Sigma Nutrition Radio
Danny Lennon
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Discussions about the science of nutrition, dietetics and health. The podcast that educates through nuanced conversations, exploring evidence and cultivating critical thinking. Hosted by Danny Lennon.
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2 days ago
SNP21: Sick Individuals and Sick Populations
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About this episode:
In 1985 a paper titled “Sick Individuals and Sick Populations” was published in the International Journal of Epidemiology.
The paper, authored by eminent epidemiologist Geoffrey Rose, can be considered as seminal and important because it brilliantly raised the concept of the “prevention paradox” and challenged traditional approaches to public health and preventive medicine.
The paper’s insights have had a lasting impact on how we understand and approach population health interventions. And it raised many contentious public health issues, which are still debated and relevant today.
The ideas have very important implications for how we can tackle diet-related diseases in meaningful ways.
In this episode, Danny and Alan discuss the central themes of the paper, why they are so crucial to understand, and what this means for our understanding of diet and chronic disease prevention.
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Sep 19, 2023
#496: ATBC Cancer Prevention Study – Crucial Lessons
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About This Episode:
The Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention Study (ATBC) stands as a seminal and pioneering research endeavor within the domain of epidemiology and cancer prevention. Conducted in Finland, the study aimed to examine the potential protective effects of alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E) and beta-carotene supplementation against the occurrence of various cancer types, particularly lung cancer, among male smokers. Initiated in the early 1980s, the study’s comprehensive design, rigorous methodology, and its focus on a specific high-risk population have contributed significantly to the understanding of the interplay between dietary antioxidants and cancer risk.
The ATBC study was founded on a growing body of evidence suggesting the potential role of antioxidants in mitigating the deleterious effects of oxidative stress and free radical damage, which are recognized as contributors to carcinogenesis. The selection of male smokers as the study cohort was strategically significant, given the heightened susceptibility of this group to lung cancer and other malignancies due to the synergistic action of smoking and oxidative stress. The study’s rigorous double-blind, placebo-controlled design ensured a high degree of scientific rigor, minimizing biases and confounding factors that might influence the outcomes.
One of the primary reasons for the study’s seminal status is its contribution to the understanding of the complex relationship between antioxidants and cancer risk. While the study did not find a significant reduction in lung cancer incidence among the intervention group receiving alpha-tocopherol and beta-carotene supplements, its findings spurred critical discussions within the scientific community. The neutral or inconclusive results underscored the intricate nature of carcinogenesis and highlighted the limitations of simplistic cause-and-effect interpretations in the context of cancer prevention. Moreover, the ATBC study contributed to a shift in research paradigms, prompting scientists to explore broader dietary and lifestyle factors that influence cancer risk beyond single-nutrient interventions.
In this episode we discuss the three most important publications from the study, with a specific look at what crucial lessons they teach us about the nuances, challenges, and unique aspects of nutrition as a scientific field.
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Sep 12, 2023
#495: Circadian Clocks in Muscle & Exercise as a Time Cue – Prof. Karyn Esser
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About this Episode:
The field of circadian biology has long been associated with regulating diurnal physiological processes, notably the sleep-wake cycle. However, recent advances have unveiled a broader role for circadian clocks across various tissues, including skeletal muscle.
Within this context, the investigation of circadian clocks within the skeletal muscle milieu has emerged as a frontier of scientific inquiry. These intrinsic timekeeping mechanisms exhibit multifaceted regulatory capacities beyond mere temporal synchronization.
This episode delves into the implications of “circadian clocks” operating within skeletal muscle tissue, with the esteemed Prof. Karyn Esser as this week’s guest. Her pioneering work has been instrumental in understanding the interplay between circadian rhythmicity and muscular physiology.
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Sep 5, 2023
#494: Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial
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About This Episode:
The Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial (MRFIT) was a groundbreaking clinical trial conducted in the 1970s and 1980s. Its main objective was to investigate the relationship between various risk factors and the incidence of heart disease.
The study aimed to determine whether modifying risk factors, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, and smoking, could lead to a reduction in cardiovascular events.
The trial spanned several years, with participants being followed up for a period of approximately six years to assess the incidence of cardiovascular events and mortality. The primary outcome measures included coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality and overall mortality.
The MRFIT trial yielded several important findings that have significantly influenced our understanding of cardiovascular health and prevention strategies.
In this episode we take a look at why this is such seminal research, as well as the contribution of one of the greatest researchers ever in the field, Jeramiah Stamler.
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Aug 29, 2023
#493: The Keys Equation – How Dietary Fats Impact Blood Cholesterol
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About this Episode:
One of the most important and influential papers in nutrition science is one by Ancel Keys and his colleagues that was published in The Lancet in 1957. This seminal paper examined the relationship between dietary fat intake and serum cholesterol levels. The researchers investigated how different types of fats in the diet affected cholesterol levels in a series of their previous tightly-controlled dietary experiments..
Those studies involved feeding the participants various diets with different compositions of fats. The researchers analyzed the participants’ blood samples to measure changes in serum cholesterol levels in response to dietary changes.
The most important aspect of this paper is the presentation of the ‘Keys Equation’; a predictive equation for the impacts of saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fats, and dietary cholesterol, on blood cholesterol levels.
Crucially, the Keys Equation identifies the importance of the ratio of polyunsaturated to saturated fats in the diet; known as the ‘P:S ratio’. It showed that the P:S ratio is the most important dietary factor impacting blood cholesterol levels. And specifically that saturated fats increase total and LDL cholesterol twice as much as polyunsaturated fats lower them.
The findings of this study were significant in highlighting the potential impact of dietary fat subtypes on serum cholesterol levels and heart disease risk. It contributed to the growing body of evidence supporting the hypothesis that high serum cholesterol levels, particularly due to a diet rich in saturated fats, were associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases.
In this episode, as part of our new series taking an in-depth look at seminal nutrition studies, we go through this influential paper from Keys, Anderson and Grande.
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Aug 22, 2023
SNP20: The Cumulative Exposure Model of LDL-C & Heart Disease
This is a Premium-exclusive episode, so here you'll only hear a preview. In order to listen to the full episode you’ll need to subscribe to Sigma Nutrition Premium.
About This Episode:
It has been clearly demonstrated that elevated LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C), or perhaps more specifically pro-atherogenic lipoproteins, is causal in atherosclerosis development in humans.
One crucial concept within this is that the risk relates not only to the magnitude of elevated LDL-C, but the duration of exposure. Thus, the role of LDL-C in driving atherosclerosis is referred to as a “cumulative, integrated exposure over the lifecourse”.
But, what exactly does this mean?
In this episode, Danny discusses the cumulative exposure model of LDL-C in atherosclerosis, the evidence supporting it, and the implications of this for the “debates” that get raised in relation to LDL-C (or apoB-containing lipoproteins) and heart disease.
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Aug 15, 2023
#492: How Does Weight Cycling Impact Long-term Health?
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About This Episode:
Losing at least 5% of one’s initial body weight is associated with improvements in glycaemic control, blood pressure, triglyceride levels, and other positive outcomes. Due to these reasons, it is typically recommended that individuals classified as overweight or obese should engage in effective weight loss interventions.
However, despite the potential for clinically significant weight loss through these interventions, weight regain is a common occurrence. This can be attributed to a combination of low adherence to weight control strategies and compensatory physiological mechanisms that influence weight regain.
Consequently, this may result in a cycle of losing and regaining weight over the long term, which is commonly referred to as “weight cycling.”
There are concerns regarding the potential harm to health and increased risk of chronic diseases associated with weight cycling. Some mechanisms have been proposed, such as the loss of lean mass during weight loss periods that is not regained when weight is regained. However, the evidence supporting the harmful effects of weight cycling on health is incomplete and many unanswered questions remain.
In this episode, we will examine the evidence published to date and draw evidence-based conclusions regarding the impact of weight cycling on long-term health.
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Aug 8, 2023
#491: Do High Protein Intakes Cause Insulin Resistance?
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About This Episode:
There has been interest in, and debate about, how protein intake impacts metabolic health, particularly in relation to insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes risk.
Recently, there has been interest in higher protein intakes as an intervention in diabetes, owing to a variety of potential mechanisms. For example, the satiety value of protein, the promotion of insulin secretion by protein, and imapcts on incretin hormones.
However, others have warned against high protein intakes. With some going as far as to claim high, or even moderate, protein intakes can lead to insulin resistance or negatively effect beta-cell function.
In this episode, we look at the research typically cited in support of such claims, and dig into the details. We consider the overall evidence in this area to answer the question ‘do high protein diets cause insulin resistance or increase diabetes risk?’.
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Aug 1, 2023
#490: How Does Exercise Impact Beta-cell Function in Type 2 Diabetes? – Mark Lyngbæk, MD
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The management of type 2 diabetes has long been a challenge, but a new study conducted by researcher Mark Lyngbaek and his colleagues has the potential to add important considerations to the approach to treatment. Titled the “DOSE-EX” randomized clinical trial, their study uncovers the impact of exercise and weight loss on beta-cell function, a key factor in diabetes progression.
DOSE-EX is a four-armed randomized trial involving 82 individuals with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes. The participants were divided into four groups: standard care, calorie restriction, calorie restriction with exercise three times per week, and calorie restriction with exercise six times per week. Over a span of 16 weeks, the researchers assessed the effects of these interventions on beta-cell function using various indicators.
The study’s findings are incredibly interesting, demonstrating that exercise in combination with diet-induced weight loss leads to a substantial improvement in glucose-stimulated beta-cell function. Importantly, the results indicate the importance of considering both: a) the exercise dose, and b) the methodology of assessing beta-cell function, when evaluating intervention effectiveness.
In this episode, Dr. Lyngbaek will elucidate the implications of these findings for the management of type 2 diabetes. We will explore the potential of exercise as a therapeutic tool, its optimal dosage, and the considerations for integrating it into individualized treatment plans.
About The Guest:
Dr. Mark Lyngbæk is a physician, currently in an introduction position at the Department of Rheumatology and Internal Medicine 2 at Holbæk Hospital, and also a PhD student at the Centre for Physical Activity Research at Rigshospitalet.
His research has looked at exercise, beta-cell function and type 2 diabetes. He is supported by a research grant from the Danish Diabetes Academy, which is funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation (grant number NNF17SA0031406). The Centre for Physical Activity Research is supported by TrygFonden (grants ID 101390, ID 20045, and ID 125132).
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Jul 25, 2023
What is a Causal Risk Factor? (AMA with Alan)
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About this Episode:
We've just released a lengthy 'ask me anything' episode, where Dr. Alan Flanagan addressed specific listener questions, over on the Sigma Nutition Premium feed. In this episode, you'll hear one detailed answer from that AMA, in which Alan discusses the concept of "causal risk factors".
This is a term that is regularly mentioned on the podcast, and has a very specific and important meaning. This episode will give you an in-depth understanding and comfort with the term, which will enhance your future understanding and learning.
If you wish to hear the other 10 questions Alan answered, you can subscribe to Sigma Nutrition Premium here.
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Jul 18, 2023
#489: Inequalities in Diabetes Outcomes for African & Caribbean Communities – Prof. Louise Goff
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About This Episode:
In the UK, there is a threefold higher incidence of type 2 diabetes in UK African and Caribbean (AfC) communities, compared to the general population. And ethnic inequalities in type 2 diabetes treatment and outcomes have been documented. And so addressing these inequalities is an urgent healthcare priority in the UK.
Differences in outcomes relate to physiological differences as well as pragmatic issues and structural barriers. Professor Louise Goff has done pioneering work in relation to both aspects.
Prof. Goff’s research has highlighted ethnic differences in type 2 diabetes pathophysiology between those in UK African and Caribbean groups and white Europeans. This means that typical screening for diabetes may not be as useful for AfC communities, in addition to treatments not being as appropriate.
In addition, there are noted differences in engagement with diabetes education services and self-management advice. This may be due to the fact that the delivery of information is not culturally relevant to those in AfC communities. And so diabetes structured education programs have been found to be less successful in people from minority ethnic groups.
Prof. Goff has attempted to address this by developing a culturally tailored self-management education and support program for type 2 diabetes in black-British adults. This program, called the Healthy Eating and Active Lifestyles for Diabetes (HEAL-D) program, has initially been trialed with local Black African and Caribbean communities and healthcare providers in South London.
In this episode, Prof. Goff discusses the ethnic differences in diabetes pathophysiology and the other factors underlying the inequalities in diabetes outcomes in black African and Caribbean communities.
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Jul 11, 2023
#488: Does Time of Day Impact Hunger, Appetite & Satiety?
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About This Episode:
The topic of whether hunger and satiety are affected by the time of day has generated considerable interest within the nutrition research community. Researchers have been particularly intrigued by the potential influence of circadian rhythms on caloric intake throughout the day.
Initially, a number of studies proposed that consuming high energy intakes in the morning could lead to significantly greater weight loss compared to evening consumption. And while much attention was placed on the hypothesis that differences in expenditure were the cause, more recent research has called that into doubt.
And so, it is crucial to consider the possibility that other factors may be contributing to the outcomes observed in the intervention trials. In recent years, a series of papers has suggested an alternative explanation; the impact of time-of-day energy intake on a…
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Jul 5, 2023
#487: Weight Cutting in Combat Sports – Jordan Sullivan
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About This Episode:
“Weight cutting” is a common practice in weight-class based sports. And typically, combat sport athletes have reported cutting the largest amounts of weight for competition.
The concept of cutting weight is based on the assumption that a size advantage gives a performance advantage in combat sports. And by getting into a lower weight class than their “normal” weight, athletes can enjoy an advantage (or, more accurately, not be at a disadvantage).
The decrease in weight from an athlete’s habitual weight to their weight-class limit typically has two phases: a chronic weight loss phase (gradual dieting to lose fat mass), and an acute weight loss phase (rapid declines in weight due to losses of water, glycogen and gut residue).
To discuss the science, practical application and dangers of weight cutting strategies, performan…
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Jun 27, 2023
#486: Blood Glucose Spikes: How High is Too High? – Mario Kratz, PhD & Nicola Guess, PhD
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About This Episode:
Peaks in blood glucose (or “blood sugar spikes”) are commonly highlighted as something harmful to health. And, of course, an excessively high blood glucose response to a meal can be problematic, or at least indicate there is a problem.
However, elevations in blood glucose after eating are a normal physiological response. And “bad” blood glucose responses are those that stay high for a prolonged period; i.e. after elevating, they don’t return to normal within an appropriate period of time.
But now many normoglycemic people are worrying about normal blood glucose responses, due to information that portrays even moderate elevations in blood glucose as harfmul. To add to the confusion, people are looking at standardized cut-off thresholds for diabetes and pre-diabetes, and mistakenly using…
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Jun 20, 2023
#485: Does Menopause Alter Appetite?
