Category Archives: Diet And Food

Engaging in muscularity-oriented eating and weight-control behaviors is common among adolescents and young adults and varies according to gender.

Bulking and cutting is a dietary technique in which individuals alternate between periods of high caloric surplus bulking, and periods of caloric restrictioncutting, to increase muscle definition.

Until now, few studies have explored the link between bulk and cut cycles and psychological factors such as the drive for muscularity, eating disorders, and muscle dysmorphia.

Recently, researchers conducted a study to understand the prevalence of bulk and cut cycles across genders and to recognize any links with mental health conditions.

They found that almost half of young men and one in five women, transgender, and gender non-conforming (TGNC) individuals engaged in bulk and cut cycles in the last 12 months.

They also found that bulking and cutting was linked to an increased incidence of muscle dysmorphia and eating disorders among all genders.

The study was published in Eating and Weight Disorders- Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia, and Obesity.

For the study, the researchers used survey data from 2,762 individuals from the Canadian Study of Adolescent Health Behaviors. Participants were between 16 and 30 years old and were recruited between November and December 2021 via adverts on Instagram and Snapchat.

Survey topics included:

After analyzing the results, the researchers found that men were almost twice as likely as women and TGNC individuals to engage in bulk and cut cycles in the last 12 months and in the last 30 days.

They conversely found, however, that women and TGNC participants tended to complete more bulk and cut cycles than men.

They further found that in men, women, and TGNC participants, bulking and cutting were associated with a higher drive for muscularity, eating disorders, and muscle dysmorphia.

Engaging in bulk and cut cycles in the last 12 months and 30 days was also linked to a greater incidence of eating disorders and muscle dysmorphia among men and women.

However, eating and cut cycles correlated only with muscle dysmorphia among TGNC participants in the last 12 months.

Muscle dysmorphia is also known as bigorexia or reverse anorexia, Dr. Jason Nagata, assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco, and senior author of this study, told Medical News Today.

Muscle dysmorphia occurs when an individual becomes obsessed with becoming muscular. They may view themselves as puny even if they are objectively muscular. Dr. Jason Nagata

To explain their results, the researchers noted that mens engagement in bulking and cutting with an average of three cycles per year generally aligns with regimes promoted by the fitness industry to achieve body ideals.

They added that women might be more compelled to engage in shorter bulk and cut cycles leading to a greater number of completed cycles to ensure a more consistent body image without excessive muscle gain or body fat.

They also noted that the greater number of completed bulk and cut cycles among TGNC individuals might be evidence of a greater level of disordered eating to align with gender-specific body ideals.

When asked about the studys limitations, Dr. Rebecca L. Pearl, assistant professor at the Department of Clinical and Health Psychology at the University of Florida, told MNT:

Since bulk and cut cycling has received little attention in eating disorder research and treatment, there is not yet a standardized way to screen for this in young people. Its possible that the questions used in the current study to assess bulk and cut behaviors may not have measured exactly what the authors intended to measure across all participants.

As the authors highlighted in their paper, its possible that some participants particularly women and transgender and gender non-conforming individuals may have been thinking about times when they cycled between binge eating and subsequent caloric restriction (symptoms of bulimia nervosa) when they endorsed the questions about cycling between overconsumption and underconsumption, she said.

[P]articipants in this study were recruited via social media. Individuals who are active on social media may have greater exposure to and/or greater interest in messages related to fitness ideals and muscularity-oriented disordered eating and weight control practices [than those less active on social media]. Thus, the prevalence of bulk and cut behaviors in the study sample could potentially be higher than in the general population. Dr. Rebecca L. Pearl

The researchers concluded that their findings have important implications for future research and clinical and public health efforts.

When asked what these implications might be, Dr. Kyle T. Ganson, assistant professor at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto and the studys lead author, told MNT:

Given the popularity of this dietary practice, and the fact that it is supported and emphasized in many communities (i.e., online, social media, fitness), we need to be thinking of it as potentially overlapping with serious mental and behavioral health conditions that can have significant adverse effects.

Healthcare professionals need to be aware of this unique behavior and not just screening for typical eating disorder behaviors, such food restriction and binge-eating, or typical body-focused attitudes and behaviors, such as [a] drive for thinness. Dr. Kyle T. Ganson

Overall, we need to bring bulking and cutting, which is within the larger umbrella of muscularity-oriented eating and weight control behaviors, and the potential problems associated with these behaviors, into focus within our society, and among health and mental healthcare systems, he added.

Dr. Ganson told MNT that eating disorders are characterized by intense fears of gaining weight, significant body dissatisfaction, and problematic eating behaviors such as food restriction, binging, and purging.

If people sense that their psychological, social, and/or occupational functioning is being impeded by their focus on body and food, this may be an indicator of a potential eating disorder, he said.

It is important to note here that eating disorders can impact anyone, including all genders and sexual identities, races and ethnicities, people of all body sizes, and across the income spectrum. People shouldnt assume that they dont have an eating disorder because they do not fit the mold society has prescribed as having an eating disorder: white, young, skinny, affluent, female. Dr. Kyle T. Ganson

Dr. Ganson noted that muscle dysmorphia has similar psychological, behavioral, and functional symptoms to eating disorders. However, he said it differs as it is primarily driven by significant muscle dissatisfaction and an intense desire to gain muscle.

This may manifest in excessive and compulsive exercise and weight training, dietary practices aimed at increasing muscularity (i.e., bulking and cutting), and use of appearance- and performance-enhancing drugs and substances, like anabolic steroids, he pointed out.

To treat eating disorders and muscle dysmorphia, Dr. Pearl said talking with somebody is a good first step.

Many individuals keep these behaviors a secret from their loved ones due to shame and fear of judgment, which can lead them to feel even more ashamed and alone. Seeking professional help is important, which could include talking to your doctor or finding a mental health professional or nutritionist who specializes in body image and eating disorders, she said.

Non-profit and advocacy organizations such as the National Eating Disorders Association offer resources for obtaining accurate information, understanding treatment options, and connecting with others who have had similar experiences, she added.

Originally posted here:
Bulking and cutting: How a fitness trend may be impacting youth - Medical News Today

In recent years there has been a flurry of startup activity aimed at commercializing blood glucose biosensors aka, wearable tech that was originally developed for diabetes management. These continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) transmit near real-time data on glucose levels, providing instant feedback (via a companion mobile app) on how the body metabolizes different foods or responds to lifestyle decisions around exercise and sleep.

The biowearables, which are semi-invasive typically worn on the arm with a sensing filament inserted just under the skin were originally developed for diabetics and pre-diabetics who have a medical need to track their blood sugar because of insulin resistance. But the startup gambit is that opening access to CGMs more generally can offer broad health utility by giving all sorts of people a dynamic window onto whats going on with their metabolism.

Some of these startups are selling the idea that biohacking by tracking blood glucose can help people optimize athletic performance, or configure a healthy diet and lifestyle including weight management. But the startup strategy has often fixed on opening up the data window first as a tactic to build product utility while they acquire (and structure) users metabolic and lifestyle data tracking glucose responses to food and lifestyle inputs and, they hope, spotting positive and negative patterns that they can use to synthesize a fitness or healthy lifestyle program.

Limbo, a New York, London and Cork-based startup which is announcing a $6 million seed raise today, is in this growing pack commercializing CGM tech in its case building a subscription weight management business to target the obesity crisis. But it claims to be bringing a distinct approach with a product thats not just a data-mining work in progress; rather, they say, the program is based on some three decades of research undertaken by one of the co-founders chief research officer, Tony Martin, who is a physiologist and coach.

[Martin] essentially worked out the secret of how blood glucose regulated the body and how energy in the body is mediated through blood glucose, says co-founder and CEO, Rurik Bradbury, discussing the startup in a call with TechCrunch. How if you control it in a certain way then you can have very dramatic weight loss results based on biodata.

