified by one last piece: fructose,”

• “Fructose is what triggers our metabolism to go into low power mode and lose our control of appetite, but fatty foods become the major source of calories that drive weight gain.”

• “This theory views obesity as a low-energy state,”

• “Identifying fructose as the conduit that redirects active energy replacement to fat storage shows that fructose is what drives energy imbalance, which unites theories.”

muscle mass, heart disease, diabetes

An October 2023 report presented to the Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) said,

• “Our results suggest that the increased risk of death in individuals with diabetes who have low muscle mass isn’t mediated or influenced by frailty, poor blood sugar control or microvascular complications but due to the loss of muscle itself.  More research is needed to determine just how sarcopenia increases the risk of death.”

• “For most people with type 2 diabetes and overweight or obesity, guidelines recommend nutrition, physical activity and behavioural therapies to achieve and maintain weight loss.”

• “However, there are limitations to assessing treatment goals based on weight loss alone because body weight cannot distinguish between fat and muscle mass and so does not reveal if someone is sarcopenic.”

• “It is important to consider body composition when treating obesity and managing weight in people with diabetes.”

Sleep and cardiovascular health

An August 2023 study by Penn State found

• “Only 65% of adults in the U.S. regularly sleep the recommended seven hours per night, and there's a lot of evidence suggesting that this lack of sleep is associated with cardiovascular disease in the long term,” 

• “Our research reveals a potential mechanism for this longitudinal relationship, where enough successive hits to your cardiovascular health while you're young could make your heart more prone to cardiovascular disease in the future.”

• “Both heart rate and systolic blood pressure increased with each successive day and did not return to baseline levels by the end of the recovery period,” Reichenberger said. “So, despite having additional opportunity to rest, by the end of the weekend of the study, their cardiovascular systems still had not recovered.”

• “Sleep is a biological process, but it’s also a behavioral one and one that we often have a lot of control over,” Chang said. “Not only does sleep affect our cardiovascular health, but it also affects our weight, our mental health, our ability to focus and our ability to maintain healthy relationships with others, among many other things. As we learn more and more about the importance of sleep, and how it impacts everything in our lives, my hope is that it will become more of a focus for improving one’s health.”

Protein Intake

Dr Peter Attia writes,

“The ideal amount can vary from person to person, but the data suggest that for active people with normal kidney function, one gramme per pound of body weight per day, or 2.2 grammes per kilogram body weight per day.”

Attia for himself gets this across the day in four servings, with at least one of them being a whey protein shake. So that works out as, “..a protein shake, a high-protein snack, and two protein meals.”

Diabetes ultra-processed foods

A July 2023 study by the Istituto Neurologico Mediterranean Nueromed found

• "Over an average follow-up of 12 years we observed that a diet rich in ultra-processed foods exposed people with diabetes to a greater risk of death. Participants reporting a higher consumption of ultra-processed foods had 60% increased risk of dying from any cause, compared to people consuming less of these products. The risk of mortality from cardiovascular diseases, which is a leading cause of death for people with diabetes, was more than doubled."

• "One of the most interesting results of this study is that the increased risk linked to ultra-processed foods was observed even when participants reported a good adherence to the Mediterranean Diet. These findings suggest that if the dietary share of ultra-processed foods is high, the potential advantages of a healthful Mediterranean Diet risk to be overlooked”.

• "These results may have important implications for future dietary guidelines to manage type 2 diabetes. In addition to the adoption of a diet based on well-known nutritional requirements, dietary recommendations should also suggest limiting the consumption of ultra-processed foods as much as possible. In this context, and not only for people with diabetes, the front-of-pack nutrition labels should also include information on the degree of food processing".

Weight Lifting: Compliance is the Key

A July 2023 study by McMaster University said that, 

• “There are a dizzying number of factors and combinations to consider when creating a weightlifting program to maximize strength and muscle growth,” 

• “This is an age-old debate among athletes and strength and conditioning coaches: what combination leads to the best gains?”

• “Our analysis shows that every resistance training prescription resulted in strength and muscle mass gains. Complex prescriptions are sufficient but unnecessary to gain strength and muscle. Simple programs are extremely effective, and the most important result is that people can benefit from any weightlifting program,” 

• “Seek guidance if you are unsure where to begin and how to progress, but it doesn’t need to be complicated.”

• “The biggest variable to master is compliance,”

• “Once you’ve got that down, then you can worry about all of the other subtle nuances, but our analysis clearly shows that many ostensibly important variables just aren’t that essential for the vast majority of people.”

Exercise and Cognitive Function

A July 2023 study by the University of Tsukuba suggests, according to Eureka Alert that

• “…even brief sessions of mild exercise, such as walking and yoga, can stimulate the brain and yield temporary improvements in cognitive performance. 