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Menopause is commonly associated with hormonal changes and physical symptoms, such as hot flashes, mood changes, sleep issues, and weight gain. Based on anecdotal reports, another interesting question emerges: what is the potential impact of menopause on appetite?
As women undergo this transformative phase, many report fluctuations in their food intake and body weight, raising the question: Does menopause alter appetite?
Understanding the relationship between menopause and appetite is of great significance, as it can potentially provide insights into the mechanisms behind weight gain and obesity risk that often accompany this stage of life. Furthermore, comprehending the factors that contribute to changes in appetite during menopause could aid in the development of tailored interventions and strategies to support women’s overall health and well-being.
In this episode, we…
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Jun 13, 2023
SNP18: What is a Healthy Low-Carb Diet?
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About This Episode:
Note: This is a Premium-exclusive episode, so in order to listen to the full episode you’ll need to subscribe to Sigma Nutrition Premium.
Low-carbohydrate diets come with a list of reported benefits, and research does show benefit for a number of different outcomes. However, many influencers and advocates of low-carb diets routinely add commentary that is misleading, incorrect, and possibly dangerous. This has led to us highlighting such incorrect information on this podcast before and pushing back against central claims of the “big names” in the “low-carb community”.
However, low-carbohydrate diets can indeed be a viable dietary pattern for people who wish to consume a healthy diet… provided they meet a few criteria. In other words, it is possible to consume a low-carb diet that still largely fits in…
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Jun 6, 2023
#484: Is Metabolic Adaptation an Illusion? – Eric Trexler, PhD
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About This Episode:
Metabolic adaptation refers to the process by which the body adjusts its metabolism in response to changes in energy intake or body mass. This adjustment can occur in both directions, meaning that the body can increase or decrease its energy expenditure in response to changes in energy intake or body weight.
When someone consumes fewer calories than their body requires for energy, the body will respond by slowing down its metabolism to conserve energy. This can make it harder to lose weight and maintain weight loss over time. Conversely, when someone consumes more calories than their body needs, the body will increase its metabolic rate in order to burn off the excess energy.
There are several open debates in science about metabolic adaptation, including the actual magnitude of it, its relevance to weight loss, what measurement methods should be used, and the mechanisms und…
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May 30, 2023
#483: What are the Effects of Very High Fiber Intakes?
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About This Episode:
The benefits of consuming a higher fiber diet have been consistently demonstrated in nutrition research. Epidemiology clearly shows that higher intakes, compared to lower intakes, leads to a risk reduction for a range of diseases, including cardiovascular disease and colon cancer.
And based on this epidemiological evidence, most dietary guidelines recommend dietary patterns that provide adults with 30-35g of dietary fiber per day.
However, what do we know about intakes beyond this?
Do we continue to see benefit in a linear fashion? Is there a ceiling to benefit? At what level would we see “optimal” benefit or the greatest magnitude of risk reduction?
The ability to answer such questions is hampered by the fact it’s difficult to find cohort studies where the “high” fiber level is high enough to relate to this issue. However, there…
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May 23, 2023
#482: Carbohydrate Quality & Health – Andrew Reynolds, PhD
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About This Episode:
In the last couple of decades, carbohydrates have experienced an increasing amount of negative campaigning. In general, the main argument is that carbohydrates have been viewed as the root cause for obesity, diabetes and several other diseases including heart disease and behavioral disorders. However, there can often be a lack of appreciation that not all carbohydrates are equal in their health effects.
Beyond this, now there has even been confusion as to whether high fiber diets with whole grains are good for you or bad. This is mostly a result of strong claims made by people with large online followings and promoting specific diets.
What does the best evidence tell us about different carbohydrate types and impacts on health outcomes? Should carbohydrates be viewed as inherently harmful? How solid is the evidence on whole grains, legumes and other high-fibe…
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May 16, 2023
Is Personalized Nutrition Superior to General Nutrition Advice? (SNP 17)
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About This Episode:
“Personalized nutrition” has been promoted as an approach that will improve people’s health by prescribing them specific dietary recommendations based on their own genetic and phenotypic data.
The premise is that given we each respond differently to foods, having general dietary recommendations may be doing many people a disservice. And by using an array of personal data, it is now possible to give unique diets that improve health.
The early and interesting findings of research in this area was met with much fanfare, and indeed, many companies are now offering commercial direct-to-consumer services based on genetic and physiological testing, followed by “personalized” dietary prescription. Such testing may include genetic tests, microbiome testing, glucose monitoring data, and more. This data is then fed into machine learning algorithms to pre…
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May 9, 2023
#481: Why Saturated Fat Really Does Impact Heart Disease Risk
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About This Episode:
While it has long been acknowledged that high intakes of saturated fat can increase risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease due to their impact on blood lipids, there are some who question the association between saturated fat and heart disease.
Specifically, they may state that the evidence for this association is weak or non-existent, typically by pointing to some commonly cited studies that show null associations between saturated fat and CVD outcomes.
On this basis, they may conclude that there is no basis to aim to limit saturated fat intake to current recommended levels or that reducing saturated fat intake will not actually improve health outcomes.
In this episode, Alan and Danny look at the four most commonly cited publications showing a null association, highlighting some key issues. Beyond that, they look at a number…
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May 2, 2023
#480: How Much Fiber Do We Need for Good Health? – Prof. Joanne Slavin
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About this Episode:
The beneficial impact of a high-fiber diet is something that has been promoted in nutrition for a long period of time. But there remain a variety of interesting questions to researchers, practitioners and the general public alike.
How much fiber do we actually need? What are current fiber recommendations based on? What outcomes have the strongest evidence for benefit? Should we have targets for fiber sub-types? Are some types of fiber “better” than others? Do functional fibers added to food products still retain the benefits we see with dietary fiber?
To help get to some evidence-based answers on these issues, our guest in this episode is one of the researchers at the forefront of dietary fiber research for decades, Professor Joanne Slavin.
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Apr 25, 2023
#479: Blood Glucose, CGM Use, Diabetes Remission & High-Protein for Diabetes – Nicola Guess, PhD, RD
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Description:
Blood glucose responses play a crucial role in maintaining good health, and any abnormalities in glucose regulation can lead to several chronic conditions. Diabetes is one such disease that results from a lack of insulin production or the body’s inability to use insulin effectively, leading to elevated blood glucose levels.
There has been debate about what exactly constitues a “healthy” and “unhealthy” blood glucose response. While it is suggested that unhealthy blood glucose responses are characterized by erratic and unpredictable “spikes” in blood glucose levels, sometimes vague terminology leads to people worrying about normal blood glucose responses. This may be particularly related to the increasing prevalence of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) devices that allow individuals to track their glucose levels in real-time. While these devices can be helpful fo…
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Apr 18, 2023
#478: Exposures in Nutrition – Why They’re Crucial to Understand
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Description:
Understanding the concept of an “exposure” is a critical aspect to nutrition science literacy. The ‘exposure of interest’ refers to the variable or factor that is being studied to determine its relationship with a particular health outcome.
For example, in a study examining the relationship between diet and heart disease, the exposure of interest may be a particular nutrient or food group, such as saturated fat or red meat consumption.
But when reading research we need to be able to critically examine the levels of an exposure and ask were these suitable for the research question at hand.
For example, is there a sufficiently wide contrast in the exposure between the groups being compared? How do the reported levels of intake relate to what we know about this exposure from the wider literature?
Much has been made of the many ’null’ associations found in nutr…
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Apr 11, 2023
SNP16: A Dairy Fat Paradox? – Saturated Fat, Food Matrices & Heart Disease
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Description:
Substantial evidence shows that a high intake of saturated fat in the diet has the potential to significantly raise LDL-C and ApoB-containing lipoproteins in many people, and in turn increase their risk of developing atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD).
However, people may raise what seems to some contradictory evidence, or what is sometimes thought of as a paradox: the impact of full-fat dairy on CVD risk.
This paradox arises because given the saturated fat content of full-fat milk, yogurt and cheese, we typically don’t see the same impact on blood lipid profiles. In addition, epidemiology can often show such foods in a favourable light. And the dairy fat story gets more interesting when we look at evidence showing there is a huge difference in the impact of consuming different dairy foods (e.g. butter vs cheese/yogurt).
So this lead…
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Apr 4, 2023
#477: Effect of Different Diets on Cholesterol, Lipoproteins and Discordance – Ian Davies, PhD
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Introduction:
Discordance between low-density lipoprotein particle (LDL-p) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) occurs when the levels of these two biomarkers do not match up as expected. Discordance between Apolipoprotein B (ApoB) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) is similar, except rather than counting just LDL particles, ApoB is a measure of the numbers of lipoproteins that have an ApoB attached.
Discordance between ApoB and LDL-C can lead to either an underestimate or overestimate of ASCVD risk. And therefore there may be important implications for someone who does have discordance. Additionally, it is such cases that suggest that a measurement of ApoB may provide additional information beyond traditional lipid measures in assessing a person’s cardiovascular risk.
Recent work from researchers at Liverpool John Moores University h…
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Mar 28, 2023
#476: Fructose in Perspective – Dietary Villain or Misunderstood Nutrient?
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Description:
Fructose is a type of sugar that is commonly found in fruits, vegetables, and many processed foods. In recent years, there has been a lot of discussion and debate about the impact of fructose on health, with some claiming that it is a major contributor to obesity, diabetes, and other chronic diseases. However, these claims are often at odds with what the scientific literature actually says.
One of the most common claims about fructose is that it is inherently “bad” for health, and that consuming too much of it can lead to a wide range of health problems. This idea has been popularized in many popular diet and health books, and has led to a widespread fear of fructose among the general public. However, many of these claims are based on outdated or oversimplified research, and do not reflect the complex reality of how fructose interacts with the human body.
An…
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Mar 22, 2023
#475: Is Food Addiction Real? – Charlotte Hardman, PhD
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Description:
The idea of food addiction has gained a lot of attention in recent years, as obesity rates continue to rise around the world. Many people struggle with overeating and find it difficult to resist certain foods, leading to a cycle of guilt and shame. The concept of food addiction suggests that there may be a biological explanation for this behavior, and that certain foods may be especially “rewarding” to the brain, leading to a kind of addiction.
To help look at the evidence in this area, our guest in this episode is Dr. Charlotte Hardman, who is a leading researcher in the field of appetite and obesity. Dr. Hardman’s research focuses on the psychological and biological processes that contribute to overeating and obesity. She is particularly interested in the concept of “food addiction,” which suggests that certain foods may be addictive and lead to…
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Mar 17, 2023
SNP15: AMA – Semaglutide, “Carni-nutrients”, Sweating From Caffeine, & More
Questions Answered in this AMA
* [00:03:01] Mechanisms that keeps weight stable over time?
* [00:11:52] Semaglutide: Game-changer? Weight regain?
* [00:30:42] How to further lower LDL-C? Can I avoid statins?
* [00:43:52] Glyphosate: A cause for concern in food?
* [00:48:30] High caffeine intake is making me sweat more. What’s going on?
* [00:55:16] Should I avoid non-organic meat?
* [01:00:08] Is there evidence on iron and zinc co-ingestion for anemia of prematurity?
* [01:03:09] “Carni-nutrients”: Can vegan diets cause brain issues due to lower choline, creatine and taurine?
* [01:12:10] Are energy drinks bad for us?
* [01:17:43] What are some resources for doctors and patients that simply explain obesity & treatments?
This is an episode exclusive to Premium subscribers. To listen to the full episode you’ll need to subscribe. However, you can listen to a preview here.
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Mar 13, 2023
#474: Glucose Peaks & Variability – Is Lower Better?
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About This Episode:
Often claims are made recommending that people should aim to keep peaks in blood glucose low in terms of both magnitude and frequency.
And while many claims about blood glucose “spikes” are incorrect or purposefully exaggerated to grab attention, there are some reasonable and interesting hypotheses put forward in relation to blood glucose variability and excursions.
For example, interesting questions have been raised in relation to the impact of blood glucose excursions in seemingly normoglycemic and/or healthy people.
In this episode, we look at three specific elements of this: average blood glucose, glucose variability, and glucose peaks. All in the context of people without prediabetes or type diabetes, who have typical blood glucose measures in the ‘normal’ range.
Specifically, we look at three hypot…
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Mar 7, 2023
#473: Diet & Depression (What Do We Actually Know?) – Nicole Lippman-Barile, PhD
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Depression is a common disorder and is a leading cause of disability worldwide. Depression results from a complex interaction of social, psychological, and biological factors.
Diet has been one area that has been suggested in playing a role; from potential for exacerbating symptoms to being a treatment. And while some associations have been noted, many claims far exceed what (little) evidence exists.
Online it is common to see people claiming certain diets can treat depression or that certain foods will improve outcomes. However, does the evidence match such claims?
In trials that have been published on diet-depression, there has been considerable media attention and fanfare around some results. For example, the SMILES trial published out of Australia. However, some have raised considerable concerns about the interpretation of such findings.
In this episode, clinical psychologist Dr. Nicole Lippman-B…
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Feb 28, 2023
#472: Compared To What? – Understanding Food Substitution Analysis & Adjustment Models
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Description:
When thinking about the effect of eating or not eating a certain food or nutrient, we can’t consider this in isolation. Meaning, we need to evaluate the impact within the context of what such an inclusion/exclusion does to an individual’s overall diet pattern.
Thinking about this concept, the phrase “compared to what?” has been colloquially used. And while this is an important idea, there has been some misapplication of this principle.
In nutrition science, this is related to the concept of food or nutrient “substitution”. And this concept is crucial to understanding the issues that can arise in nutrition studies, particularly when it comes to single food analyses in nutritional epidemiology.
This concept of substitution is quite intuitive in controlled feeding studies. However, it is not as obvious when consid…
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Feb 21, 2023
#471: Salt & Bone Health – Is There Cause For Concern?
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About This Episode:
Does sodium lead to calcium losses? Do high-salt diets harm bone health? At what thresholds could there be an impact? Does any of this change our recommendations around salt/sodium intake?
Thanks to Sigma Nutrition Premium subscriber Kate Wall for submitting a question in the member’s area that inspired this episode.
Kate asks: “Salt can impact calcium excretion in the urine and it is said that a high salt diet can increase risk of osteoporosis as it draws calcium from the bone and excretes it. How much of an impact does dietary salt intake actually have on bone health and how high would salt intake have to be for this to be a concern? Obviously high salt intakes are not something to aim for in general, but just wondered if this was a mechanism that could remove meaningful amounts of calcium in a way that I should be advising around this in thos…
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Feb 14, 2023
SNP14: Nutrition Coaching Roundtable (Helms, Huschtscha & Baker)
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Description:
Nutritionists, dietitians and other health & fitness professionals face many challenges when attempting to help their clients and in understanding what approaches are best in a given situations.