Martin is not affiliated with any research institutions, nor has he published any scientific papers on his work so its private research and results he was able to obtain using this private methodology with his own clients that Limbo is drawing on for its product.

The big breakthrough came over the last 5-6 years when CGMs came out which allowed him to test a number of hypotheses, explains Bradbury. Both on himself and on his weight loss clients. And what he found was a number of patterns and a number of effects which he could replicate to do with the balance of different macronutrients essentially, and how the body can regulate itself if you reduce carbs and sugars.

Theres nothing hugely secret about that about whats essentially a Keto[ogenic diet] type program. There are many, many different variants of it and what he did was work out the right balance for people on a more individualized basis so it could be implemented as a program with a CGM to steer them in real time.

Now weve got kind of the recipe for how to make this work for people as a platform as opposed to a person by person system, he adds.

Limbos other co-founder Pat Phelan, whose name may be familiar to long-time TechCrunch readers as he exited his ecommerce fraud protection startup Trustev to TransUnion for $44 million back in 2015 has also put himself through the program.

Indeed, the inspiration for Limbo began with Phelans personal weight loss journey after years of jetsetting startup life had not been kind to his health. And it was in looking for help to address his obesity problem that he met Martin who suggested he try his homebrew blood glucose tracking method with a CGMv and then Phelans success with the regime (which he discusses in this video on the startups website) led to the trio of founders coming together to establish a startup to productize Martins program (with Phelan and Bradbury bringing the tech experience gleaned from years working in startups).

Limbo was founded in fall 2020 so its very much a pandemic health tech startup, with the first private beta users starting on the program at the end of 2020.

Target users are people looking to lose 10-15% of their body weight, per Bradbury. While typical customers so far are 35-55 in age range.

The team doesnt have any efficacy studies published quantifying the impact of the weight loss program by, for example, comparing Martins method to other weight management approaches. But Bradbury argues early results speak for themselves with members seeing an average weigh loss of 12% after three months of use. (Phelan himself lost 36kg/81 pounds over 9 months using the prototype.)

The 12% stat was based on an initial paying cohort of 50 users. Limbo now has around 2,000, per Bradbury, who says theyre hoping to have tens of thousand signed up over the coming 12 months.

The program is a subscription service costing 1,500 for three months access, so its definitely premium level pricing.

As well as a supply of CGM sensors to track their blood glucose, Limbo members are sent two additional devices: A wearable wristband that tracks a range of health data (including heart rate, steps, skin and body temperature, blood oxygen); and a smart scale which can measure body fat and muscle mass in different areas of the body so its triangulating a range of signals in order to assess the healthiness (or otherwise) of the users diet and lifestyle; and to track their progress towards their weight goals.

We started with an off the shelf piece of tech [for the wristband]. But we have a customized one built to our specs, says Bradbury, discussing its hardware mix. We have the person who used to run Apple in Asia Rory Sexton on our board, and he was one of the first investors. And he became interested because youve probably seen the rumors that Apple is looking to add blood glucose to [Apple] Watches. But its a very tricky thing. Weve also looked at this ourselves. And theres lot of constraints there as far as how much power it would take and how accurate it is I think it might be a little way off.

But he got interested in that and we did an Apple Watch integration but the challenge with that and all the other tools out there Fitbit and so on is that their data resolutions quite low. So [with our custom hardware] were looking every second or minute at these data points. [Whereas] Apple Watch and other wristbands tend to sample every few minutes to save power because the battery life is tricky.

Limbos smart scale is also customized rather than off-the-shelf kit and Bradbury says it is higher end than consumer smart scales (which can suffer from poor accuracy). But he also says there is less need for high resolution data for the scale (vs the wristband) since its mostly used to track progress over time, not for dynamic feedback on meals etc.

Were looking at a gradual over the course of 3-6 months period of shifting body fat percentage, he says of the scale. Obviously that usually comes down. Thats the main goal of the program. So were looking for a shift over time. Were not looking for a precise, exact moment in time measurements. Were not training, say, boxers for a fight where every ounce counts.

The core interface for Limbos program is of course a mobile app which visualizes the users blood glucose level (via a plotted line), tracking changes continuously; and delivers feedback and nudges to members (via push messages).

Limbo says its using a combination of AI-powered analysis and human coaches looking at users data in order to encourage positive behavioural changes, via feedback and nudges with the overarching goal of steering users towards eating a healthier, balanced diet and away from consuming foods that spike their blood sugar. So the push is to cut back on simple sugars (carbs, processed foods etc).

The user has to do only limited data logging themselves. Theyre asked to snap a picture of whatever theyre eating to log their food intake, with an optional text field to add more details. But Bradbury says adding extra detail isnt required because all the connected hardware enables them to rely on this tracking of the users biological signals to determine what post-meal feedback to provide.

So while the app might not literally know what that dark beverage youre drinking is or, if it looks like a cup of tea, how many sugars you might have slipped into it the data wont lie. If the drink contains unhealthy levels of sugar that spike your glucose the app will pick up that response in the CGM data and nudge you to drink something less sugary next time.

So the user gets continual, dynamic feedback to help them change their diet for the better.

Its a really interesting issue because its both psychological and its data, says Bradbury, discussing the importance of the psychological element. You can show people data you can tell them stuff til youre blue in the face but thats different from having a psychological effect to make them behave in a different way. So the nudges are almost like extra pushes on top of the data. So if someone spikes their blood sugar itll push a message saying what just happened? Essentially you cant cheat on this program.

One of the biggest issues with other diets is compliance. That people quote forget they had that muffin. And no ones the wiser except for them. Whereas you cant cheat on Limbo. Theres automated sensing if something happened. So theres interventions like that where the member knows theyre being watched and they behave accordingly. You cant pull a fast one and sneak something past the system. And secondly there are educational interventions such as the right balance of carbs and sugars and proteins and fats to eat to get to your goal.

So that might be this contained too many carbs, try to reduce sugar content in drinks, that type of thing. Another one might be more positive: Add more protein to the next meal or do something along those lines.

The idea is a coach on your arm that watches you 24/7 and steers you in the right direction, he adds.

But dont we already know that eating sugary processed foods is bad and leads to weight gain, and eating healthy whole, fresh foods is good for us? Why do we need an app to tell us this?

If knowledge were enough to get someone across the finish line we all know these things technically then there wouldnt be an obesity crisis. But the hard thing is that firstly a lot of people dont know exactly what carbs and sugars are and the impact of highly processed foods which are extremely bioavailable which spike you very quickly and directly after eating them. So theres a lot of people who dont really have a clear picture of what food does to them, he suggests.

Secondly weve been served myths for decades or centuries. People think that a sweet piece of fruit is good for you theyve been told its good for you. And theyve taken it for granted. When a glass of orange juice is a cup of sugar. So these pervasive myths throw people off course. And certainly its the willpower thing if you have a coach whos watching you 24/7, whos holding you accountable, steering you in the right direction, educating you on whats actually happening to you inside your body its a very powerful crutch to help people get places.

While the primary focus of Limbos intervention currently is around food, nutrition and diet, Bradbury notes the app will also nudge users to take some low intensity exercise such as a post meal walk as another tactic to flatten the curve (aka get glucose level back into the target zone). And he says theyre planning to put more focus on how activity affects blood glucose as they continue developing the product.

If you eat something that has too high carb and sugar content the app will often pop up and say now would be a good time to take a [low intensity exercise] walk so its not about sending people to the gym and spin class and so on. Its much more about a smaller, more manageable amounts of exercise that complement the food choices, he says of the current Limbo experience.