• “… the exercise group exhibited significant improvement in executive function compared to the control group.

• “… even three months of mild exercise can strengthen the brain's functional networks

• “…the positive impact of stress-free mild exercise over a three-month period in strengthening the prefrontal cortex and enhancing cognitive function among older adults.”

Weight cycling, Sleep

A May 2021 study by Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, and colleagues said a, "History of weight cycling was prospectively associated with several measures of poor sleep, including short sleep duration, worse sleep quality, greater insomnia, greater sleep disturbances, and greater daytime dysfunction among diverse US women across various life stages," 

Weight-loss, obesity and sitting

A May 2021 study by California Polytechnic State University, in San Luis Obispo said it’s findings,

• "hopefully will prompt future weight maintenance intervention research testing the effects of and optimal approaches for reducing sedentary behavior, including non-work-related computer and video game usage. Future research should include objective measures of sedentary behavior and activity," 

• "These findings are important for understanding behaviors that may enhance weight loss maintenance, and one of those may be to reduce sitting time and other modes of sedentary behavior. However, this study also showed that physical activity was associated with improved weight-loss maintenance. Thus, this study does not imply that simply standing more rather than sitting will contribute to weight-loss maintenance, but may suggest that less sitting that results in more movement is what is key to weight loss maintenance. Hence, sit less and move more,"

Obesity and Asthma

A November 2022 study by Nottingham Trent University said,

• “We have found a significant link between gut permeability, being overweight and poor asthma control, particularly in people with obesity. This suggests that dietary interventions to improve gut barrier function may be an effective, alternative treatment target for asthma patients who are overweight or have obesity.”

• “Our initial findings show that increased gut permeability is likely to be a factor in worsening asthma symptoms in patients with obesity, so it will be interesting to look at whether dietary interventions can improve symptoms for these patients.”

processed foods and obesity

A November 2022 study by the University of Sydney said,

• “As people consume more junk foods or highly processed and refined foods, they dilute their dietary protein and increase their risk of being overweight and obese, which we know increases the risk of chronic disease,” 

• “It’s increasingly clear that our bodies eat to satisfy a protein target,” 

• “Humans, like many other species, have a stronger appetite for protein than for the main energy-providing nutrients of fats and carbohydrates. That means that if the protein in our diet is diluted with fats and carbohydrates, we will eat more energy to get the protein that our bodies crave.”

• “The problem with randomised controlled trials is that it treats diet as a disease, when it’s not,” 

• “Laboratory studies may not be indicative of what people are actually eating and doing at a population level. So this study is important as it builds on work, showing that people do seek out protein. And it confirms that, at a population level, as the proportion of energy from protein increases in the diet, people eat less fats and carbohydrates.”

• “The results support an integrated ecological and mechanistic explanation for obesity, in which low-protein, highly processed foods lead to higher energy intake in response to a nutrient imbalance driven by a dominant appetite for protein,” 

• “It supports a central role for protein in the obesity epidemic, with significant implications for global health.”

• “The protein mechanism in appetite is a revolutionary insight,” 

• “Obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease - they’re all driven by diet, and we have to use what we’re learning to bring them under control.”

High aerobic fitness and metabolic syndrome

An October 2022 study by the University of Jyväskylä and the University of Eastern Finland said,  

• “Our results show that being overweight or obese increases the risk of metabolic syndrome regardless of the level of aerobic fitness,” 

• “Instead of focusing on aerobic fitness, preventing metabolic syndrome should start with increasing physical activity, improving diet quality, and controlling weight.”

Olive Oil and Cardiovascular Disease

A January 2022 study by Department of Nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health said, 

“Our findings support current dietary recommendations to increase the intake of olive oil and other unsaturated vegetable oils,” 

“Clinicians should be counseling patients to replace certain fats, such as margarine and butter, with olive oil to improve their health. Our study helps make more specific recommendations that will be easier for patients to understand and hopefully implement into their diets.”

“It’s possible that higher olive oil consumption is a marker of an overall healthier diet and higher socioeconomic status. However, even after adjusting for these and other social economic status factors, our results remained largely the same,” 

“Our study cohort was predominantly a non-Hispanic white population of health professionals, which should minimize potentially confounding socioeconomic factors, but may limit generalizability as this population may be more likely to lead a healthy lifestyle.”

“The current study and previous studies have found that consumption of olive oil may have health benefits. However, several questions remain. Are the associations causal or spurious? Is olive oil consumption protective for certain cardiovascular diseases, such as stroke and atrial fibrillation, only or also for other major diseases and causes of death? What is the amount of olive oil required for a protective effect? More research is needed to address these questions.”