There are often discussions around improving client adherence to dietary recommendations. However, sometimes we need to think deeper about this topic. Is there really just a tool to fix this? Or could the problem be the recommendations themselves?
Similarly, while quantifying dietary intake in terms of calorie and macronutrient amounts can be useful in some cases, it’s clear that this isn’t the best approach in many cases. So for coaches aiming to help athletes or those with body composition goals, how do we use “non-tracking” approaches effectively?
This episode brings you a roundtable discusssion between three accomplised and insightful nutrition professionals; Dr. Eric Helms, Dr. Zoya Huschtscha, and Mackenzie Baker.…
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Feb 7, 2023
#470: Melatonin, Meal Timing & Glucose Tolerance
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Description:
Meal timing has been a popular, and at times controversial, topic of interest in nutrition. Despite much speculation over the years as to potential advantages to specific meal timing or meal frequencies, for many outcomes there seems to be little pragmatically meaningful difference. For example, when accounting for calorie and macronutrient intake, there is little to no effect of meal timing on body composition, blood pressure, and energy expenditure.
However, just because there is little evidence for the importance of meal timing in relation to those outcomes, this should not be interpreted to mean there is no impact of meal timing on all health outcomes.
One area where meal timing may be an important factor is in relation to glucose tolerance and glycaemic control. For example, it has been consistently shown that eating at ‘biological night’ leads to worse postprandial glucose respo…
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Jan 31, 2023
#469: Chrononutrition – New Findings & Updated Views
Research in the field of ‘chrononutrition’ has continued to grow in the past couple of years, with some important studies being published in recent times. Chrononutrition is a research area that looks at the relationship between temporal (time-related) eating patterns, circadian rhythms, and metabolic health.
While past podcast episodes have covered various aspects of chrononutrition, the latest research has added important pieces to the puzzle and has lead to both Alan and Danny updated their views on certain sub-topics.
In this episode, we look at recent research (including that from the Big Breakfast Project) and how understanding and conclusions from the field have shifted over time. Dr. Flanagan also gives some insight into the important chrono work published in the UK, which his dotoral work contributed to.
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Jan 24, 2023
#468: High Sugar Intakes Without Excess Calories: Harmful or Benign?
There is almost universal agreement that excess added sugar in the diet is detrimental to health. However, much of this negative health impact clearly relates to the ability of high sugar intakes to drive excess calorie intake and fat accumulation, which cause health issues.
But what about situtaions of where there is not a calorie surplus (hypercaloric diet) or weight gain?
Some people claim that sugar is inherently damaging. While others push back and claim sugar is only a problem in the context of a hypercaloric diet. So which position is more accurate? What evidence do we have?
In this episode, Dr. Alan Flanagan and Danny Lennon take a look at situations of eucaloric (or even hypocaloric) diets, and what impact sugar has. Specifically, they investigate: in a situation where someone is not overconsuming calories or gaining weight, what health impacts do added sugars have? And if there are these calorie-independent effects, at what thresholds do they occur?
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Jan 17, 2023
SNP13: Intuitive Eating Debate – with Jackson Peos, PhD
This episode brings you a “debate” between Danny Lennon and Dr. Jackson Peos on the utility of intuitive eating. Specifcally, they make a case for and against, respectively, for the position: “Intuitive eating can be recommended eating approach for those with fitness and/or physique goals”.
This episode is a Premium-exclusive episode, so you’ll need to be a Premium subscriber to listen to the full discussion but you can hear a preview here.
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Jan 10, 2023
#467: Iron Issues in Athletes – Prof. Pete Peeling
Iron is an important nutrient for athletes, given that it is used for oxygen transport and energy production.
However, research on athletes often reports a relatively high prevalence of iron deficiency. Common symptoms of low iron status like lethargy, fatigue and negative mood states are naturally of concern to athletes. But there is also the potential for low iron to directly impact work capacity. Therefore, maintaining adequate iron status (and knowing the signs of iron deficiency) is crucial for athlete health and performance.
In this episode, Professor Pete Peeling of the University of Western Australia discusses the role of iron in performance, iron deficiency in athletes, the impact of exercise-induced inflammation, and other important issues.
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Jan 3, 2023
#466: Iron Absorption from Foods & Supplements – Prof. Paul Sharp
Iron deficiency is a prevalent issue. Worldwide, it is the leading nutritional deficiency. And although there is lower prevalence in high-income countries, a significant number of people are still affected.
Iron deficiency may be a result of too little iron coming in (i.e., via diet choices or low absorption), or from excess losses (e.g., commonly from blood losses). Understanding how these can impact iron status is crucial for both accurate diagnosis and treatment.
In relation to dietary iron, the source of iron is a common talking point, as there are two forms of iron that we can consume. Heme iron is found in meat, fish, and poultry, while non-heme iron is found in plant foods. It is known that heme iron is more readily absorbed than non-heme iron. However, there is much more to this story that makes things complicated.
To discuss some of the nuances of iron bioavailability, absorption, and metabolism, leading expert in the area Professor Paul Sharp of King’s College London is…
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Dec 27, 2022
#465: Diagnosing & Treating Iron Deficiency & Excess – Austin Baraki, MD
Iron is involved in a whole range of biological processes and a consistent supply of iron is crucial for cellular turnover. But despite iron being an essential mineral for human function, it is highly toxic to cells and tissues if present at high levels. Therefore an intricate and tight regulation of iron is necessary.
If iron status gets too low, iron-deficiency anaemia can result. In such situations there is a shortfall in hemoglobin production, which leads to a range of issues in the body.
So how is iron status measured? Which biomarkers are most useful? Where can errors in diagnosis occur? What problems arise with iron deficiency? And what problems occur with iron overload?
In this episode, these questions (and more) are put to Dr. Austin Baraki, a practicing Internal Medicine physician and Assistant Professor of Medicine at William Beaumont Army Medical Center in Texas.
This episode is the first in a three-part series on iron.
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Dec 20, 2022
#464: Do Sugar Taxes Work?: Evidence on Potential Policies - Kathryn Backholer, PhD
The current food environment is continuously highlighted as a problem for public health. And so there is a strong focus in both public policy and research circles to determine which strategies could lead to a healthier food environment.
One potential strategy that is widely recommended by public health experts is the use of fiscal/taxation policies to decrease the consumption of unhealthy foods and beverages. By making unhealthy foods and beverages relatively more expensive than healthy foods and beverages it is hoped that this would alter the composition of the average diet in a favorable manner.
This is based on economic theory and evidence showing that most foods are relatively price “inelastic”. This means that increases in the prices of particular foods can be expected to lead to reductions in the purchase of those foods.
But there have also been some concerns raised about the potential effectiveness of strategies aimed at taxing a certain nutrient (e.g. sugar) or a grou…
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Dec 13, 2022
SNP12: The Big Breakfast Study
In October 2022, Ruddick-Collins et al. published results of an RCT looking at the impact of different calorie distributions across the day. This study was from the ‘Big Breakfast Study’ project, primarily from the University of Aberdeen.
In this study, 30 subjects underwent two 4-week calorie-restricted diets that were matched for calories. One diet was “morning-loaded”, meaning that daily calories were distributed as 45% at breakfast, 35% at lunch, and 20% at dinner. The other was “evening-loaded”, with an opposing calorie distribution; i.e., 20% at breakfast, 35% at lunch, and 45% at dinner.
The trial received a lot of commentaries online after it was published. However, much of it lacked sufficient context, nuance, and understanding of the implications.
In this episode, Dr. Alan Flanagan, who was one of the researchers involved in some of the work of the Big Breakfast Study, gives an insight into the recently published paper by Ruddick-Collins et al., and highlights…
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Dec 6, 2022
#463: Do Vegan Diets Cause Depression?
In this episode, the Sigma team explores the question: “Do vegan diets increase the risk of depression?”
This is a question that emerges from a few different places. First, it’s common to hear such a claim from proponents of largely animal-based diets. Some reference is often made about how vegan diets can, at best, worsen symptoms or, at worst, even cause depression. Or conversely, they may state that moving away from a plant-based diet will improve mental health outcomes, including depression.
And while all of those specific claims aren’t within the scope of this episode, such claims do get people wondering if a plant-exclusive diet is actually a cause of various mental health ailments.
But is there a basis for such claims?
In this episode, we explore the evidence from two ends: 1) research related to the proposed mechanisms by which a vegan diet could cause problems, and 2) outcome data looking at the impact of such diets.
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Nov 29, 2022
#462: Gyorgy Scrinis, PhD – Ultra-Processed Foods, Nutritionism and Current Food Systems
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About this episode:
Over the past decade, the increasing uptake and acceptance of the Nova food processing classification system has placed focus on one of the categories in Nova; ultra-processed foods (UPFs). Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are products created from deconstructed (and recombined) food components, usually with the goal of creating a highly palatable, convenient, and profitable product. This typically means such products are high in nutrients of content (e.g. sugar, sodium, saturated fat, etc.). But in addition, they have other characteristics that may make them detrimental to health, particularly when they replace unprocessed or minimally processed foods in the diet.
There is now clear evidence showing that when such products make up a large proportion of the diet, such a dietary pattern has negative health effects. However, there ar…
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Nov 22, 2022
#461: Prof. Emma Boyland – How Food Marketing Impacts Eating Behaviour
Research has shown that food marketing strongly impacts children’s eating behaviour. Marketing influences food purchase requests, purchases, and preferences.
And the evidence of a relationship between food marketing exposure and obesity meets epidemiological criteria for causality. The evidence suggests that the impact of food marketing is a function of both exposure to the marketing message and its persuasive power.
What does the current evidence tell us about the exact effect of marketing on food choices? And beyond that, what strategies are likely to yield the best results in terms of mitigating the harms of food marketing on eating behaviour, particularly in children and adolescents?
To help answer these questions, subject area expert Prof. Emma Boyland is on the podcast to discuss what is currently known.
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Nov 15, 2022
SNP11: The Death of Domain Expertise
Never before has there been greater access to information about nutrition and health. But never before has there been such a low barrier to being seen as an “expert”. There are large numbers of people getting information from, and basing their health decisions on, people who don’t have direct expertise in the field in which they are talking about.
Moreover, some promote the lack of domain expertise as a feature, not a bug. They claim that those that were conventionally seen as domain experts are either brainwashed, lazy in their thinking, or outright corrupt. And the solution is instead to look to those with a fresh perspective that can illuminate us on the “truth”.
In this episode, Alan and Danny discuss this “death of domain expertise”, how it plays out online, and its ramifications for people’s ability to get good information.
This is a Premium-exclusive episode. To listen to the full episode and access the transcript, you must subscribe to Sigma Nutrition Premium…
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Nov 8, 2022
#460: Dr. Priya Sumithran – Body Fat Regulation, Pros & Cons of Weight Loss Interventions, and GLP-1 Receptor Agonists
Obesity increases the risk of a range of chronic diseases and negative health outcomes. And trials where a sufficient amount of weight loss is achieved show health improvements. However, despite the “straightforward” nature of causing weight loss through a hypocaloric diet, it is clear that most people who lose weight will regain some or all of the weight.
This is a result of both the physiologic control of intake and expenditure (i.e. homeostatic regulation by the body to avoid staying at a lower body or fat mass), and environmental factors. Diet-induced weight loss is followed by a number of hormonal change that encourage weight regain. So how do we tackle this problem?
In this episode, Dr. Priya Sumithran discusses this physiologic control of body mass, in addition to environmental and behavioural factors that make weight loss maintenance difficult. Dr. Sumithran also discusses what this means for setting weight loss targets, choosing the correct intervention, and looking to n…
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Nov 1, 2022
#459: Nicky Keay, MB BChir – Hormones & Healthspan: The Endocrine System Across the Life Course
The endocrine system plays a central role in growth, development, metabolism, reproduction, and physical well-being throughout life. Hormones interact in complex networks, orchestrating a range of critical functions. Over the life course, we experience various changes in hormone levels, fluctuations, patterns, and actions. Additionally, lifestyle factors and disease processes can impact the levels and functions of hormones.
In this episode, Dr. Nicky Keay, a medical doctor with expertise in the field of exercise endocrinology, is on the podcast to discuss a variety of endocrine-related issues, including: hormone diurnal variation, bone health, amenorrhoea, HRT, perimenopause, and thinking about hormones and aging.
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Oct 25, 2022
What Are Stable Isotopes? How Are Tracers Used in Nutrition Research? (Preview)
Stable isotopes have been used as tracers in human nutritional studies for many years. But what are they? Why do we use ‘tracers’ in nutrition studies? And what are some practical examples?
A chemical element can have different forms or ‘isotopes.’ These different isotopes have the same atomic number and position in the periodic table but have different atomic masses and physical properties. An isotope that is not radioactive is said to be ‘stable’.
In physiology and metabolism research, stable isotopes are used as ‘tracers.’ As the name implies, it allows us to ‘trace’ the fate of compounds, thus giving a very detailed insight into the metabolism of nutrients and the regulation of many disease processes.
In this episode, Dr. Alan Flanagan explains what stable isotope tracers are, how they are used to answer nutrition science questions and some examples that you may come across.
This is a ‘Nutrition Science Explained’ episode. These episodes are exclusive to…
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Oct 18, 2022
#458: How Foods Impact Satiety, Hunger & Appetite
Given the negative consequences of consistent overconsumption of food (leading to a caloric surplus), having a dietary intake that is of appropriate calorie intake is an important aspect of long-term health. Therefore, thinking about which foods and diets can help promote appropriate satiety to keep calorie intake in check is a key focus for many researchers and practitioners.
There is a complex system of human appetite control. This appetite system influences food consumption and associated motivational drives such as hunger, as well as interacting with and being influenced by energy expenditure. Satiety is an important psycho-biological process involved in the expression of human appetite, inhibiting hunger and intake following food or beverage consumption.
In this episode, the Sigma team discusses the human appetite system, how different nutrients and foods impact satiety, and the implications of this research.
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Oct 11, 2022
#457: Austin Robinson, PhD – Salt Sensitive vs Salt Resistant, Impacts of Sodium on Health, & Racial Differences in Risk
Hypertension (elevated blood pressure) is a condition that significantly increases the risk of several diseases and is a major cause of premature death worldwide. In the US, recent estimates suggest that about half of the adult population has hypertension.
At a population level, high sodium intake is one of the main dietary risk factors. All population health guidelines recommend keeping sodium intake below certain levels.
While, on average, blood pressure correlates with sodium intake, there is a wide range of responses on an individual level. People who see increasing sodium intake lead to increased blood pressure are termed “salt sensitive”. Others, however, don’t see much change in blood pressure with increased dietary sodium. Such individuals are classed as “salt resistant”.