One of the big lies that have been sold to people is that you have to go to the gym and sweat your way out of extra weight. Its very, very hard to exercise off a poor diet, he adds. Or an imbalance of energy coming into the body that is expended. So most of the nudges are about food and diet.

The priority for the seed funding is product development. We havent really spent any money on marketing and weve let things spread by word of mouth because I think people are quite mistrustful of marketing for anything to do with diets and food its a space where theres so much snake oil sold and dodgy businesses so were basically just showcasing what people have done or the weight theyve lost with this and having them spread the word themselves, he tells us.

So rather than spend lots of money on marketing were putting that into the AI, the analytics and the product side so were building out teams to make the product broader. Theres lots of things we can do more on in terms of sleep and exercise. Lots of the focus is on food but they all interact with each other so were building out an experience to showcase to members how those things interact in a visual way.

Limbo is also working towards a U.S. launch in the second half of next year, per Bradbury.

Obesity is of course a global problem so the team sees huge potential for scaling, while cautioning that they dont want to grow so quickly they lose the quality of individualized advice, as Bradbury puts it. (For a sense of scale, Limbos team is currently 18 people who are supporting around 2k members.)

On the competition front, while there are a growing number of CGM players seeking to tempt consumers with a glimpse of their metabolic health indeed, even CGM maker Abbott is itself getting into the game Bradbury argues Limbos approach of productizing an existing weight loss program as an app (rather than trying to develop a methodology off of CGM data) gives it an edge.

Hence he also argues that Limbos competition is closer to a more radical obesity intervention like gastric bypass surgery than what other startups are offering.

That said, U.S. startup January AI also has a lot of research underpinning its food-response focused program, while Indias Healthify which is due to launch a premium CGM offering in the U.S. next year already has years of fitness data under its belt (and the latters Pro offering similarly combines CGM, smart scale plus in-app coaching), to name two. So Limbo certainly isnt the only solid-looking CGM weight loss game in town.

Asked about its pricing strategy which is a major mark-up on most CGM competitors Bradbury again says its a reflection of the proven program and accessible approach its offering.

As far as weve seen so far all of the other companies started with the idea of well what if we could give CGMs to everyone? And then well look at the data and see what we can find, he says. So we took the opposite approach Weve already done the 30 years research beforehand so we know what happens when someone wears a CGM, we know how to steer them into better choices.

So while we look similar to some other CGM companies were starting from a very different position. Were implementing a pre-existing, prescriptive program do this, do that, do this, and you will lose weight. So thats a very big difference in terms of the experience of the program and people will, I think, pay for results.

Aside from premium pricing, there is the challenge of convincing users to stick a sensor in their arm. Wearing a CGM can look daunting, given its a semi-invasive sensor that requires both pricking your skin and living with a filament in your arm for weeks at a time, but Bradbury says the team hasnt so far had a problem getting people to get comfy with biowearables.

He suggests target customers are simply so motivated to achieve their weight loss goals and so tired of trying diets that are miserable and havent helped them that theyre happy to try something different where they get to see data and track their results, even if it means getting comfortable with firing a gadget into their arm every two weeks.

Still, the first 2,000 or so Limbo members may be especially motivated due to repeat failure to shift weight other ways. So it will be interesting to see whether its early adopters are outliers in being so easy for it to onboard, i.e. owing to having stubborn weight issues and whether broader scaling will be more challenging.

Limbos price-point is certainly one hard limit.

On the other hand, the lure of real-time health data is undoubtedly powerful and if its method of bite-sized insights plus wraparound support which does the hard work by translating sometimes confusing metabolic signals into simple actions people can take to improve their lifestyles then its easy to imagine big appetite for a smart but simple diet tool.

A lot of people start the program and its not for 3-4 weeks that their blood sugar ever gets into the standard zone and thats because for the 10-15 years prior they were eating carbs and sugars so often and so much that their body systems were beaten down and overwhelmed and they were constantly fighting to lower the sugar but with insulin resistance and so on they couldnt do it, says Bradbury of Limbos experience with early members. But after 3-4 weeks with an intense [effort] in pushing youll find that that member gets into the blue for the first time.

What the system really is is letting people conscientiously engage with their bodies and thats something thats almost impossible with food because you cant just put your finger on your pulse and measure your blood glucose So if we can visualize this for people and coach them on what they see it can have a big effect.

Its a virtuous cycle we try to set up for them, he adds. Youll see a bad result if you have a[n unhealthy] snack and then youll know thats going to happen. So, over time, people unwind those snacking habits. Its also the effect of them seeing what is happening inside their body. You can eat a cookie or a muffin or something and you can ignore it. But when you see it in front of you in the app this spike happening and the crash afterwards its a very different thing [vs the traditional experience of dieting] in terms of a feedback cycle, a feedback loop to change your decision next time.

Limbos seed round is led by Hoxton Ventures. Other backers include (the former NBA basketball player) Shaquille ONeal, Seedcamp, (former Apple exec) Rory Sexton, (rugby player) Jamie Heaslip, and co-founders at a number of tech firms including Intercom, PCH International, Yelp, Voxpro, and Web Summit.

This report was updated with a correction: We originally misstated the price of Limbos plan its 1,500 for three months, not 1,300 as we originally reported

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Limbo is tackling obesity with a pair of wearables and decades of physiology - TechCrunch

Health coach Tracy Dejardins

You may be dieting and not even realize it. Check-in with the following questions:

Are you:

Living with certain self-imposed food rules, like low-carb or fat-free?

Dreading upcoming holidays because you fear loss of control?

Rescheduling your annual physical until you lose the weight?

Eating foods that are not truly satisfying, then experiencing a binge?

Continually falling off the wagon on the weekends?

Starting your eating plan over each Monday morning after indulging?

Trying to control your portions by obsessing, weighing and measuring?

Believing that you are good or bad based on something you ate?

Getting caught up in the media hype about what works for weight loss?

And the list goes on. If you can identify with even one of the above points, then, my friend, you are dieting. Simply stated, dieting does not just mean following some popular, commercial plan (although, yes, that, of course, is a diet). If you are trying to follow through with your own set of food rules, restrictions, and control that is leaving you defeated and frustrated, you are dieting.

However, if you feel a sense of powerlessness over this relationship you have with food, I am here to tell you that it is not your fault. We have been conditioned for decades to fight our weight with the scale, to harness willpower to help us suffer through eating boring, tasteless food in mouse-sized portions and judge ourselves harshly when we mess up and eat the thing we told ourselves was off limits.

What happens then? We dust ourselves off, re-group, and undertake the same restrictive tactics again, only to repeat the same try, fail, repeat the experience all at the grand price of our self-respect, dignity and self-trust with food. In essence, we create a toxic reference for controlling food to achieve an outcome that improves our health. What happens, frankly, is that dieting promotes a weight-regain problem, not a solution to weight loss.

Based on current data that indicates a 95 percent failure rate, this is cause for pondering. To add to the dreaded phenomenon, the current weight-loss industry cashes in at a whopping $72 billion and growing.

Lets be clear about something. Diets for weight loss do work, if the rules are followed with a laser-sharp focus, leading up to an endpoint typically a weigh-in date. Many of us have achieved the gold standard of our goal weight, only to land in an emotionally panicked state, because our truth often is that we have no idea how to sustain our tactics that led to the so-called weight loss success.

Many times, we then relapse into old food habits upon the first holiday, vacation or Sunday family dinner, because while we lost the weight, we did not learn any tools to help us keep our results and we actually intensified an already damaged relationship with food and our bodies. We eat in a no-holds-barred fashion, with our inner rebel celebrating like wild animal that has been let out of a cage for the first time, and you know what happens next: the weight returns, and we sit in a sea of shame and self-loathing.

So what is the solution, then, to weight loss, improving health and learning to eat healthier in general?

