SuppVersity - Nutrition and Exercise Science for Everyone

Even the difference between having 'below ' vs. 'above average' fitness levels amounts to the same 1.4-fold increase in mortality risk the scientists calculated for smoking cigarettes. When I first read about the latest study from the  Cleveland Clinic and that it would demonstrate that "not working out" was "worse than smoking", I expected that a press-release writer had compared the reduction in mortality risk and physical fitness, which has been observed by a new medium-scale observational study from his employer, to the hazard ratio (HR) other scientists calculated for smoking in a completely different study (or meta-analysis) for publicity reasons. However, upon closer scrutiny, it turned out that both, the hazard ratio for smoking vs. non-smoking, which is 1.41 (p < 0.001), and the hazard ratio for elite vs. low fitness, which is 5.05 (p < 0.01) and hence 3.6 times higher, were based on analyses of the same dataset - cool! Bicar...

Foods, not supplements should be your go-to potassium source. You've read about the importance of adequate potassium intakes and the lack of potassium (esp. in relation to sodium, where only 10% of the US adults meet the Na:K ratio the WHO recommends to reduce your overall mortality risk) in our diets at the SuppVersity , before ( read more about potassium deficit s). You've also learned that potassium supplements can be necessary during very low-calorie diets where they prevent the paradoxical induction of insulin resistance ( read more about potassium and insulin resistance ). What you haven't read yet, however, is the number Tang et al. put on the effect of supplemental potassium on vascular function in their recent review and meta-analysis in the  International Journal of Cardiology  (Tang. 2016). Learn more about potassium (K) in previous SuppVersity articles: Potassium vs. Diet-Inducded Insulin Resis. In the Lime Light: The Ill Effects of Low K Intake...

If the frying time is short (2-5 min) and the heat not extreme, it's no problem to fry with virgin olive oil. If that's not the case there are better options . You will probably remember my Facebook post about olive oil having recently become the first food that may officially call itself heart healthy in the European union. As María-Isabel Covas et al. point out in their latest paper, this leave a key question for the consumer unanswered: Which olive oil is the for you and your health? And how strong is the evidence it's actually going to make a sign. health difference (Buckland. 2015)? In today's SuppVersity article I am going to answer these question and then turn to another, related issue: The alleged health-hazards of cooking and frying with vegetable oils as they were reviewed by Carmen Sayon-Orea (2015) and Carmen Dobarganes (2015): Lean more about frying & co at the SuppVersity The Quest for the Optimal Frying Oil MUFA Modulates Gut Bacteria →...

After reading this article you won't have to be afraid of milk any longer. The editor of the British Medical Journal (BMJ) will be rubbing his / her hands. The paper by Karl Michaëlsson et al. (2014) that was published earlier this week, made it to the mainstream news in the US and Europe and did - at least at first sight - reflect well on his or her magazine. "The British Medical Journal saves you from intoxicating yourself with milk!" - That's great, right? Well, in today's SuppVersity article, I am going to take a closer look at how "great" it actually is that studies like this hit the mainstream media, while less exciting, because beneficial studies on milk are not being mentioned at all ... unless, of course, it's the morally superior and allegedly healthier soy milk we are talking about *sarcastic laughter* You can learn more about dairy at the SuppVersity Dairy Has Branched-Chain Fatty Acids! Is There Sth. Like a Dairy Weight ...