In this episode, Assistant Professor at Auburn University, Dr. Austin Robinson, is on to discuss whether people who are salt resistant need to keep their sodium intake low or not. And other ind…
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Oct 4, 2022
#456: Prof. Glenn McConell – Glucose Uptake During Exercise & Muscle Insulin Sensitivity
Exercise improves metabolic control both via increasing muscle glucose uptake during muscle contractions by insulin-independent mechanisms and by increasing skeletal muscle insulin sensitivity after physical activity. A reduction in skeletal muscle insulin sensitivity is an early event in the development of not only prediabetes, metabolic syndrome, and type 2 diabetes but is also associated with other conditions such as cardiovascular disease and some cancers.
One of the researchers that has been at the forefront of research in this area for many years is Professor Glenn McConell. In this episode we discuss glucose uptake during and after exercise, looking at both insulin-dependent and insulin-independent mechanisms. In addition we discuss the crucial importance of muscle insulin sensitivity and some important research breakthroughs on the topic.
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Sep 27, 2022
#455: Jill Joyce, PhD – Improving the Diets of Tactical Populations
The term ‘tactical populations’ has been applied to those working in law enforcement, fire, first responders, and military. In addition to the importance of their work, the work they do itself presents some challenges for health and nutrition.
Despite the fact that such individuals make up a significant number of the population and their work plays a crucial role in society, there is currently very little research on fire and law enforcement nutrition. Most research is on the prevalence of disease and the occupational risk factors and related pathophysiology. Lifestyle research, descriptive and interventions, is way behind.
Dr. Jill Joyce is the co-director of the OSU Tactical Fitness and Nutrition Lab at Oklahoma State University. She does research looking at real-world interventions in these populations, particularly firefighters, in an attempt to improve their diets and health.
In this episode, we look at both the theoretical and pragmatic realities of improving diet and heal…
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Sep 20, 2022
SNP9: AMA – Blood Pressure, LDL Lowering, PCOS & More!
In this Premium-exclusive ‘Ask Me Anything’ episode, Alan & Danny answer a range of listener questions. Topics include obesity rates, lowering blood pressure, cholesterol drugs, PCOS, and what issues they have changed their minds on. See the full list of questions below.
[02.37] Do you feel that there is hope (or an effective way forward) for obesity rates to come down? Based on your response, why/why not?
[11.28] In this field, it seems like so many of us have had positions we’ve held very seriously that we now see as poorly supported by research, or just have a significant paradigm change. It would be great to hear you look back to how your views have evolved over the years.
[30.34] Apart from lowering salt intake and eating foods high in potassium are there other things you can take or do to reduce blood pressure?
[40.34] What is the best ratio of DHA vs EPA to increase my Omega 3 index?
[46.20] Statins v Ezetimibe: Differences between the two? Mechanism of acti…
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Sep 13, 2022
#454: Eric Helms, PhD – Plant or Animal Protein: Rethinking Protein & Muscle
When it comes to eating to promote muscle hypertrophy, muscle repair/recovery and maintenance of mass and function, protein has been an obvious focus. Indeed muscle mass and quality are dependent on the continuous remodeling of skeletal muscle proteins. This is related to the amount of muscle protein balance, i.e. the net difference between muscle protein synthesis (MPS) and muscle protein breakdown (MPB). Because of this, MPS has long been used as a proxy measure for muscle repair and/or growth of muscle.
Protein feeding increases MPS, with the amino acid leucine having a specifically strong impact on MPS. Therefore both the dose of protein and the amino acid profile of the protein have been looked at to assess which protein sources are “superior” for muscle mass and function. This has typically led to viewing animal proteins as better than plant proteins.
But many assumptions are layered into conversations on the topic. In this episode we explore some important points that are…
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Sep 6, 2022
#453: Nick Gant, PhD – Cognitive Performance: Impact of Caffeine, Nicotine & Creatine (Rebroadcast)
The brain plays a central role in both physical and psychological function and performance. The brain also has a very high energy demand. In addition, fatiguing conditions can cause impairment of cognitive performance.
One area of research in neurometabolism related to the potential use of nutrients on improving cognitive function, as well as “rescuing” the fatigue-related declines in performance.
Nick Gant is Director of the Exercise Neurometabolism Laboratory at the University of Auckland. His group uses interdisciplinary approaches from the nutritional sciences and neurosciences to investigate the role of nutrition in brain health and performance. Nick is particularly interested in foods and supplements that prevent brain fatigue and improve physical and cognitive function.
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Aug 30, 2022
#452: Stuart Phillips, PhD - Bacterially Synthesized Whey, Plant vs. Animal Proteins, Muscle & Extended Fasts, & Much More
This episode was oringally published as one of our “Expert – ask me anything” (AMA) episodes, which we published for Premium prescribers. In such bonus episodes, we collect questions from Premium subscribers and ask them direct to a world-class expert and past podcast guest.
If you’re interested in subscribing to Sigma Nutrition Premium, then check all the details here.
In this episode Prof. Stu Phillips takes questions about synethized whey protein, plant proteins, post-exercise MPS, and many other topics related to protein, muscle function and ageing.
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Aug 23, 2022
#451: Potassium & Blood Pressure: Influence of Sex & Sodium
It has been consistently shown in research that elevated dietary sodium consumption is associated with high blood pressure and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. In addition, low levels of dietary potassium intake are associated with these same risks. However, there is some debate on how to characterize these relationships.
In a study published in European Heart Journal in July 2022, using data from the EPIC-Norfolk study, researchers attempted to answer whether the associations between potassium and both blood pressure and cardiovascular disease: 1) differ between men and women? and 2) depend on daily sodium intake.
In this episode Dr. Alan Flanagan and Danny Lennon discuss the details of this study and then link it to the overall evidence base and what this may mean for potassium (and sodium) intake considerations.
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Aug 16, 2022
#450: Megan Rossi, PhD, RD – Diet For a Healthy Gut: Diversity, Fiber Types & Gut Health Pseudoscience
With the advances in understanding the importance of the gut (including its bacterial contents) for human health, much interest and attention has been placed on how to eat to promote positive ‘gut health’. This has led to many exciting research questions and labs doing fascinating work.
However, on the opposite side, it has led to a spike in opportunistic quacks to jump on the wave of enthusiasm and promote diets, supplements, testing kits and products that don’t reflect the current evidence base.
So what do we actually know? What aspects of diet should we focus on to improve gut health? For those with gut symptoms (bloating, pain, irritable bowel, etc.) is it possible to include more vegetables and fiber without the pain?
In this episode, gut health researcher at King’s College London, Dr. Megan Rossi, discusses some simple heuristics to follow that will likely improve overall health, and promote positive gut health.
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Aug 9, 2022
#449: Do Artificial Sweeteners Increase Cancer Risk? (Study Analysis)
A study published in March 2022 suggested that consumption of artificial (non-nutritive) sweeteners is associated with a 13% increase in risk of cancer.
And so in this episode, Dr. Alan Flanagan, Dr. Niamh Aspell, and Danny Lennon discuss this specific study and give their thoughts on what are fair conclusions to come to.
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Aug 2, 2022
#448: Prof. Norman Temple – Can Science Answer Diet-Health Questions?
While we’ve never known more about diet and health, there remain many unanswered questions in nutrition science. However, there is often disagreements on how best to answer these questions, particularly in relation to informing practical diet advise that meaningfully improves health.
Prof. Norman Temple is one academic who has written on a number of these issues. One issue he highlights is the large discrepency in the practical value we have attained from cohort studies and RCTs, relative to mechanistic research. Another is the limitations of RCTs for nutrition-specific research questions.
In this episode, Prof. Temple discusses these issues, as well as what strategies can actually improve population diet, and thus health.
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Jul 26, 2022
#447: Does Eating Fish Increase Skin Cancer Risk? Study Analysis
A recent study reported a higher risk of developing melanoma in people who ate a relatively high intake of fish. This study caused headlines and it was picked up by many outlets (including the New York Times, Sky News, etc.).
In this episode, Alan and Danny dig into the nuances of this study to see if the headlines are justified.
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Jul 19, 2022
SNP7: Stephan Guyenet, PhD - Ask Me Anything!
This is an “ask me anything” (AMA) episode, which means a world-class expert and past podcast guest comes on the podcast to answer questions submitted by you, our podcast listeners.
Stephan Guyenet spent 12 years in academia studying neurodegenerative disease and obesity neuroscience. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Univeristy of Washington, studying the neuroscience of obesity and eating behavior. Previous to that he completed a PhD in neuroscience.
Stephan is the author of the popular and well-received book ‘The Hungry Brain‘, which lays out the science behind the brain’s role in obesity.
To subscribe to Premium (and get the full episode) go here. Questions Answered In Full Episode
* “When someone undergoes liposuction or other surgery that removes adipose tissue, is there a sudden reduction in leptin levels? While this may reduce leptin resistance, could the drop in leptin lead to increased hunger over time?”
* “What is the current research around how chr…
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Jul 13, 2022
#446: How Climate Change Impacts Nutrient Status
Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. These shifts may be natural, such as through variations in the solar cycle. But since the 1800’s, human activities have been the main driver of climate change, primarily due to burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas.
Climate change has the potential to negatively impact the nutrient value of plants, soil organisms, food stuffs, via a variety of ways. Climate change puts food supplies at risk. Floods, droughts, more intense hurricanes, heatwaves and wildfires can drive down crop yields, destroy livestock, and interfere with the transport of food. And rising carbon dioxide levels from human activity can make staple crops like rice and wheat less nutritious.
In this podcast the Sigma team take a look at the evidence on how climate change will impact nutrient status, if left unchecked. There will be also a look at what solutions have been put forward to tackle this issue. This episode will focus more o…
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Jul 7, 2022
#445: Dr. Hazel Wallace - Nutrition for Women’s Health
When it comes to specific questions related to diet and health for women, there is often a shortage of consensus answers from research, for a variety of reasons. In addition, there are clearly aspects of biological sex that have implications for health and also the interaction with diet. For example, the impact of the menstural cycle, of menopause, and differences in nutrient requirements.
In this episode, Dr. Hazel Wallace discusses some of these key considerations. Some things covered include: the impact of menstrual cycle phase on cravings, at-risk nutrients in pre-menopausal women, functional hypothalamic amenorrhea, interaction of diet and PMS, the physiological changes at menopause and potential role of diet.
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Jul 4, 2022
SNP6: GRADE System: What is it? And How Does it Apply to Nutrition? [Preview]
This is a preview of the second episode in a new series called “Nutrition Science Explained”, in which members of the Sigma team will take a concept commonly mentioned in discussions about nutrition science, and explain what it is, give more background context, and highlight important aspects to know. The goal is to aid listeners to have a deeper understanding of other episodes when such concepts are mentioned.
In this episode Alan Flanagan discusses the concept of the GRADE system, and specifially how it applies to evaluating nutrition research and coming to conclusions for practice.
GRADE (Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations) is a framework for developing and presenting summaries of evidence and provides a systematic approach for grading the quality of evidence and making clinical practice recommendations.
In order to listen to the full episode, you will need to subscribe to Sigma Nutrition Premium.
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Jun 28, 2022
#444: Folate – Intake, Genetics & Health Outcomes
Folate (also known as viatmin B9) actually relates to a collection of folates; both natural dietary folates and synthetic forms, primarily folic acid. This folate/folic acid that is consumed via the diet or supplementation is a precursor for the formation of tetrahydrofolate (THF), which is a carbon donor and acts a cofactor for a number of enzymes that play important roles in several processes.
In this episode, Alan and Danny discuss the role of folate in the methlyation cycle, the impact of folate insufficiency/deficiency, genetics variatnts of the MTHFR gene (and other genes) that impact folate metabolism, and the impact of folate on health outcomes; including heart disease, birth defects, cancer, and brain health & cognition.
Detailed study notes and transcript to this episode
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Jun 22, 2022
#443: Kevin Klatt, PhD, RD - Can Choline Help Improve DHA Status?
A recently published study by Klatt and colleagues examined the impact of choline supplementation alongside DHA supplementation, versus DHA supplementation alone, on DHA status in pregnancy.
It is known that DHA is a critical nutrient at this time for healthy development of the child. And through a number of mechanisms discussed later, it has been hypothesized that choline could lead to greater DHA status.
We discuss:
* What is the connection between choline and DHA? What is the PEMT pathway?
* Study design for the choline + DHA trial
* Are there risks of high-dose choline?
* Main findings of the trial
* How DHA status is not just a function of DHA intake, but also methyl metabolism too
* Issues with omega-3 trials; e.g. not taking baseline status into account
* Pragmatic recommendations for health professionals and patients
* Different forms of choline supplements
* Choline supplementation vs. food-derived choline Access the show notes here
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Jun 15, 2022
#442: Are Vegetables Detrimental to Health?
In this episode Alan and Danny aim to address the idea that you shouldn’t eat vegetables, or that they aren’t beneficial. We will specifically look at a number of claims that relate to:
* The claim that vegetables aren’t beneficial for health, or that there is no health benefit to high vegetable intake.
* The claim that vegetables are actually detrimental to health, and their removal improves health.
This episode was orignally published to Sigma Nutrition Premium. If you wish to get more of these Quack Asylum episodes (and lots of other features, including detailed study notes) then subscribe to Sigma Nutrition Premium.
Click here to access show notes
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Jun 13, 2022
SNP5: Prof. Stuart Phillips - Ask Me Anything! [Preview]
This is an "ask me anything" (AMA) episode, with Prof. Stuart Phillips of McMaster University. Prof. Phillips takes questions on protein intake, sources, muscle function, and healthy ageing.
To listen to the full AMA, click here to subscribe to Sigma Nutrition Premium.
Questions answered:
* [04.28] What is muscle protein balance?
* [05.32] Why is the focus always on muscle protein synthesis?
* [07.14] Is MPS a good proxy measure for outcomes we care about (e.g. muscle growth/repair)?
* [10.37] What's the difference between 'whole body protein synthesis' and 'muscle protein synthesis'?
* [12.57] We're starting to see commercially available whey that has been produced by bacteria engineered to synthesize whey protein directly from nutritional substrate. It seems like we should expect this to have directly comparable effects given the identical molecular structure. Is there any reason to think this bacterially synthesized whey will have any different effects that whey from da…
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Jun 7, 2022
#441: Julie Abayomi, PhD, RD - Diet During Pregnancy
Consuming a healthy diet during pregnancy is an obvious and accepted recommedation. However, what exactly is a "healthy diet" in this context? In addition, there are specific nutrients which are crucial for the healthy development of the child, including nutrients which may be difficult to consume enough of. In addition there are nutrients and foods that need to limited or avoided during this period.
In this episode, researcher and dietitian Dr. Julie Abayomi discusses important nutrients in pregnancy (e.g. iodine, DHA, and folic acid), as well as potentially problematic nutrients/foods (e.g. high-mercury fish and caffeine). In addition, she discusses the current debates about weight gain/loss during pregnancy, as well as what supports are needed for health professionals supporting pregnant women.