It is rather simple. Stop dieting.

Vow to end living in a war with food rules and consider adopting a mindset of open curiosity with your food choices.

You see, dieting teaches us to check out when we eat. To disembody and follow a set of rigid boundaries with food that keep us in stress mode internally. When we choose to let go of food rules and take on an attitude of curiosity with our food, we then begin to repair the damaged relationship with eating by learning to pay attention to all aspects of the eating experience.This is becoming embodied in our relationship with food.

This is where the healing opportunity begins. How does this food choice make me feel? How do I want to feel in my body as I live my life? Those two questions have the wisdom and power to help us eat to nourish ourselves with self-love and care, not fighting for weight loss.

In this manner, it makes it easier to want to eat whole, natural, unprocessed foods that are chock full of loving vitamins, minerals and fiber to help us feel better from the inside out, rather than appease an out-of-control palate that has been hijacked with standard American salt- and sugar-laden foods.

OK so if you are thinking, But I love my sweets, or pizza, etc., consider the thought of saving your treats for occasions, rather than so frequently. That seems like a reasonable, responsible gesture that is health-promoting, right? This is different from dieting-restrictive rules. When we consider what vibrant health looks like and feels like to us, we can begin to be curious as to how our food choices react in our bodies and make us feel.

Once we become curious in our food choice approach, we are on the road to re-wiring our brains to connect with what is truly best for us, on our terms, not some restrictive plan that the world says we should follow. When we stop the war on food, we learn to connect with ourselves at a deep level and take back our self-trust, upon which we can rely to truly nourish and support us in the mission of self-care.

Its funny how, when we say no to diet culture, and yes to our own wisdom and food intuition, those stubborn, excess pounds that we fought for decades, begin to shed in their own timing, revealing a natural, healthy weight that is sustainable.

See original here:
How to find peace with food and leave dieting behind - Coastal Point

If you spend a lot of time online, you may have noticed that parts of the internet have caught fasting fever. Online message boards are awash in posts touting the benefits of time-restricted eating and other intermittent-fasting approaches that involve going without caloric foods or drinks for an extended period of timeanywhere from 12 hours to several days. These online testimonials have helped popularize intermittent fasting, and they often feature two common-sense rationalizations: One, that human beings evolved in environments where food was scarce and meals occurred sporadically; and two, that the relatively recent shift to near round-the-clock eating has been disastrous for our intestinal and metabolic health.

Mining the internet for accurate information, especially when it comes to dieting, can feel like panning for gold. Youve got to sift through a lot of junk to find anything valuable. But this is one case where nuggets may be easy to find. A lot of the published peer-reviewed research on intermittent fasting makes the same claims youll find on those Reddit message boards. Until recently, food availability has been unpredictable for humans, wrote the authors of a 2021 review paper in the American Journal of Physiology. Knowledge of early human evolution and data from recent studies of hunter-gatherer societies suggest humans evolved in environments with intermittent periods of food scarcity. They say that fasting regimens may provide a period of gut rest that could lead to several meaningful health benefits, including improved gut microbe diversity, gut barrier function, and immune function.

The past decade has witnessed an explosion in fasting-relatedid research. (According to Google Scholar, the last five years alone contain almost 150,000 articles that examine or mention fasting.) While that work has helped established links between intermittent fasting and weight loss, as well as other benefits, its not yet clear when (or if) fasting can help fix a sick gut. I would still consider the evidence moderate, says Dr. Emeran Mayer, a professor of medicine and founding director of the Goodman Luskin Microbiome Center at the University of California, Los Angeles. [Fasting] looks like a prudent way to maintain metabolic health or reestablish metabolic health, but its not a miracle cure.

When it comes to gut conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), he says the research is either absent or inconclusive. To his point, researchers have found that Ramadan fastinga month-long religious period when people dont eat or drink between sunrise and sunsetcan substantially remodel the guts bacteria communities in helpful and healthy ways. However, among people with IBD, studies on Ramadan fasting have also found that a persons gut symptoms may grow worse.

While its too early to tout fasting plans as a panacea for gut-related disorders, experts say theres still reason to hope these approaches may emerge as a form of treatment. Its clear that some radical, and perhaps radically beneficial, things happen when you give your body breaks from food.

For a series of recent studies, a team of researchers based in the Netherlands and China examined the effects of Ramadan-style intermittent fasting on the gut microbiomethe billions of bacteria that reside in the human gastrointestinal tract. (Ramadan comes up a lot in published research because it provides a real-world opportunity for experts to examine the effects of 12- or 16-hour fasts, which is what many popular intermittent fasting diets espouse.) We really wanted to know what intermittent fasting does to the body, says Dr. Maikel Peppelenbosch, a member of that research team and a professor of gastroenterology at Erasmus University Medical Center in the Netherlands. Generally, weve seen that intermittent fasting changes the microbiome very clearly, and we view some of the changes as beneficial. If you look at fasting in general, not only Ramadan, you see certain types of bacteria increasing.

For example, he says that intermittent fasting pumps up the guts population of a family of bacteria called Lachnospiraceae. In the intestines, bacteria are constantly battling for ecological space, he explains. Unlike some other gut microorganisms, Lachnospiraceae can survive happily in an empty GI tract. They can live off the slime the gut makes itself, so they can outcompete other bacteria in a fasting state. Lachnospiraceae produces a short-chain fatty acid called butyrate, which seems to be critically important for gut health. Butyrate sends anti-inflammatory signals to the immune system, which could help reduce pain and other symptoms of gut dysfunction. Butyrate also improves the barrier function of the intestines, Peppelenbosch says. This is, potentially, a very big deal. Poor barrier function (sometimes referred to as leaky gut) is a hallmark of common GI conditions, including inflammatory bowel disease. If intermittent fasting can turn down inflammation and also help normalize the walls of the GI tract, those changes may have major therapeutic implications.

Lachnospiraceae is only one of several types of helpful bacteria that research has linked to fasting plans. But at this point, there are still a lot of gaps in the science. Peppelenbosch says the guts of people with bowel disorders dont seem to respond to fasting in exactly the same way as the guts of people without these health issues. In ill people, we see the same changes to the microbiome, but its not as clear cut as in healthy volunteers, he says. So we are now actually trying to figure out whats going on there.

Healthy microbiome shifts arent the only possible benefits that researchers have linked to intermittent fasting. UCLAs Mayer mentions a phenomenon called the migrating motor complex. This is rarely mentioned in fasting articles today, but when I was a junior faculty it was one of the hottest discoveries in gastroenterology research, he says. The migrating motor complex refers to recurrent cycles of powerful contractions that sweep the contents of the gut, including its bacteria, down into the colon. Its this 90-minute recurring contractile wave that swoops down the intestine, and its strength is comparable to a nutcracker, he says. Essentially, this motor complex behaves like a street-cleaning crew tidying up after a parade. It ensures the gut is cleared out and cleaned up in between meals, via 90-minute repeating cycles that fasting allows to be become more frequent. It also helps rebalance the guts microbial populations so that more of them are residing in the colon and lower regions of the GI tract. But its stopped the minute you take a biteit turns off immediately, he says.

Mayer says that modern eating habitsso-called grazing, or eating steadily throughout the dayleave little time for the migrating motor complex to do its thing. This function has been relegated to the time when we sleep, but even this has been disrupted because a lot of people wake up in the middle of the night and snack on something, he says. So those longer periods of time when we re-cleanse and rebalance our gut so that we have normal distributions of bacteria and normal population densitiesthat has been severely disturbed by these lifestyle changes.