Click here for show notes
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May 31, 2022
#440: Are Dietary Guidelines Trying To Kill Us?
It has become common rhetoric for those promoting various types of diets to suggest that dietary guidelines published by government departments are at best, unhealthy, or at worst, causative in driving obesity and chronic disease in the population.
While different countries and organizations produce their own guidelines, with slight differences, most of the conversation has focused on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, that are created by the USDA.
Often the claims is that following these guidelines actually harms health, rather than promote it. And the guidelines are simply a result of industry forces, long-standing bias, and shoddy science.
But do these claims hold up to scrutiny? In this episode Alan and Danny look at some of the arguments put foward, and take a look at the science underpinning dietary guidelines in a number of countries.
In this episode:
* [0.01.46] Examples of arguments put forward stating that it’s not healthy to follow dietary guidelines
* [0.12.50…
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May 26, 2022
SNP4: Detoxification Protocols [Preview]
There have been many claims made about the benefits of a detoxification "protocol" or "plan", based on specific dietary and supplemental regimens. Many of the arguments propose that many things we come into contact with are toxins and they can accumulate and compound in effect over time, causing a range of issues. Therefore, by removing these toxins (via a “detoxification protocol”), we can have better health.
And indeed it is well known that there are a large number of toxins in the environment, many of which can potentially be deleterious to health. And it also known that many nutrients are involed in processes of the body's detoxification pathways.
However, is there any evidence that a detoxification diet, plan or "protocol" improves health? Is there any reason to suggest targeting certain nutrients or supplements leads to "better detoxification"? And do we need to avoid non-organic food, toothpaste and non-stick frying plans in avoid to avoid these toxins? This Quack Asylum e…
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May 23, 2022
#439: Prof. David Jenkins - Lipid-Lowering Diets
With elevated LDL-cholesterol being a causal risk factor for atherosclerotic heart disease, having interventions to lower blood lipids, and in particular LDL-C, are crucial for population health. A number of drugs are now incredibly effective for this, with statins being the most widely used.
However, for those who do not wish to take a medication and/or have only a mild elevation, there may be potential for dietary intervention to lower LDL-C to a point where a statin (or other drug) is not needed.
A number of aspects of healthy dietary patterns have been known to reduce the liklihood of elevated blood lipids. Most notably perhaps, the ratio of polyunsaturated to saturated fat in the diet (P:S ratio). And an absolute low level of saturated fat in the diet (e.g. < 10% of calories).
However, work by Dr. David Jenkins and collegegues put forward the idea of a “portfolio” of specific nutrients/foods that could additionally lower LDL-C. This became known as the Portfolio Diet. The f…
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May 17, 2022
#438: Diet, Brain Health & Cognitive Function
Some cognitive decline is normal with age. However, more significant cognitive decline is primarily due to disease-induced dementias (such as Alzheimer’s Disease). It also results from neurodegenerative disorders and chronic, prolonged degeneration of our neuronal pathways and functions.
Drug discovery for dementias have been largely unsuccessful, leaving no good treatments for this collection of diseases. This had led to research examining areas that may aid in preventing (or more accurately, slowing) cognitive decline.
In this episode the Sigma team look at the published data on a variety of nutrients, foods and dietary patterns, including: vitamin D, omega-3 fatty acids, B vitamins, caffeine, flavanoids, coffee and green leafy vegetables.
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* [00:02:01] Definitions
* [00:08:40] What causes cognitive decline? Dementia? Mechanisms of ND pathogenesis.
* [00:11:33] Why might nutrition play a role?
* [00:18:18] Dietary patterns
* [00:26:30] Diet inter…
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May 10, 2022
#437: GMOs & Genetic Engineering: Harmless or Health-Hazard?
The issue of genetic enginnering in the food system is one that is often charged with emotion and strong opinion. Indeed, there has been much concern voiced over the years about the potential harms to both human health and the environment of genetically-modified (or more accurately, genetically-engineered) crops.
Some concern takes the form of outright hysteria, while other concerns are more nuanced and subtle. Among these concerns, which have good evidence to support them? What regulation is currently in place? Why are their differences between the US and the EU?
On the opposite side, there are clear advantages to GE crops; including disease resistance, herbicide tolerance, and even enhanced nutritional content. But are these advantages possible without harm? Do the pros outweigh the cons?
In this episode, Alan and Danny discuss the current evidence on genetically engineered crops (or GMOs) and their effect on human health, biodiversity, and the economy.
* 02:02 – Framing o…
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May 3, 2022
#436: Charlene Van Buiten, PhD – Coeliac Disease & the Search for Novel Therapies
Coeliac disease is an autoimmune disorder stimulated by the ingestion of gluten, a protein found naturally in wheat, barley and rye. The condition affects approximately 1% of the Western world. However, currently the only approved treatment for coeliac disease is adherence to a gluten-free diet for life.
Therefore there is much research underway to develop alternative treatment options that may help these patients. One novel antigen-focused therapy that has been hypothesised is the use of plant bioactives.
Specifially, in vitro work by Dr. Charlene Van Buiten has looked as whether there is a mechanism by which polyphenols from green tea could be of benefit. Her work shows that these polyphenols can mitigate gliadin-mediated inflammation and intestinal permeability in vitro.
Click here for show notes.
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Apr 26, 2022
#435: Fasting & Longevity – Does the Evidence Match the Hype?
Current discussions relating to health focus on longevity. This may include some who look at lifespan extension, some who talk of delaying or “treating” ageing or those who focus on reducing morbidity within the parameters of normal lifespan.
One propsed intervention that has garnered a lot of excitement, owing to some interesting research, is the potential use of fasting to increase longevity and/or healthspan. Within this broad category, various different dietary interventions have been suggested, including various forms of intermittent fasting, time-restricted eating, dietary restriction of certain nutritients, calorie restriction or a “fasting-mimicking” diet.
But what does the current evidence tell us? Does the evidence actually match the hype? In this episode Dr. Niamh Aspell, Alan Flanagan and Danny Lennon discuss some of the data on fasting and longevity.
Go to show notes
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Apr 19, 2022
SNP2: "Fish is Bad For You" [PREVIEW]
While dietary guidelines universally include fish as a food group that can be consumed regularly in a healthy dietary pattern, there are some potential risks of fish consumption that get raised. Some have some legitimacy, for example the frequency of consumption of high-mercury fish. However, other claims can go to extremes ("eating fish is bad for you") that are based in ideology rather than evidence.
In this Quack Asylum episode, we use a video made by a medical doctor as an example of where quackery can raise its head on this topic. Specifically, there are four claims made in the video that we investigate and see if there is any basis to them.
This is a Premium-exclusive episode. In order to listen to the full episode and access the show notes, you will need to subscribe to Sigma Nutrition Premium.
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Apr 12, 2022
#434: Is a Vegan Diet Really Best for Diabetes?
Many different diets have been put forward as solutions that treat type 2 diabetes. Some will claim the diet “reverses” diabetes, some say it puts it into “remission”, while others more conservatively recommend a diet to manage diabetes symptoms in a healthy way.
There has been some debate on the use of terms like reversal, cure or resolution. And recently more clarity has been found in defining each.
One of the diets that has been recommended by some for the purposes of “reversing” or treating diabetes is a low-fat, whole food plant-based (WFPB) diet. Specifically, there is a claim that it is superior to other diets in treating diabetes. Some of these claims relate to popular online diet & lifestyle programs that use such a diet. While there is also a number of studies that are commonly cited in support of the claims.
In this episode, we evaluate these claims by looking at the published research in this area, across epidemiology, human intervention trials and mechanisti…
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Apr 6, 2022
#433: Greg Potter, PhD - The Bidirectional Relationship Between Sleep and Diet
The relationship between our diet and sleep is bi-directional; i.e. sleep impacts diet and diet impacts sleep. Therefore, we can examine the impact of sleep timing, duration and other dimensions on our dietary intake. And then also examine the impat of both overall diet and specific nutrients on improving/worsening sleep.
The is clear evidence of distinct, acute effects of restricted sleep time on food preferences, eating behaviour, energy intake, and our underlying metabolic physiology.
When it comes to the ability of certain foods or nutrients to improve sleep, often many claims are based on weak evidence or mechanistic reasoning. But there is evidence showing some impacts of certain compounds to either positively or negatively impact sleep.
So what is the accurate way to look at this bi-directional relationship? In this episode, Greg Potter, PhD discusses the evidence to date. Dr. Potter received his PhD from the University of Leeds, where his research focused on circadian rhy…
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Mar 30, 2022
#432: Bill Harris, PhD - Omega-3 Fatty Acids & Health
Omega-3 fatty acids have long been associated with various health outcomes. A type of omega-3 called alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) is found in various plant foods such as flax seeds or chia seeds. Other omega-3 fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), are found typically in marine food sources such as oily fish (e.g. salmon, mackerel) and algae. And while higher intakes of such foods have shown benefit, there has been some confusion over the benefit of such nutrients due to some large omega-3 supplementation trials reporting null findings.
So what should we make of the current evidence base? Does supplementation lead to heart disease risk reduction or not? Do we need direct sources of EPA and DHA in the diet? Does ALA have unique benefits? What is an omega-3 index and why is it important?
In this episode, fatty acid expert Dr. Bill Harris dives into each of these questions and clarifies what the current evidence tells us about the effect of these fatty…
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Mar 24, 2022
#431: Artificial Sweeteners - Health Impacts and ‘Safe’ Levels
There is now widespread use of various "artificial sweeteners" in foods and beverages. Most commonly non-nutritive sweeteners are used to sweeten a products, whilst having less sugar and calories than a traditionally sugar-sweetened version of that product. For example, diet drinks (e.g. diet soda) are most commonly associated with artificial sweeteners. However, they are also in a wide variety of food products and supplements.
For a long-time there has been skepticism and alarm raised about their potential health effects. From claims of them increasing our food intake, all the way to causing cancer. And food safety authorities have conducted rigorous examinations of the safety data on each of these compounds.
In this episode, the Sigma team discuss the initial research that raised alarm bells, the current process of safety evaluation for non-nutritive sweeteners, the amounts they are consumed in, and the studies published thus far examining their health impacts.
Access show note…
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Mar 17, 2022
SNP1: "Don’t Eat Vegetables" [Preview]
In this Premium episode Alan and Danny aim to address the idea that you shouldn’t eat vegetables, or that they aren’t beneficial. Two related ideas have been circulated in some nutrition/health communities on the internet:
* Vegetables aren’t beneficial for health (or that there is no health benefit to high vegetable intake).
* Vegetables are actually detrimental to health, and their removal improves health. Such advice is usually defended through some combination of the following claims, which we examine in this episode:
* Humans are naturally carnivores, or have evolved to thrive on animal foods, and only turn to plants in times of famine.
* Certain indigenous populations such as the Inuit or the Masai, eat close to no vegetables, yet have robust health.
* Many of the nutrients present in vegetables can be obtained from animal foods. And beyond that, these nutrients are more bioavabilable when coming from animal sources.
* Fibre is not an essential nutrient, and…
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Mar 14, 2022
#430: Soy - Yes, No, Maybe?
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The popularity of soy foods and soy-based products has been increasing in recent times. This has been particularly the case as a dairy alternative, with people switching to using soy ‘milk’ and soy-based yogurts and cheese. Additionally, soy has become popular as a meat alternative in a variety of dishes for those looking to reduce meat intake. Soy foods such as tofu can be used in recipes in place of meat, and soy-based ‘meat alternatives’ that are vegetarian and vegan friendly have been developed.
With this increased prevalence, there has been some debate about the health effects of consuming soy foods and products. On one side, there have potential benefits highlighted of inclusion of soy in the diet. It contains phytoestrogens, which may have beneficial effects. Additionally, it is low in saturated fat, and so is potentially beneficial when used in place of saturated fat-rich foods.
However, some have claimed that the ph…
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Mar 8, 2022
#429: Kevin Hall, PhD & Stephan Guyenet, PhD - Carbohydrate-Insulin Model vs. Energy Balance Model
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The pathogenesis of obesity is clearly complex. And the need to have a comprehensive model to explain this pathogenesis is important.
One such model, termed the Energy Balance Model, has largely been the consensus paradigm of obesity scientists to this point. Specifically, a recently published paper in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition by Dr. Kevin Hall and his colleagues outlined the various nuances of the model, as well as common misconceptions about the model.
However, there are others who propose that this is not the correct model of obesity, but rather that obesity pathogenesis can be better explained by a model called the Carbohydrate-Insulin Model (CIM) of obesity.
While this model has been proposed in various forms over the past couple of decades, the most recently published revision/update of this model was that put forward by Dr. David Ludwig and colleagues, in a Perspective published also in the AJCN, in December of 2021.…
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Mar 2, 2022
#428: Food Environments
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Clearly the food choices one makes over time directly impacts health. However, choices are not made in a vacuum; that is, they are not always concious decisions made for rational reasons based on free will. Rather, the choices we make about food are shaped by the contexts within which they are made. The term "food environment" is used to describe the physical, economic, political and socio-cultural contexts in which choices are made about acquiring, preparing and consuming food.
As it was put in a paper published as part of The Lancet series on Obesity (2015), modern food environments "exploit people's biological, psychological, social, and economic vulnerability, making it easier for them to eat unhealthy foods".
In this episode the Sigma team discuss the implications of this, including a discussion of exactly which environmental conditions impact food choices and the evidence that exists for public health policy that may address t…
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Feb 28, 2022
Can You ‘Study’ Nutrition Science with a Podcast? Here’s How. (Including a Time-sensitive Announcement)
Subscribe to Sigma Nutrition Premium: https://sigmanutrition.com/premium/
You love listening to, and learning from, nutrition podcasts. Sigma Nutrition Premium allows you to more effectively do that.
* Understand topics more deeply
* Retain more of what you hear
* Recall specific details long after listening
* Study nutrition science in an enjoyable way
As a Premium subscriber you get exclusive access to:
* Detailed Study Notes
* ‘Key Ideas’ Segments
* Hand-crafted Transcripts
* Premium-only Episodes
Subscribe to Sigma Nutrition Premium: https://sigmanutrition.com/premium/
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Feb 22, 2022
#427: Jacob Schepis – Evidence-Based Coaching: Desirable Goal or Unattainable Burden for Fitness Professionals?
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It's never been more popular to be seen as "evidence-based" as a fitness professional. And indeed evidence-based practice has been seen as the best way to arrive at coaching decisions. But is "evidence-based practice" actually what fitness professionals are doing? Is it even attainable for most coaches? Does it create a burden on them? Does it even matter if you're actually reading reserach or not? What makes for a competent personal trainer?