Ideally, Mayer says people could (for the most part) adhere to the kind of time-restricted eating program that allows a full 12-to-14 hours each day for the motor complex to work. If you dont snack, this motor complex would happen between meals, and youd also get this 12- to 14-hour window at night where the digestive system was empty, he explains. In other words, sticking to three meals a day and avoiding between-meal bites (or nighttime snacks) could be sufficient. But again, its not clear whether this sort of eating schedule can undo gut damage or treat existing dysfunction.

Read More: The Truth About Fasting and Type 2 Diabetes

Another possible perk of fasting involves a biological process called autophagy. During autophagy, old or damaged cells die and are cleared away by the body. Some researchers have called it a helpful housekeeping mechanism, and it occurs naturally when the body goes without energy (calories) for an extended period of time. Theres been some expert speculation, based mostly on evidence in lab and animal studies, that autophagy could help strengthen the gut or counteract the types of barrier problems seen in people with IBD. But these improvements have not yet been demonstrated in real-world clinical trials involving people.

Meanwhile, some experts have found that fasting may help recalibrate the guts metabolic rhythms in helpful ways. By changing the timing of the diet, this will indeed change activity of themicrobiome, and that may have downstream impacts on health, says Dr. Eran Elinav, principal investigator of the Host-Microbiome Interaction Research Group at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.

Some of Elinavs work, including an influential 2016 paper in the journal Cell, has shown that the gut microbiome undergoes day-night shifts that are influenced by a persons eating schedule, and that lead to changing patterns of metabolite production, gene expression, and other significant elements of gut health. If you change the timing of diet, you can flip the circadian activity of the microbiome, he says. This is likely to have health implications, though what those are, precisely, remains murky.

Read More: What We Know About Leaky Gut Syndrome

Its clear that when you eat, including how often you eat, matters to the health of your gut. But the devils in the details. At this point, its not clear how intermittent fasting can be used to help people with gut-related disorders or metabolic diseases.

For a condition like IBD, its important to differentiate between what you do during a flare and what you do to prevent the next flare, Mayer points out. The research on people observing Ramadan suggests that, at least during a flare, fasting may make a persons IBD symptoms worse. Figuring out whether fasting could also lead to longer-term improvements is just one of many questions that needs to be answered.

While plenty of unknowns remain, experts say that common approaches to fasting appear to be safe for most people. Time-restricted eating, for example, involves cramming all your days calories into a single six-to-eight-hour eating window. Even among people with metabolic diseases such as Type 2 diabetes, research suggests that this form of fasting is safe, provided a person is not taking blood-glucose medications.

That said, there simply isnt much work on intermittent fasting as a treatment for gut problems. Also, there is very little research on more extreme forms of fasting, such as plans that involve going without calories for several days at a stretch. These diets may turn out to be therapeutic, but they could also turn out to be dangerous. If youre considering any of these approaches, talk with your health care provider first.

We really need much better studies to compare all the different fasting protocols, says Peppelenbosch. But generally speaking, increasing the space between calorie consumption is a good thing for you. The body is not made to be eating all day.

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People with type 2 diabetes can reduce their risk of developing dementia with seven healthy lifestyle habits.

Thats according to a new study published in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Researchers investigated data from the UK Biobank to determine whether or not the known increased risk of dementia in people with type 2 diabetes can be offset or counteracted by a combination of common healthy lifestyle factors.

The researchers used data from 167,946 participants aged 60 years or older without dementia at the start of the research. At a follow-up around 12 years later, 4,351 participants had developed all-cause dementia.

The researchers reported that participants who engaged in a broad range of healthy lifestyle factors demonstrated significantly less risk of developing dementia within 10 years (from about 5% to less than 2%).

The study authors wrote that their research shows why behavioral lifestyle modifications through various approaches should be a priority for the prevention and delayed onset of dementia in people with type 2 diabetes.

The seven healthy lifestyle habitswere:

1. No current smoking

2. Moderate alcohol consumption of up to one drink a day for women and up to two a day for men

3. Regular weekly physical activity of at least 2.5 hours of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise

4. Seven to nine hours of sleep daily

5. A healthy diet that included more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fish and fewer refined grains, processed and unprocessed meats

6. Being less sedentary

7. Frequent social contact

Akua Boateng, Ph.D., a psychotherapist in Philadelphia, says that while research recognizes the significance of having a healthy sleep and lifestyle pattern on longevity and vitality, many people have struggled to maintain the lifestyle that supports this level of health.

There are many factors such as where you grew up and your family genetic patterns that increase the likelihood of developing diabetes and/or dementia, she told Healthline.

At the center of health is our ability to move toward what is corrective and transformational, Boateng said. Our sense of meaning, via emotional discovery, has the power to give us reason to change what is comfortable, rewrite health precursors, and change the trajectory of our lives.

Your mental health is core in achieving holistic wellness, she added.

So rather than give advice on how to incorporate each of these seven healthy lifestyle habits, Boateng encourages people to make a few changes that she says can help to ensure these seven habits are more integrated into their life.

According to the American Psychological Association, poor sleep makes any mental health condition more difficult to manage and can also raise the risk of diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, heart disease, and depression.

Sleep health, then, is a pillar on which all the other aforementioned healthy lifestyle habits originate, experts say. Without adequate sleep, achieving other health milestones is more difficult because youre not thinking with a well-rested brain.

Dr. Shelby Harris is a clinical psychologist and board-certified in behavioral sleep medicine by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. She is also the director of Sleep Health at Sleepopolis.

Harris explains why getting those recommended 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night is so important for people with type 2 diabetes.

Poor sleep and/or lack of sleep makes you have more insulin resistance, Harris told Healthline. You also have more hunger and satiety signals, while also craving more fatty and sugary foods for quick energy.

This can make maintaining healthy blood sugar levels with type 2 diabetes more challenging.

When it comes to sleep and dementia, Harris explains that while you are in deep sleep, your brain essentially works as a dishwasher, washing away the waste products such as plaques and clusters of protein that build up from being awake during the day.

Without adequate sleep, your brain doesnt do this cleansing process, and a buildup of plaque can form, she explained.

Harris added that plaque buildup is often found in people with Alzheimers disease, which is a risk factor for developing dementia.

If you struggle to make time for sleep, but dont have any issues with actually sleeping when you get to bed, try to work on maybe increasing your total sleep time by 30 to 60 minutes once a week, suggested Harris.

Then once thats better, move to two days a week and so on, she says. Another way to do it is to aim for maybe 10 minutes earlier for bedtime every night for a week, then once thats better move it to 15 minutes earlier every night.

She also suggests that you try to figure out why youre not making time for sleep.

Some questions to ask yourself include:

Harris suggests using timers to help remind you that it is time to wind down for bed at a specific time nightly and write your why on the timer when it goes off on your phone.

Also, limit auto play on streaming media apps. That way it doesnt go from one show to another and you need to make a conscious decision to watch another show vs. automatically going into another one, she said.

And finally, if you struggle with sleep and insomnia, make sure your sleep hygiene is on point, Harris added.

This means limiting alcohol in the 3 hours before bed, limiting caffeine in the 8 hours before bed, and limiting screens 30 to 60 minutes before bed.

If thats not enough and you still struggle with sleep quantity and quality, talk with a sleep specialist, as there are many effective non-medication and medication treatments out there, says Harris.

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Dementia Risk and Type 2 Diabetes: 7 Healthy Habits - Healthline

Sugar may disrupt the community of bacteria living in the gut, thereby depleting crucial immune cells and causing obesity down the line, a new mouse study suggests.

So far, the results have been shown only in mice. But if follow-up studies show similar trends in humans, that could eventually lead to treatments for metabolic disease and obesity, said senior author Ivaylo Ivanov, an associate professor of microbiology and immunology at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.