In this episode, Jacob Schepis is on the show to discuss all these questions and to discuss how he feels evidence-based practice fits within a framework of coaching and coach development.
Show notes can be found at sigmanutrition.com/episode427/
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Feb 15, 2022
#426: Jaebian Rosario – How Social Identity and Idealogical Extremes Impact Scientific Discussion
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Jaebien Rosario is currently a graduate level student in public health at East Stroudsburg University. He has degrees in psychology and philosophy, and has previously worked as a personal trainer and nutrition coach. His interest include science denialism, vaccine hesitancy, the philosophy of science, the sociology of science, and meta science.
His current research projects include research proposals for covid-19 and vitamin D trials, research conducted pertaining to local food banks and participation in coalitions for addressing food insecurity in northeast Pennsylvania.
Show notes at sigmanutrition.com/episode426/
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Feb 8, 2022
#425: Prof. Anna Krylov – When Ideology Hurts Scientific Discourse
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Prof. Anna Krylov is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Southern California (USC), working in the field of theoretical and computational quantum chemistry. She has a M.Sc. in Chemistry from Moscow State University (1990) and a PhD from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel (1996).
Krylov is active in the promotion of gender equality in STEM fields, especially in theoretical chemistry. She created the web directory 'Women in Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, Material Science, and Biochemistry'. She has delivered several talks on gender equality in STEM.
In June 2021 she published a paper, "The Peril of Politicizing Science," has received over 75,000 views (as of February 2022) and is the all-time highest-ranked article in the Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters (impact factor of 6.5).
Show notes: sigmanutrition.com/episode425/
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Feb 1, 2022
#424: Is Low Cholesterol Bad For You?!
In this episode Alan and Danny discuss the role of cholesterol in the body and claims that are made suggesting low levels of blood cholesterol are harmful to health.
Starting with the premise that cholesterol is an important molecule in the body and plays a role in many processes, discussed are two related claims:
* we should avoid low cholesterol levels as it can harm our health
* elevated levels of cholesterol may actually be protective against disease or mortality.
The episode also critiques claims about cholesterol being “conditionally essential” and that low LDL-C/ApoB increases risk of mortality, cancer and infection.
Show notes at sigmanutrition.com/episode424/
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Jan 25, 2022
#423: Zoya Huschtscha, PhD – Understanding Sarcopenia & Potential Interventions
Zoya Huschtscha, PhD is a researcher and assistant lecturer at Monash University (Australia), in the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics. She completed her PhD at the same institution, where her research focused on interventions to prevent and treat sarcopenia; i.e. the loss of muscle function and mass, typically with age. Zoya also has a Masters of Dietetics. In addition to her academic work, she works in private practice as a sports dietitian.
Show notes available at sigmanutrition.com/episode423/
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Jan 18, 2022
#422: Psychobiotics – Can Probiotics Improve Mood-related Disorders?
In this episode the Sigma team discuss the research looking at psychobiotics, i.e. probiotics that have health impacts on those with pyschiatric disorders or symptoms. They discuss the origins of the research, the gut-brain axis, mechanisms by which gut microbiota could impact mood, and then the human trials to date that have examined probiotics' effects on mood, anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder and other outcomes.
Show notes can be found at sigmanutrition.com/episode422/ and the Sigma Statement on the gut-brain axis can be found at sigmanutrition.com/gut-brain-axis/
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Jan 11, 2022
#421: Brendon Stubbs, PhD – The Research on Depression & Physical Activity
Dr. Brendon Stubbs, PhD, is a Senior Clinical Lecturer and researcher at King's College London, conducting research in physical activity & mental health, the mind-body interface, and meta-research. He has published over 600 academic papers in several leading journals across multiple scientific fields. He has informed policy guidelines in the UK, Europe and the World Health Organization.
Dr. Stubbs is also a clinical physiotherapist, being Head of Physiotherapy at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. He has a MSc in Neurological Rehabilitation & PhD in Pain Medicine & Rehabilitation.
Show notes to this episode are available at sigmanutrition.com/episode421/
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Jan 4, 2022
#420: Cannabis – Kevin Boehnke, PhD & Carrie Cuttler, PhD
Kevin Boehnke is a researcher at the University of Michigan, in the Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Center. His current research focuses on therapeutic applications of illicit or semi-licit substances (cannabis, psychedelics). His goal is to rigorously assess appropriate use of these substances and to help address the public health harms caused by their criminalization.
Carrie Cuttler is an Assistant Professor at Washington State University. Her research at the Health and Cognition Laboratory there focuses on elucidating the potentially beneficial and detrimental effects of chronic cannabis use and acute cannabis intoxication. Her recent work has focused on examining links between cannabis use and mental health (e.g., ADHD, PTSD, OCD, depression, anxiety).
Show notes available at sigmanutrition.com/episode420/
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Dec 30, 2021
#419: Nathan Bryan, PhD – Role of Nitric Oxide in Human Health
Dr. Nathan Bryan, PhD is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Bryan has been involved in nitric oxide research for the past 18 years and has made many seminal discoveries in the field. He was the first to demonstrate and discover an endocrine function of nitric oxide via the formation of S-nitrosoglutathione and inorganic nitrite.
Dr. Bryan obtained his doctoral degree from Louisiana State University School of Medicine in Shreveport where he was the recipient of the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research. He pursued his post-doctoral training as a Kirschstein Fellow at Boston University School of Medicine in the Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute. After a two year post-doctoral fellowship, in 2006 Dr. Bryan was recruited to join faculty at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston by Ferid Murad, M.D., Ph.D., 1998 Nobel Laureate in Medicine or Physiology.
Show notes at sigmanutrition.com/episode419/
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Dec 21, 2021
#418: Should We Consume a Direct Source of DHA?
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In this episode Danny and Alan discuss the debate around whether a direct source of the long-chain omega-3 fatty acid DHA should be recommended. Many people do not consume the marine foods (primarily fatty fish) that contain DHA, and higher DHA intakes, DHA status, and omega-3 indices are predictive of certain health outcomes.
But the essential omega-3 fatty acid alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) can be consumed from plant sources. So do those who do not consume direct sources of DHA have lower DHA status? Does this matter? And if so, then what pragmatic conclusions can we come to? All of this is covered in this episode.
Show notes available at sigmanutrition.com/episode418/
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Dec 14, 2021
#417: Austin Baraki, MD – What Do Nutrient Blood Tests Actually Tell Us?: Understanding Biomarkers
Dr. Austin Baraki joins Danny and Alan to critically evaluate the assumption that blood levels of a nutrient directly tell us about overall nutritional status. With many people getting blood tests done outside of clinical settings, there is significant risk of misinterpretation of what these measures mean. In this episode we discuss measures of calcium, sodium, vitamin D and others as examples of where misinterpretation and misunderstanding can happen.
Show notes can be found at sigmanutrition.com/episode417/
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Dec 7, 2021
#416: David Nunan, PhD – Evidence-Informed Health Care: Evidence-based Medicine 2.0
Dr. David Nunan, PhD is a Lecturer and Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine at the University of Oxford. There, he is the Director of the Postgraduate Certificate in 'Teaching Evidence-Based Health Care' and the lead tutor for the internationally-renowned 'Teaching Evidence-Based Medicine' course.
He is a principal investigator with research interests in prevention and treatment of lifestyle-related conditions, improving the understanding and use of research evidence, and meta-epidemiology (research on research). David has experience in a breadth of methodologies including diagnostic studies, statistical analysis, qualitative research and clinical trials.
Show notes available at sigmanutrition.com/episode416
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Nov 30, 2021
#415: Prof. Bruce Neal – Can Salt Substitutes Reduce Cardiac Events & Death?
Bruce Neal is Executive Director at The George Institute for Global Health Australia; and Professor of Medicine, UNSW Sydney.
Prof Neal is a UK-trained physician who has 25 years’ experience in clinical, epidemiological, and public health research with a focus on heart disease, stroke and diabetes. Bruce has a longstanding interest in high blood pressure and diabetes and the potential for both clinical interventions and changes in the food supply to deliver health gains. His work has been characterised by its focus on collaboration, quantitation, translation and impact.
He holds professorial appointments at UNSW Sydney, Imperial College London, and an honorary appointment at the University of Sydney. He has published some 450 scientific papers and since 2016 has been identified by Thomson Reuters as one of ‘The World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds’, an acknowledgement provided to just a few thousand researchers across all disciplines, worldwide.
He has particular expert…
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Nov 24, 2021
#414: Will Machine Learning Overtake Traditional Nutrition Research Methods?
In this episode, the Sigma team discuss the claim that machine learning and data science may overtake traditional research methods in nutrition. They discuss how machine learning could solve some current limitations of traditional methods, studies on its use so far, potential applications in future trials, and potential limitations or problems with the increased use of data science (including ethical and societal concerns). They also ponder on how tech is currently being used (and abused) in relation to personalised nutrition, tech products, continuous glucose monitoring use, among other things.
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Nov 16, 2021
#413: Anthony Fardet, PhD – Nutritional Reductionism, the Food Matrix & Impact of Processing
" data-userid="424351203778215936" data-orgid= "425311536639447040">Anthony Fardet, PhD is a nutrition science researcher in the Human Nutrition Unit at Université Clermont Auvergne, France. His work has focused on a number of related areas; the consequences of the reductionist and holistic approaches applied to nutrition research, the relevance of a new classification of foods based on their degree of processing, and the role of the complex structure of the food in its health potential ("matrix effect").
You can find the show notes to this episode at sigmanutrition.com/episode413/
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Nov 9, 2021
#412: Eirini Dimidi, PhD – Diet, Chronic Constipation and the Gut
Dr. Eirini Dimidi of King’s College London discusses the research on diet in chronic constipation and functional bowel disorders. Dr. Dimidi is a Lecturer in Nutritional Sciences and a Registered Dietitian. In 2016, she was appointed as a Research Associate at King’s College London, where she undertook several research projects on the impact of nutritional interventions in gut function and dysfunction.
Dr. Dimidi is undertaking research on nutrition-based interventions, including fibre, plant foods, prebiotics, probiotics, and the low FODMAP diet, in gastrointestinal health. Her primary focus is to advance the understanding of the impact of dietary therapies in functional bowel disorders, including chronic constipation and irritable bowel syndrome.
You can find the show notes to this episode at sigmanutrition.com/episode412/
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Nov 2, 2021
#411: Bone Health & Nutrition
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In this episode Alan and Danny discuss the role of nutrition in bone health. They cover the importance of bone health, bone disorders such as osteoporosis, how nutrients play a role in bone remodelling, and the evidence of dietary and supplementation trials on bone health outcomes.
You can find the show notes, with links to all the reference studies, at https://sigmanutrition.com/episode411/
Click here to subscribe to Sigma Nutrition Premium
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Oct 26, 2021
#410: Q&A: Sodium, Protein, Quackery Tactics & More!
In this episode Alan and Danny answer a variety of questions sent in from listeners.
Questions:
[1:10] Gabriel - Is there any benefit to including SFAs and cholesterol in low quantities in our diets for healthspan?
[10:42] Luis Arrondo - Can I do 3 rather than 4 meals or more for protein absorption by increasing grams of protein? How many grams of protein can be absorbed at one sitting. Does taking in protein at night help more absorption of protein? If so, something slower, like milk over whey? Last, how much protein per kilo of weight to gain muscle via weightlifing?
[19:34] Heather Smith - Please could you go into the sodium needs of those with hypotension. Your podcast about normotension and hypertension was excellent, as was the section relating to athletes. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the sodium needs of a hypotensive person. Thank you!
[27:00] Judith Williams - I would find it really helpful if you could summarise what the evidence shows are the key dietary chang…
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Oct 19, 2021
#409: Simon Hill – Shifting Towards a Healthier Diet
In this episode nutritionist Simon Hill discusses the barriers to eating a healthy diet, steps that can be taken to shift both individuals and the general population to a healthier dietary patten, and a number of other topics. Find the show notes at sigmanutrition.com/episode409/
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Oct 12, 2021
#408: Mario Kratz, PhD – Is Eating Full-fat Dairy, Low-fat Dairy, or No Dairy Better for Cardiometabolic Health?
Dr. Mario Kratz is a clinical researcher in the areas of nutrition, obesity, and cardiometabolic disease, with more than 20 years of experience running clinical studies in a variety of populations. He is a former research associate professor at the University of Washington in the departments of Medicine and Epidemiology. And is also formerly an Associate Professor at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Washington state.
You can find the show notes at sigmanutrition.com/episode408/ or you can support the show on patreon.com/sigmanutrition/
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Oct 5, 2021
#407: Polyphenols - Impact on Blood Pressure, Endothelial Function & Heart Disease Risk
In this episode we discuss the potential impact of dietary polyphenols on cardiovascular disease risk; including impacts on blood pressure, flow-mediated dilation, and other related outcomes. We talk about some potential mechanisms and then several specific randomized, controlled trials.
You can find the show notes at sigmanutrition.com/episode407/ and you can support the podcast on patreon.com/sigmanutrition
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Sep 28, 2021
#406: Polyphenols & Cognitive Health
In this episode we discuss the potential impact of dietary polyphenols on cognitive health; including cogitnitve funciton, memory, and risk of dementia and Alzeimher's. We talk about some potential mechanisms, cohort studies, and then direct controlled trials.
You can find the show notes at sigmanutrition.com/episode406/ and/or support the podcast at patreon.com/sigmanutrition
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Sep 21, 2021
#405: Adrian Brown, PhD - Dietary Strategies in Type 2 Diabetes
Dr Adrian Brown is a NIHR Lecturer and Research Fellow in the Centre of Obesity Research at University College London. He is also a senior Specialist Weight Management and Bariatric dietitian with over 15 years of clinical experience and a PhD in Medicine from Imperial College London.
His research interests centre around obesity, type 2 diabetes, bariatric surgery, weight stigma and the use of formula-based diets in different patient populations. He is an Honorary Academic for Public Health England Obesity and Healthy Weight Team, on the strategic council for APPG on Obesity and is on the scientific council of the British Nutrition Foundation.
You can find the show notes to this episode at sigmanutrition.com/episode404/ and you can support the podcast at patreon.com/sigmanutrition/
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Sep 14, 2021
#404: Prof. Marion Hetherington – Psychology and Development of Food Preference & Eating Behaviour
Prof. Marion Hetherington is Professor of Biopsychology at University of Leeds, where her research is focused on the psychology of appetite across the lifespan. She has previously been at Johns Hopkins, the NIH, the University of Dundee, University of Liverpool and Glasgow Caledonian University, before taking up her role in Leeds in 2008, where she works within the Human Appetite Research Unit.
You can find the show notes to this episode at sigmanutrition.com/episode404/ and you can support the podcast at patreon.com/sigmanutrition
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Sep 7, 2021
#403 Prof. David Jacobs – Food Synergy & The Top-Down Approach to Nutrition Research
Prof. David Jacobs, PhD is Professor of Public Health, in the Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, at the University of Minnesota. He has published highly inflential work in nutritional epidemiology and health epidemiolgy for decades. A number of his papers have brought up crucially important ideas about how to do good nutrition science. Specifically, he has talked about think of whole diet or foods as the exposure of interest, rather than individual nutrients. Essentially warning against the pitfalls of applying a biomedical lens to nutrition research. You can find the show notes to this episode at sigmanutrition.com/episode403/
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Aug 31, 2021
#402: Prof. Leanne Redman – Pregnancy, Maternal Diet & Intergenerational Transmission of Obesity
Prof. Leanne Redman is a Professor of Reproductive Endocrinology & Women’s Health, based at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center. As the director of the Reproductive Endocrinology and Women’s Health Laboratory, she is focused on understanding the intergenerational transmission of obesity. She has published on maternal diet, preeclampsia, and gestational diabetes, amoung other issues. She and her colleagues are currently conducting a rigorous trial to determine the effects of a 6-month gestational intervention with calorie restriction and food provision to promote maternal weight maintenance and fat loss in 100 pregnant women with grades 2 and 3 obesity.
Show notes are available at sigmanutrition.com/episode402/
You can support the podcast at patreon.com/sigmanutrition/
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Aug 24, 2021
#401: Quack Asylum – Part 2: Greger, Berg & Saladino
We take a look at three more "quacks" who spread misinformation; Dr. Michael Greger (01:21), Eric Berg (36:26), and Dr. Paul Saladino (55:18). We give reference to some specific examples.
Show notes available at sigmanutrition.com/episode401/
If you wish to support the podcast you can do so via patreon.com/sigmanutrition/
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Aug 17, 2021
#400: Quack Asylum – Part 1: Malhotra & DiNicolantonio
Links:
* Go to episode page
* Receive Danny's free emails
* Subscribe to Sigma Nutrition Premium
About This Episode:
To celebrate our 400th episode, we take a look at two "quacks" who spread misinformation; Dr. Aseem Malhotra and Dr. James DiNicolantonio. We give reference to some specific examples.
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Aug 10, 2021
#399: Prof. James Betts – Does Fasting Have Benefits Beyond Those Caused By Calorie Restriction?
James Betts is Professor of Metabolic Physiology at the University of Bath, where he is Co-Director of the Centre for Nutrition, Exercise & Metabolism. His research employs randomised controlled trials to study the effects of nutrition on metabolic regulation.
His group recently published a trial aiming to separate out the effects of fasting from those of calorie restriction.
Show notes at sigmanutrition.com/episode399/
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Aug 3, 2021
#398: Carole Hooven, PhD – Testosterone: Behavioural Endocrinology & Sex Differences
Carole Hooven, PhD, is lecturer and codirector of undergraduate studies in the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. She earned her PhD at Harvard, studying behavioral endocrinology and evolution of sex differences in humans (physiology, behavior and cognition). She has recently written a book on how testosterone influences behaviour and explains many sex differences. The book is titled 'T: The Story of Testosterone, the Hormone that Dominates and Divides Us'.
Show notes available at sigmanutrition.com/episode398/
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Jul 27, 2021
#397: Dietary Nitrates & Nitrites
In this episode Danny & Alan discuss the impacts of nitrates and nitrites on health. They look at the beneficial impacts of dietary nitrate, as well as issues around nitrites in processed meat.
Show notes available at sigmanutrition.com/episode397/
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Jul 20, 2021
#396: Leigh Frame, PhD – Nutrient Trials: RCT Design, Ethics and Placebo Groups
Dr. Leigh Frame, PhD is Director of Integrative Medicine at George Washington School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington DC. Dr. Frame received her PhD in Human Nutrition, as well as a Master of Health Science degree in Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
In this episode we discuss a range of topics including: the role of placebo groups and the different types we see in nutrient supplementation trials, potential ethical issues, and the development of research ethics.
Show notes available at sigmanutrition.com/epsiode396/
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Jul 14, 2021
#395: Prof. Carel le Roux – Current Thinking in Obesity Treatment
Professor le Roux is an expert in metabolic medicine and is currently a Professor of Experimental Pathology, University College Dublin. He is recognised as a world leader in metabolism and obesity.
Professor le Roux’s clinical focus is in the management of Type 2 diabetes, pre-diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular risk and other metabolic disorders. Professor Carel le Roux has been published extensively and currently holds a number of editorial roles for journals in his field including, Clinical Obesity and Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases.
Show notes are available at: sigmanutrition.com/episode395
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Jul 9, 2021
#394: Gar Benn – Nutrition Coaching Q&A
Gar Benn is the Head of Coaching at Sigma Nutrition, where he works with nutrition coaching clients and oversees the coaching services.
He is the owner of CityGym Limerick, a powerlifting-centric gym in Ireland. And he is also the co-founder of the European Powerlifting Confernce and Titan Ireland.
Gar is a qualifed nutrition coach and has completed courses in Motivational Interviewing and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).
Show notes at sigmanutrition.com/episode394/
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Jun 29, 2021
#393: Vitamin D: Does Supplementation Actually Improve Health?
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Vitamin D status is linked to a variety of health outcomes, and avoiding or correcting deficiency is important. However, does supplementing with vitamin D actually benefit most people? Is there evidence for supplementation improving health outcomes like mortality, cancer risk, depression or other outcomes? In this episode Danny and Alan look at intervention trials of vitamin D supplementation.
Show notes available at: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode393/
Click here to subscribe to Sigma Nutrition Premium
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Jun 22, 2021
#392: Clare Pettinger, PhD, RD – Environmentally Sustainable Diets & Food Access
Dr. Clare Pettinger is a Registered Dietitian, Public Health Nutritionist and experienced educator. Dr. Pettinger publishes research in the public health nutrition field, and lectures at the Universtity of Plymouth, UK.
Dr. Pettinger is actively engaged in community-focussed research around food systems, poverty and social justice. She is an enthusiastic 'sustainability advocate' involved in promoting environmentally sustainable diets for nutrition professionals and Allied Health Professioinals.
Show notes available at sigmanutrition.com/episode392
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Jun 15, 2021
#391: Is There a Body Weight Set Point?: Models of Body Mass Regulation
In this episode Danny and Alan discuss the three primary models used to explain body mass regulation: 1) Set Point Model, 2) Settling Point Model, 3) Dual Intervention Model. They discuss the role of feedback systems, environment, behaviour, as well as discussing both the "thrifty gene hypothesis" and John Speakman's "drifty gene hypothesis".
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Jun 9, 2021
#390: Gil Carvalho MD, PhD – Dairy, Olive Oil & Diet Debates: Understanding Evidence
Gil Carvalho, MD PhD is a medical doctor, research scientist, science communicator. Dr. Carvalho trained as a medical doctor in the University of Lisbon, in his native Portugal, and later obtained a PhD in Biology from Caltech (California Institute of Technology). He has published peer-reviewed medical research spanning the fields of genetics, molecular biology, nutrition, behaviour, aging and neuroscience.
In this episode we discuss:
* Dairy: is it over-emphasized in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans?
* Dairy tolerance
* Critical importance of substitution effects
* Differences between difference types of dairy on health
* Claims by some WFPB advocates that olive oil can negatively impact endothethial function
* Distinguishing between acute and chronic effects
* Gil's work with Antonio Damasio on feelings
Show notes: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode190
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Jun 4, 2021
#389: Renee McGregor, RD – Why Are Athletes Under-Eating?
Renee McGregor is a leading sports dietitian, specialising in Eating Disorders, REDs, The Female Athlete, athlete health and performance.
She is regularly asked to work directly with high performing and professional athletes that have developed a dysfunctional relationship with food that is impacting their performance, health and career. Her practice and knowledge is supported by extensive experience of working in both clinical and performance nutrition, including, Olympic, Paralympic and Commonwealth teams.
She is the co-founder and director of #TRAINBRAVE a campaign raising the awareness of eating disorders in sport; providing resources and practical strategies to reduce the prevalence.
She is on the REDS advisory board for BASES (The British Association of Sport and Exercise Science) and sits on the International Task Force for Orthorexia.
Find the show notes at sigmanutrition.com/episode389
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May 27, 2021
#388: Consequences of Weight Stigma and Weight Bias
Danny & Alan discuss the current evidence on the health consequences and societal consequences of weight stigma and weigh bias. This includes implicit bias, explicit bias, and internalization of bias. What evidence do we currently have? And what questions remain unanswered?
Segments: Today's Topic in Focus [03:39]
Listener Questions [59:48]
Quack Asylum [68:55]
Random Recommendations [72:07]
You can find the show notes to this episode at sigmanutrition.com/episode388
If you wish to support the podcast you can do so on Patreon at patreon.com/sigmanutrition or directly via the site at sigmanutrition.com/donate
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May 18, 2021
#387: Shift Work and Health
In this episode Danny and Alan discuss the relationship between shift work and health. Why does shift work have negative health impacts? How can one mitigate circadian misalignment? How does shift work impact nutrient metabolism? What nutrition, sleep and lifestyle strategies can help shift workers?
Show notes at: sigmanutrition.com/episode387
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May 12, 2021
#386: Deirdre Tobias, ScD – Study Design, Diet Collection Methods and Nutrition Epidemiology
Dr. Tobias is a nutrition and obesity epidemiologist at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA. She received doctoral and postdoctoral training from the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, under mentor Dr. Frank B. Hu.
Dr. Tobias is co-Instructor of Nutrition Epidemiology with Dr. Walter Willett and faculty member at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health. Her epidemiologic research focuses on identifying lifestyle risk factors and underlying mechanisms related to obesity and its major chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes and cancer.
Dr. Tobias is currently the Academic Editor for the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Show notes at sigmanutrition.com/episode386
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May 4, 2021
#385: Insulin Resistance & Diet
In this episode we explore the causes of insulin resistance, and the dietary modifications that may help those with insulin resistance.
We discuss how insulin resistance is a complex metabolic disorder, that goes beyond one single pathway or cause. There is also a discussion on the mechanisms of insulin resistance pathogenesis. Specifically, we talk about the accumulation of ectopic fat. Ectopic fat is the storage of triglycerides in tissues other than fat tissue, such as the liver, skeletal muscle, heart, and pancreas.
There is also an overview of the Twin-Cycle Hypothesis, which was discussed in more detail in a previous episode with Prof. Roy Taylor. In addition, we give special mention to liver fat accumulation and the relationship between insulin resistance and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).
Then various diet interventions are assessed for their potential usefulness to those with insulin resistnace. This includes different diet types (e.g. whole-food plant-based die…
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Apr 27, 2021
#384: Research Review: The Interference Effect & Concurrent Training
In this episode Greg Nuckols and Mike Zourdos breakdown two research papers related to the interference effect and concurrent training.
Greg and Mike (along with Eric Helms and Eric Trexler) produce the MASS research review, which breaks down the latest research studies relevant to those interested in strength training, strength sports, and bodybuilding.
From April 27th to May 4th you can get a significant discount on a MASS subscription by visiting sigmanutrition.com/mass-sale/
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Apr 20, 2021
#383: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) & Diet
In this episode Danny and Alan discuss irritable bowel syndome and the evidence related to dietary interventions. They discuss diagnosis of the condition, various sub-types, potential mechanisms, the gut-brain axis, first line treatments, impact of fibre, and evidence on the low FODMAP diet.
Today's Topic in Focus: IBS & Diet [06:20]
"I Have a Question!" [74:47]
Quack Asylum [79:30]
Random Recommendations [86:49]
Show notes available at sigmanutrition.com/episode383
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Apr 6, 2021
#382: Andy Morgan – Practicalities of Body Composition Change
Andy Morgan is the founder of RippedBody.com and an online coach. He co-authored the Muscle & Strength Pyramids books along with Dr. Eric Helms and Andrea Valdez. He has published a host of excellent nutrition and training resources in the form of ebooks, articles and podcasts, which can be found on the Ripped Body website. He recently released the third edition of the Diet Adjustments Manual.
You can find the show notes to this episode at: sigmanutrition.com/episode382
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Mar 30, 2021
#381: Prof. Chris Packard – LDL Cholesterol, ApoB & Atherosclerosis
Prof. Chris Packard holds an Honorary Professorship of Vascular Biochemistry at the University of Glasgow. Over his career, Professor Packard has focussed on two aspects of atherosclerosis research, lipoprotein metabolism and how it is affected by diets and drugs, and large-scale clinical trials of lipid lowering agents. He is acknowledged as one of the leading researchers in the world in this field.
Show notes available at sigmanutrition.com/episode381
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Mar 23, 2021
#380: Prof. Barry Popkin – The Nutrition Transition & Using Policy Actions to Create Healthier Diets
Prof. Barry Popkin is the W.R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor of Nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a nutrition and obesity researcher at the Carolina Population Center and is the director of the Interdisciplinary Center for Obesity at UNC.
He developed the concept of the Nutrition Transition, the study of the dynamic shifts in dietary intake and physical activity patterns and trends around obesity and other nutrition-related noncommunicable diseases (NCD). Prof. Popkin is involved now in work on program and policy design at the national level to improve the average diet at the population level.
He has published more than 545 journal articles, and is one of the most cited nutrition scholars in the world, with more than 90,000 citations.
Show notes available at sigmanutrition.com/episode380
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Mar 16, 2021
#379: Obesity & Chronic Disease Risk with Dr. Spencer Nadolsky
Danny and Alan are joined by Dr. Spencer Nadolsky. Dr. Nadolsky is a board-certified obesity specialist, lipidologist, and family physician.
In this episode we discuss the strengths and limitations of BMI, adipose tissue type and relevance to risk, hypertrophic vs. hyperplastic adipocytes, 'Metabolically Healthy Obesity', and weight stigma.
Show notes available at sigmanutrition.com/episode379
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Mar 9, 2021
#378: Nutritional Epidemiology
In this episode Danny and Alan discuss some critical aspects to understand about nutritional epidemiology in order to evaluate diet-disease relationships appropriately. Of particular focus in this episode is the unique exposure of interest in nutrition studies, why its crucial to understand temporal relationships and how to think about relative risk and absolute risk. The guys finish by explaining how one can include these findings into an understanding of an overall body of evidence.
Show notes: sigmanutrition.com/episode378
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Mar 2, 2021
#377: Herman Pontzer, PhD – Metabolism, Mitochondria & Evolutionary Biology
Herman Pontzer, PhD is an Associate Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology at Duke University and Associate Research Professor of Global Health at the Duke Global Health Institute. He is an internationally recognized researcher in human energetics and evolution.