In the recent study, published online Aug. 29 in the journal Cell (opens in new tab), scientists found that feeding mice a high-sugar diet containing sucrose and maltodextrin caused specific bacteria, called segmented filamentous bacteria (SFB), in the mice's intestines to die due to an overgrowth of different gut bugs. The sudden loss of SFB triggered a chain reaction in the mouse gut that ultimately changed how the animals absorbed dietary fat.

This, in turn, caused the mice to become obese and develop features of "metabolic syndrome," a cluster of conditions such as high blood pressure, high blood sugar and insulin resistance that collectively raise the risk of heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes.

Related: Gut bacteria may 'talk' to the brain, mouse study suggests

The results suggest that SFB somehow protect against metabolic syndrome and excess weight gain, but how do the gut bugs do it? It turns out that SFB "talk" to the immune system, encouraging the production of a specific type of immune cell called Th17. These immune cells release proteins that affect the lining of the intestine, preventing excess fat from being absorbed through the tissue and into the bloodstream.

Broadly, SFB can be found in many animals including rodents, fish and birds but they haven't been found in humans, Ivanov noted. However, humans do carry a different set of gut bacteria that can induce Th17 cells just like SFB do, and early research hints (opens in new tab) that these bacteria may be similarly depleted by high-sugar diets, he said. In other words, although humans may not carry SFB, sugar may still exert similar effects on the mouse and human gut microbiomes and immune systems.

"Really what's providing the effect is the T cells so the bacteria are inducing the T cells, and T cells are providing the effect," Ivanov told Live Science. "We hypothesize that, in humans, inducing these T cells will also be beneficial."

In their recent mouse study, the researchers placed mice on a high-sugar, high-fat diet for a month to see how their gut bugs might change. They found that the diet spurred the growth of a bacterium called Faecalibaculum rodentium, which essentially crowded out the SFB growing in the mouse gut, depleting its numbers. As the mice steadily lost SFB, their overall number of Th17 cells also fell, and they gained weight and developed insulin resistance and glucose intolerance all signs of metabolic syndrome.

These effects weren't observed in mice that were fed a low-sugar, low-fat diet, or in mice fed a sugar-free, high-fat diet, but mice fed a high-sugar, low-fat diet also swiftly lost their SFB. This suggests that it was specifically the sugar that was driving the harmful loss of the bacteria and the Th17 cells.

Basically, the Th17 cells provided an "armor" that protected the mice from developing metabolic disease, and sugar indirectly destroyed that armor by messing with the microbiome, Ivanov explained.

In a different experiment, the team eliminated SFB from a group of mice and then fed them a sugar-free, high-fat diet. They found that these mice also gained weight and developed metabolic disease, despite not having eaten sugar. So what gives? In essence, without the right gut bugs, the mice didn't make enough Th17 cells and they thus lacked that aforementioned armor. The team found that they could provide that armor in two ways: by feeding the mice a probiotic imbued with SFB or by directly injecting Th17 cells into their bodies.

This suggests that, if a mouse's gut has already been depleted of SFB, cutting down on sugar won't help the rodent avoid metabolic disease. If this finding carries over to humans, that suggests that consuming less sugar wouldn't necessarily be helpful if one's gut microbiome is already disrupted. Therefore, an additional intervention might be needed to restore the gut bugs or Th17 cells of those people, Ivanov said.

Again, more research is needed to know if similar forces are at work in the human gut. Ivanov and his team are also trying to understand how gut bacteria help Th17 cells grow in the mouse gut and whether that mechanism also applies in humans.

"Even after 10 years of studying this, we don't understand completely this process, this mechanism, how exactly the bacteria is inducing these T cells," Ivanov said. "We know a lot, but still there are a lot of questions."

Originally published on Live Science.

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High-sugar diet disrupts the gut microbiome, leading to obesity (in mice) - Livescience.com

It's going to happenyou will begin to show signs of slowing down and aging at some point and while the process is inevitable, it doesn't have to be unbearable. Making certain lifestyle choices can delay the process and help maintain good health through your golden years. "Aging is a normal and natural process for human beings. However, with aging a wide variety of physical, mental, emotional, social, and economic changes also occur in an individual's life," Dr. Jagdish Khubchandani, MBBS, Ph.D., a professor of public health at New Mexico State University tells us. He adds, "The most prominent changes with aging occur in physical and mental health domains. Research in the 21st century has highlighted how aging accelerates in some individuals and how this acceleration can be delayed or prevented." Read onand to ensure your health and the health of others, don't miss these Sure Signs You've Already Had COVID.

Dr. Khubchandani says, "Loneliness and social isolation have been linked with increased risk of premature mortality and increased risk of chronic diseases. While with age social priorities may change or work duties may increase, people who remain isolated, don't connect with others socially, or remain pessimistic may eventually develop coronary artery disease, diabetes, Alzheimer's, and a variety of other physical health problems. Every day, one should ensure there is time for socializing and meeting family and friends, and exercise; this will help stop rapid aging."

Dr. Khubchandani shares, "Long term studies following individuals with time have shown that smoking and drinking make people look older. Today, smoking remains the leading cause of preventable disease, disability, and death in the United States. Alcohol use is associated with heart disease, stroke, and accidents, just to name a few examples. Every time one uses tobacco or other drugs, there is insult to the lungs, heart, and brain. The chronic insults then culminate in heart attacks, strokes, and cancers which are due to inflammation, organ damage, and rapid aging of body systems."

"With age, there is a natural decline in our physical strength and frailty increases," Dr. Khubchandani reminds us. "Also, as we age, the metabolism becomes slower and our body has a tendency to accumulate a lot of fat in the belly (e.g., visceral abdominal fat) which is related to immune related, inflammatory, and biochemical changes in the body that are detrimental (especially, for heart and brain health). People who have maintained an inactive lifestyle, it's time to make sure that you're highly active now and you participate in enough physical activity and exercise. Family and work responsibilities may have taken away time till the age of 50 or beyond, but having a daily exercise and strength training routine will give you more energy, halt rapid aging, and reduce the risk of heart disease, cancers, and stroke (leading causes of death). Exercise is the most cost-effective medicine to increase both quantity and quality of life along with preventing accelerated aging. The National Institutes on Aging have extensively described the benefits of and rationale behind exercise as we age."

Dr. Khubchandani emphasizes, "Food is medicine; it needs consumption in the right amount, at the right time, and of the right quality. Unfortunately, the majority of adults do not consume adequate fruits and vegetables and many do not get the required minerals, vitamins, and nutrients. With age, dietary needs and appetite change and one must be watchful about the content, frequency, and schedule of diet. While it is true for all ages, with increasing age, make a habit of consuming less sugar, salt, saturated fatty acids and add more fruits and vegetables and unsaturated fats to avoid the risk of putting on too much weight, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. Unhealthy diets cannot help with aging related decline in body functions and also, increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases (e.g., heart attacks and stroke) or increase the probability of having these diseases earlier in life. The National Institutes on Aging provides guidance on key diet elements that are needed with increasing age and these can help halt the process of rapid aging."6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

According to Dr. Khubchandani, "While screening for health risk factors depends on age and probability of risk factors, many organizations and medical societies have recommendations specifically for those aged 50 years and above. These recommendations apply for both males and females. Early detection of health behavior and lifestyle problems (e.g., obesity and alcohol misuse) or diseases (e.g., high blood pressure) will ensure that one can prevent further declines in health and continue to look and feel younger as many of these problems are linked with premature and rapid aging (e.g., cognitive decline with high blood sugar)."

Dr. Khubchandani tells us, "One of the few manifestations of the aging process that are visible to the naked human eye are observed in skin. The skin is the largest organ that needs maintenance of tone, texture, hydration, and proper nourishment. The skin is also vulnerable to toxic exposures such as pollutants, ultraviolet radiation, extreme weather. Therefore, cleaning, protection of skin (e.g., avoiding air pollution, using sunscreen, keeping it covered) and nourishment (e.g., getting enough vitamins, minerals, and water) is key to look fresh and not more than your age."

"Since the COVID-19 pandemic started, stress and sleep problems in the society have increased rapidly," Dr. Khubchandani states. "People are feeling more stressed and sleepless today than ever and may also be experiencing physical and mental weakness. Stress and sleep deprivation promotes inflammation in the body resulting in release of toxic chemicals and a variety of neuropsychological, immunity related, and biochemical imbalances that influence the aging process. What makes it worse is poor stress management, lack of sleep hygiene, and not taking care of yourself. The combination of stress and inflammation causing biological changes related to aging are also referred to as inflammaging. The process of aging and sleep also have a bidirectional relationship (e.g., aging may be related to sleep problems and vice versa). Genetic and biochemical alteration of human body cells due to sleep deprivation may result in acceleration of aging process and also cause aging indirectly by increasing risk of many chronic diseases that cause body organ damage or degeneration. Individuals should get quality sleep for an adequate number of hours by maintaining good sleep hygiene to avoid looking or feeling older."

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7 Ways to Make Your Body Feel Young After 50 Eat This Not That - Eat This, Not That

A new set of nutritional studies has found that table grapes offer previously unidentified health benefits, adding potentially marketable dietary value to Kern's top-grossing agricultural commodity.

In studies of mice fed the kind of high-fat diets common in Western diets, the addition of grapes yielded reductions in fatty liver, extended lifespans and improved cognition, according to recently published reports.

John Pezzuto and other researchers at Western New England University reported in the journal Foods that research observed actual changes in genetic expression, which he called "truly remarkable."

The report was one of three recently publishedstudiesdone with fruit donated by the California Table Grape Commission, which also helped pay for the research.

A published summary of Pezzuto's work said standard or high-fat diets, which are associated with negative health outcomes, lead to certain gene expressions that "each are modulated by the addition of grapes." Adding grapes, or in this case grape powder, produced changes "more similar to a standard diet than to a high-fat diet."

It went on to say the lifelong inclusion of grapes in a high-fat diet "increases longevity."

Commission President Kathleen Nave noted in a news release California grape growers have supported grape research at more than 70 institutions for more than 20 years.

"Some studies have shown positive effects on health, and others have not been as promising," she stated. "The results reported by John Pezzuto and his team are exciting and rewarding on many levels."

"The potential for improvements in human health is significant as is the strength of the data, which logically supports the need for follow-up work in human clinical trials," Nave added.

Other top crops in Kern notably, pistachios, almonds and citrus have been recognized for their nutritional value, as well, and the grape industry first started promoting grapes as healthy decades ago. But the ones announced by the commission earlier offer new detail on just how beneficial it may be to eat a crop that does well in Kern County.

Another study published in the journal Antioxidants, also by researchers at WNEU, found eating grapes changed the way genes express in the brain. It said the fruit helped behavior and cognition in mice fed a high-fat diet.

The third study, published in Food & Nutrition, presented evidence grapes change metabolism in additional to genetic expression.

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Studies in mice suggest health, cognitive benefits from eating grapes - The Bakersfield Californian

Is your belly fat bothering you? While excess fat of any kind is unhealthy, visceral fat is particularly dangerous. "Abdominal obesity not only increases your risk for a first heart attack or stroke, but also the risk for recurrent events after the first misfortune," says Dr. Hanieh Mohammadi of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. "Maintaining a healthy waist circumference is important for preventing future heart attacks and strokes regardless of how many drugs you may be taking or how healthy your blood tests are." Here are five scientifically-backed ways to get rid of belly fat. Read onand to ensure your health and the health of others, don't miss these Sure Signs You've Already Had COVID.

Exercise is a key factor in helping blast belly fat. "Health experts say consistent, moderate exercise by itself appears to help the body rid itself of vast amounts of deep abdominal fat even when your scale doesn't register a loss," says CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. "If you're at a good weight, but still have trouble losing that belly fat, make sure you're doing the right kind of exercise. While sit-ups only tighten abdominal muscles, studies show strength training can reduce belly fat. The American College of Sports Medicine agrees the best way to achieve a "six pack" of abs is to focus more on lowering total body fat through aerobic exercise and diet. ACSM also says ab exercises are most effective when tailored to your individual needs. So, consult a trainer who can help you design the best program for you to lose the belly fat."

Eating a diet rich in healthy, nutritious whole foods is important for losing belly fat. "Nutrition plays a vital role in reducing abdominal fat," says Bret Scher, MD. "Many diets that promote weight loss, including vegan diets and chronic caloric restriction, can help people lose belly fat. However, the key is finding a sustainable diet that provides adequate nutrition and still helps you lose belly fat. For many, a low-carb diet may be an effective option, and adding intermittent fasting is also promising."6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

Stress-eating may make belly fat worse, experts say. "It's not just a formula of calories in and calories out. What we eat and how much may determine our overall weight, but stress influences where that fat actually gets deposited on our body," says Elissa Epel, PhD. "We know that excessive exposure to cortisol can increase belly fat. So it's logical that stress reduction should minimize it."

Studies show that people who strength train have less belly fat, even if they don't lose weight from the exercise. "Stick with basic moves that work the major muscle groupsshoulders, chest, back, abs, butt, legs, and arms," says Sherri MacMillan, owner of Northwest Personal Training in Portland, Oregon. "As you get stronger, continue to increase your weight load to counter gradual muscle loss."

Research from the Mayo Clinic shows eating breakfast is linked to a decrease in belly fat. "For reasons that we don't quite understand yet, eating breakfast seems to be a marker of, No. 1, less likelihood of having gained weight recently, and, No. 2, a smaller belly circumference and less visceral fat," says cardiologist Dr. Virend Somers. "Those who ate breakfast very frequently put on less than 3 pounds in the past year. Those who ate breakfast maybe one to four times a week put on about 5 pounds. The ones who didn't eat breakfast at all put on about 8 pounds in the year prior to them seeing us."

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How to Remove the "Hidden Fat" in Your Belly Eat This Not That - Eat This, Not That

DNA testing has become increasingly popular over the years, with one of the most prominent companies being DNAfit. DNA testing claims to assess your genetic makeup, ultimately helping users gain insights into their health and fitness that they wouldnt otherwise have. The company can then use this information to tailor a unique workout and diet plan specifically designed for your body.

DNAfit claims to provide some of the most comprehensive DNA testing available. The company also states that it can provide unrivaled insight into users diet, nutrition, fitness, and well-being. However, some of the health claims they make are unsupported by evidence, and theres little scientific evidence for DNA-based personalization. For these reasons, we dont recommend purchasing or using DNAfit kits.

Read on to discover what you need to know about this company and alternatives to consider.

DNAfit is a direct-to-consumer genetic testing company that provides DNA-based insights into diet, fitness, and wellness. The London-based company was founded in 2013 by Avi Lasarow to provide people with a simple way to understand how their genes affect their health and fitness.

The company offers three main products: Diet Fit, Heath Fit, and Circle Premium, with the latter being its most comprehensive option. Each kit provides everything you need to collect a DNA sample from home and send it to their state-of-the-art laboratory for analysis.

Once the results are ready, youll receive a personalized report with actionable insights and recommendations based on your unique genetic makeup.

The primary aim of DNAfit is to provide you with information you can use to improve your health and fitness.

The company offers three different tests, each with a different focus:

We evaluated DNAfit by looking at the companys medical claims and business standards.

Although the company doesnt make any disease claims, some of its health claims are unsupported by solid scientific evidence. For example, personalizing diet and fitness plans according to your genes doesnt correlate with the available evidence.

Likewise, claims that DNA testing results can help you effectively manage stress and sleep are largely unfounded.

In regards to business standards, DNAfit fared well. They have no Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warnings or third-party certifications. Additionally, the company has good privacy standards with SSL encryption and a valid security certificate.

DNAfit is owned by a parent company called Prenetics, which currently doesnt have a Better Business Bureau page. They do, however, have a 3.9-star rating from more than 4,500 reviewers on Trustpilot. Meanwhile, DNAfit has a 3.8-star rating on Trustpilot.

Diet Fit is the most basic of DNAfits offerings. It provides insights into your unique nutrigenetic profile, which is designed to help you understand how your body responds to various types of food and any sensitivities and intolerances you may have. According to the company, youll find out which foods you should eat more or less of to lose weight, maintain weight, or gain muscle with personalized dietary recommendations.

Youll also receive information on building your perfect meal according to how you respond to carbohydrates and fats. You can program the MealPlanner (a personalized meal planning service) with your aim, likes, and dislikes, and it generates a genetically guided recipe plan complete with a shopping list builder.

Health Fit further builds on the diet and nutrient insights from Diet Fit. Youll receive the same insights and have access to the personalized MealPlanner.

Where Health Fit differs is with its fitness response genetic markers. These markers include:

These insights allow you to discover how to optimize your workouts and guide your training choices.

Youll receive information on your stress and sleep profile to help you improve your mental and physical well-being.

Circle Premium is DNAfits most comprehensive offering. In addition to the information provided in Diet Fit and Health Fit, the Circle Premium report is said to assess your genetic risk of certain diseases like dementia, type II diabetes, irritable bowel syndrome, and others.

The aim is to help you better understand your health and take preventive measures like lifestyle changes, check-ups, or more frequent cancer screenings.

It includes over 350 reports covering:

For those thinking of starting a family, the reports provide information on any inherited conditions that could be passed down to future generations.

When you receive your DNAfit report, its important to keep in mind that its only one part of the picture. The results should be used as a guide and not as a certainty.

For example, if your report says you have a higher risk of developing type II diabetes, it doesnt mean youll definitely have the condition in the future. Likewise, a lower risk doesnt necessarily mean symptoms of the condition wont occur.

Remember that your DNA is just one factor in the development of disease. Other important considerations are your lifestyle choices, environment, and more.

The Diet Fit report is easy to understand and isnt too dense in information. It details how your genetics may affect the way you metabolize carbs and fats. It also outlines if you have the required needs for certain vitamins or nutrients.

There are sections for:

The meal planner feature allows you to input your food preferences and generates a genetically tailored meal plan.

The Health Fit report is similar to the Diet Fit report in terms of content and layout. However, it builds on the information with details on how your genes affect fitness levels and provides insights on optimizing your workouts.

It includes:

Theres also information on your stress and sleep profile. The results outline how you cope with stress and your tolerance levels. Youll also find out if youre a warrior or a strategist, which identifies how you process information and perform tasks while under stress.

The Circle Premium report is DNAfits most comprehensive offering. In addition to the information provided in Diet Fit and Health Fit, the Circle Premium report provides the following information:

Youll also discover your ancestry and information on various traits. These include success, behavioral, physical, personality, and gender so you can better understand yourself and your background.

DNAfit claims that they take users privacy very seriously. It was the first company of its kind to become certified by ISO 27001, a globally recognized framework for best practices on information storage and security.

Rather than by name, DNAfit stores your data by ID number and claims that they destroy your samples after use. Your data wont be shared with people outside the company, and DNAfit does not sell your information to third parties.

Here are some other brands that provide DNA testing services. These recommended alternatives have passed Healthlines medical and business standards.

Everlywell provides a convenient way of checking different health issues from allergies to STIs and food sensitivities. However, theres a lack of evidence to support the methods they use for testing food sensitivities. Experts feel that these tests can provide inaccurate and misleading information, so its important to take these results with discretion.

Overall, Everlywell has a solid reputation besides the criticism about their controversial food sensitivity testing. They also use Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA)-certified laboratories, so youre sure of quality service and results.

Everlywell sells a wide range of at-home testing kits that cover:

Like Everlywell, myLAB Box offers a convenient way to test for STIs and other health conditions from the comfort of your home. In addition, they offer free shipping and results in as little as 2 to 5 days.

They offer sensitivity testing for 96 different foods, and they test for IgA, IgG, and IgG4. This might provide a better picture than relying on IgG alone. But, bear in mind that the test doesnt test for food allergies, as this requires IgE antibody testing.

Other home tests sold by myLAB Box include:

FoodMarble uses a type of breathalyzer that claims to help you figure out which foods cause digestive issues. The device is small and portable, so you that can take it with you on the go.

To use it, you simply breathe into the device after eating, and it tells you if the food is digesting properly. The device measures hydrogen levels in your breath, and together with the app, it provides accurate information.

FoodMarble sells two breathalyzers:

If you still decide that youd like to try out DNAfits at-home DNA test kits, there are a few things to keep in mind before purchasing.

You should first talk to your doctor, who can more accurately assess your medical, health, and family history. They might be able to provide personalized suggestions based on your diet and fitness patterns, especially if youre looking to lose weight. They may also be able to provide some insights by talking through factors like stress, sleep, and your general well-being.

Your doctor may also be able to suggest lab or food sensitivity tests that can provide information regarding food intolerances and your risk of certain diseases like diabetes.

The brand passed our business vetting standards, meaning its a reputable company without any FDA or Federal Trade Commission (FTC) warnings against them. There also havent been any lawsuits filed.

DNAfit does not yet have a Better Business Bureau page, and its products do not appear on Amazon.

However, it has a Trustpilot page that scores DNAfit 3.9 out of 5 stars with more than 2,500 reviews. Although the reviews are good overall, some customers were unimpressed. They claim that the information provided is very basic and vague.

Users also reported problems with accessing the app and poor customer service.

In short, probably not. No scientific evidence supports claims that these tests can help you lose weight or improve your fitness.

A 2018 study found that DNA testing couldnt help guide people to a specific weight loss regimen that was more likely to be successful. Although many companies claim these effects, it seems there is no difference in weight loss between people following diets that allegedly match their genotype compared to those on standard diets.

The services offered by DNAfit are not inexpensive, starting at around $150 for Diet Fit. However, there is little scientific evidence underpinning their value, so its unlikely that DNAfit is worth the money.

That said, many of the reviews on Trustpilot are positive, with some people stating they would happily recommend DNAfit. So, it comes down to personal choice and budget as to whether DNAfit is worth it to you.

DNAfit states that their at-home DNA tests are accurate, but its tricky to find specific figures. However, they claim to regularly spot-check their labs to ensure they test samples correctly and provide results that are 100% accurate.

Currently, the FDA has only approved 23andMe for some of their at-home DNA tests. Overall, the industry is not regulated and has no independent analysis to verify the sellers claims, so you should still use caution when purchasing a test.

However, generally, DNA testing is a safe procedure. Most kits require a cheek swab or saliva sample, so there are essentially no associated risks. But, when samples are self-collected at home, theres an increased risk of contamination and inaccuracies.

DNAfit is a direct-to-consumer DNA testing company that offers several different tests, including Diet Fit, Health Fit, and Circle Premium.

The company has a good reputation, with few complaints from customers. However, the scientific evidence underpinning the value of their tests is lacking, and there are health claims unsupported by evidence.

Overall, its unclear whether DNAfit is worth the money, and we dont recommend purchasing or using the service for these reasons.

Zia Sherrell is a health copywriter and digital health journalist with over a decade of experience covering diverse topics from public health to medical cannabis, nutrition, and biomedical science. Her mission is to empower and educate people by bringing health matters to life with engaging, evidence-based writing.

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DNAfit Review: What It Can and Can't Tell You - Healthline