Over two decades of research in the field and laboratory, Dr. Pontzer has conducted pathbreaking studies across a range of settings, including fieldwork with Hadza hunter-gatherers in northern Tanzania, fieldwork on chimpanzee ecology in the rainforests of Uganda, and metabolic measurements of great apes in zoos and sanctuaries around the globe.
Find the show notes to this episode at sigmanutrition.com/episode377
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Feb 23, 2021
#376: Kevin Hall, PhD – Plant-based Diet vs. Ketogenic Diet: Impact on Calorie Intake
Dr. Kevin Hall, PhD is Senior Chief of the Integrative Physiology Section of the Laboratory of Biological Modeling at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK).
His laboratory investigates how metabolism and the brain adapt in response to a variety of interventions to diet and physical activity. They carry out studies to better understand the complex mechanisms regulating macronutrient metabolism, body composition, and energy expenditure.
Recently Dr. Hall was lead author on a study titled 'Effect of a plant-based, low-fat diet versus an animal-based, ketogenic diet on ad libitum energy intake', which was published in Nature Medicine in early 2021.
[Disclaimer: By participating in this podcast, the U.S. Government, represented by the National Institutes of Health does not directly or indirectly endorse any product or service provided, or to be provided, by Sigma Nutrition.]
Link to show notes: sigmanutrition.com/episode376
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Feb 16, 2021
#375: Salt, Sodium & Health
In this episode Danny and Alan discuss the current evidence base related to sodium intake and health, most notably cardiovascular disease. The episode walks through understanding diet-disease relationships, the epidemiology of sodium and health outcomes, the reasons for conflicting conlusions, sodium measurements in research, intervention trials, and more. Importantly, the claim that the sodium-CVD risk relationship exhibits a "J-shaped curve" (i.e. risk is low at moderate intakes and higher at both low and high intakes) is dissected, with recommendations given on how to reconcile all the available evidence.
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Feb 9, 2021
#374: How to Plan a Fighter’s Diet
In this episode Danny becomes the interviewee, as he is interviewed by sports dietitian and owner of The Fight Dietitian, Jordan Sullivan RD. Jordan oversees the diet of several UFC athletes, including champions Israel Adesanya and Alexander Volkanovski. Danny and Jordan have an in-depth chat about all aspects of nutrition and weight cutting for combat sport athletes, including the concept of the "52 week fight camp" and Danny's five-phase model of combat sport nutrition. This discussion first appeared on the Fight Science Podcast. Thanks to Jordan Sullivan for allowing its reproduction here.
Show notes: sigmanutrition.com/episode374
Weight Cutting System: sigmanutrition.com/weightcut
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Feb 2, 2021
#373: Alcohol & Health: Is Zero Better Than Some?
In this episode Danny and Alan discuss the health impacts of alcohol and take a look at the research to answer whether alcohol should be viewed as having a J-shaped curve of risk or zero alcohol being better than any amount.
Segments:
[03:40] Today's Topic in Focus
[53:45] "I Have a Question!"
[62:14 ]Random Recommendations
Show notes available at sigmanutrition.com/episode373
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Jan 26, 2021
#372: Mike Israetel, PhD – Bodybuilding, Avoiding Suffering & Lessons for Life
Dr. Mike Israetel is the cofounder of Renaissance Periodization, where he produces content related to training and dieting for hypertrophy, strength and bodybuidling.
Dr. Israetel is also currently a professor in the strength and hypertrophy masters program at Lehman College.
Mike is himself a competitive bodybuilder and professional Brazilian Jiu Jitsu grappler.
Show notes available at sigmanutrition.com/episode372
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Jan 19, 2021
#371: Dietary Cholesterol – Are Eggs & Cholesterol-rich Foods a Cause for Concern?
In this episode Danny and Alan discuss the debate over the impact of dietary cholesterol on LDL-C levels and heart disease risk. Are eggs & cholesterol-rich foods a problem? Let's dive into the research to find out!
Today's Topic in Focus: [00:51]
"I Have a Question!" [62:32]
Quack Asylum [72:55]
Random Recommendations [75:28]
Show notes: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode371
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Jan 13, 2021
#370: Jake Mey, PhD, RD - Dietetics, Evidence-based Practice & Translating Science into Advice
Dr. Jake Mey is a registered dietitan and a human nutrition researcher. He is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center. His work focuses on diet, muscle & metabolism. Dr. Mey has a PhD in human nutrition and kinesology.
Show notes: sigmanutrition.com/episode370
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Jan 6, 2021
#369: Prof. Jason Gill - Population Cardiometabolic Disease Risk: Impact of Strength, Fitness & Activity
Professor Jason Gill is a Professor of Cardiometabolic Health in the Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences at the University of Glasgow. He leads an active multi-disciplinary research group investigating the effects of exercise and diet on the prevention and management of vascular and metabolic diseases from the molecular to the whole-body level.
He is a past Chair of the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES) Division of Physical Activity for Health and a member of the development groups for the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) guidelines for the prevention and treatment of obesity and for prevention of cardiovascular disease.
In this episode we discuss:
* Strength and chronic disease risk
* Discrepancy between self-report and objective measurements of physical activity
* Regression dilution bias: If you measure something poorly you diminish the apparent association with the outcome
* The EuroFIT randomized controlle…
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Jan 1, 2021
#368: Shannon Beer – Intentional Eating, Flourishing Health & Behavioural Psychology
Shannon Beer is a nutritionist, working with people via online coaching and mentoring, with the goal of helping people improve their health through facilitating lasting behaviour change.
In collaboration with Dr. Gabrielle Fundaro, she has developed a coaching framework that applies motivational interviewing, cognitive behavioral coaching, and acceptance and commitment therapy-aligned processes in a client-centered alliance toward their own values-based goals. This 'Comprehensive Coaching' model facilitates long-term behavior change and flourishing health in clients.
Show notes: sigmanutrition.com/episode368
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Dec 28, 2020
#367: Gabrielle Fundaro, PhD – Mindful Eating, Facilitating Health Behaviour Change & Client-centred Coaching
Dr. Gabrielle Fundaro is a nutrition/health coach who focuses on facilitating behavior change, embodying a positive relationship with food, cultivating positive body image, and improving sport performance.
Dr. Fundaro is a former Assistant Professor of Exercise Science at Georgia Gwinnett College and holds a PhD in Human Nutrition and Exercise. She is currently a board member of both the Nutrition Coaching Global Mastermind (NCGM) and the Sports Nutrition Association (SNA).
In collaboration with Shannon Beer, she has developed a coaching framework that applies motivational interviewing, cognitive behavioral coaching, and acceptance and commitment therapy-aligned processes in a client-centered alliance toward their own values-based goals. This 'Comprehensive Coaching' model facilitates long-term behavior change and flourishing health in clients.
LINK: sigmanutrition.com/episode367
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Dec 22, 2020
#366: Listener Q&A
In this episode Danny and Alan answer some listener questions, covering a range of topics, including hunger cues, weight-neutral appraoches, body fat distribution, and breakfast and cognition, among others. The guys also discuss the most interesting thing they've learned this year and resources on critical thinking. Questions Answered:
[08:40] What’s the most interesting thing you’ve learnt this year?
[16:30] Is the cliche “hacks to survive the holiday period” a damaging narrative?
[18:32] Is the notion that weight loss attempts typically produce more harm than benefit, evidence-based?
[21:28] What's your opinion on intuitive eating? Both the official book and the unofficial trend.
[25:40] Based on your previous podcast discussing health policy, how does a health coach use this knowledge working with clients given that the deck may be stacked against certain clients? Does HAES become more important for clients who face more challenges like those you spoke about?
[30:26] W…
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Dec 15, 2020
#365: David Robert Grimes, PhD – Conspiracy Theories & Bad Information: Why Are We Susceptible?
Dr. David Robert Grimes is a physicist, cancer researcher and a science journalist. In addition to his cancer research, he has also published peer-reviewed work on conspiracy theories, meta-research and health modelling.
Dr. Grimes is the author of the fantastic book The Irrational Ape: Why We Fall for Disinformation, Conspiracy Theory and Propaganda. And given his keen interest in advancing the public understanding of science, he contributes to several media outlets discussing science, politics and society.
He appears frequently on news media to discuss and debate topics as diverse as vaccination to climate-change, and gives talks across the world on the importance of evidence in society. He was joint winner of the 2014 Nature / Sense About Science Maddox Prize for standing up for Science.
David is affiliated with Oxford University, Queen's University Belfast and Dublin City University. His cancer research has focused on the mathematical modelling and mechanistic understanding of h…
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Dec 8, 2020
#364: Jake Linardon, PhD - Disordered Eating: Impact of Macro Tracking & Social Media
Dr. Jake Linardon is a Senior Research Fellow at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia. His research focuses on eating disorders, with a primary focus on testing and evaluating a broad range of treatment approaches for eating disorders.
Dr. Linardon is particularly interested in understanding how modern information technology can be used to help those most in need.
Show notes at sigmanutrition.com/episode364
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Dec 1, 2020
#363: Public Health Policy vs. Personal Responsibility: Evidence vs. Ideology
In this episode Danny and Alan discuss the evidence for public health nutrition interventions, how health inequalities are driven by socioeconomic factors, and how ideology and simplistic rhetoric about "personal responsibility" can get in the way.
Today's Topic in Focus [07:29]
"I Have a Question!" [82:22]
Quack Asylum [85:20]
Random Recommendations [91:14]
Show notes available at sigmanutrition.com/episode363
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Nov 25, 2020
#362: Alistair Monteyne – Impact of Mycoprotein & Vegan Diets on Muscle Protein Synthesis
Alistair Monteyne is the lead author on some recent RCTs examining the impact of mycoprotein on muscle protein synthesis. Alistair is currently a PhD student in the Nutritional Physiology Research Group based at the University of Exeter in the UK. He also has a MSc. in Sport and Exercise Nutrition from Loughborough University.
Show notes available at sigmanutrition.com/episode362
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Nov 18, 2020
#361: Sarah Berry, PhD – The PREDICT Study, Postprandial Metabolism & Personalised Nutrition
Dr Sarah Berry is a researcher and senior lecturer in nutritional science at King's College London. Her research interests relate to the influence of dietary components on markers of cardiovascular disease risk; with a particular focus on the influence of food and fat structure on postprandial metabolism.
Dr. Berry has been the academic leader for more than 30 human nutrition studies in cardio-metabolic health. Her research also focuses on the influence of manipulation of food structure and subsequent effects on lipid and carbohydrate bioaccessibility and changes in postprandial metabolism.
Sarah is also the lead nutritional scientist on an ongoing series of postprandial metabolic studies, assessing the genetic, metabolic, metagenomic, and meal-dependent effects on postprandial metabolic responses in >1,200 individuals in the UK and US.
Show notes available at sigmanutrition.com/episode361
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Nov 12, 2020
#360: Nick Hiebert – Micronutrients, Anti-nutrients and Non-essential Nutrients
Nick Hiebert writes about nutrition science on his site The Nutrivore, as well as exclusive, comprehnsive posts on his Patreon page. He is the creator of the "Nutrient Density Cheat Sheet", a nutrition ranking tool for hundreds of whole foods.
Nick has a deep interest in a host of nutrition science topics, from nutrient density to saturated fat & cardiovascular disease. He does a lot of deep analysis of raw data and has published some independent meta-analyses on his site.
Show notes can be found at sigmanutrition.com/episode360
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Nov 5, 2020
#359: Calorie Confusion - (Mis)Understanding Energy Balance
In this episode Danny and Alan discuss the common misunderstandings and misrepresentations of the energy balance equation, leading to problematic debates over the validity of 'calories in, calories out'.
Today's Topic in Focus: Calories In, Calories Out [02:15]
"I Have a Question!" [60:17]
Quack Asylum [70:20]
Random Recommendations [76:20]
SHOW NOTES: sigmanutrition.com/episode359
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Oct 27, 2020
#358: Coffee & Health
In this episode Danny and Alan discuss the health impacts of coffee consumption, including long-term protective influence on disease risk, acute impacts, optimal dosages, genetic differences in metabolism and the influence of the bioactive compounds in coffee.
Today's Topic in Focus: [01:50]
"I Have a Question!" [68:18]
Quack Asylum [71:03]
Random Recommendations [81:50]
Show Notes: sigmanutrition.com/episode358
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Oct 21, 2020
#357: Nicky Keay, MB BChir – Female Athletes: Hormones, Energy Availability & the Menstrual Cycle
Dr. Nicky Keay is a medical doctor (MB BChir, MRCP) with specific training in endocrinology. She has published related to female athlete hormone profiling, energy availability, and relative energy deficiency in sport (RED-S).
As a Research Fellow at St Thomas’ Hospital, she was part of the international medical team which developed an anti-doping test for growth hormone.
Dr. Keay studied medicine at Cambridge University, gained membership of the Royal College of Physicians, and trained in endocrinology.
Dr. Keay is currently an Honoray Fellow at Durham Universty in the Department of Sport and Exercise Sciences.
Show notes at sigmanutrition.com/episode357
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Oct 15, 2020
#356: Hana Kahleova, MD, PhD – Plant-based Diets, Meal Timing & Meal Frequency
Dr. Hana Kahleova is the director of clinical research at the Physicians Committee and directs research testing the effect a plant-based diet has on metabolism, insulin function, fitness, and mental health, as well as studying the impact meal timing and meal frequency have on metabolism and body weight.
Dr. Kahleova earned her doctorate in nutrition and diabetes and her medical degree from Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic. As a postdoctoral research fellow at Loma Linda University in California, Dr. Kahleova analyzed data from 50,000 Adventist Health Study-2 participants. She analyzed data on meal frequency and timing in relationship to changes in body weight.
Show notes at: sigmanutrition.com/episode356
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Oct 9, 2020
#355: Is Time-restricted Eating Dead?: A Closer Look
Danny & Alan discuss a recent paper on time-restricted eating that has been inaccurately interpreted by some as a "disproval" of TRE as an intervention. In this episode, the aim is to provide some context to the situation.
There are also three listener questions, and another person/claim is brought into the quack asylum!
Today's Topic in Focus: Time-Restricted Eating [05:14]
"I Have a Question!" [57:27]
Quack Asylum [73:35]
Random Recommendations [86:05]
SHOW NOTES: sigmanutrition.com/episode355
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Sep 29, 2020
#354: Problems with the Meta-Analysis in Nutrition
Danny & Alan discuss issues with using and interpreting meta-analyses in nutritional science, they answer a question about methods of reheating food, and they highlight a recent paper published by quacks that experts have termed a "deception".
Today's Topic in Focus [08:50]
"I Have a Question!" [53:35]
Quack Asylum [59:32]
Something Random [66:42]
Show notes: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode354
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Sep 22, 2020
#353: James Hébert, ScD – Dietary Inflammatory Index
Dr. James Hébert is a nutritional and cancer epidemiologist, currently a distinguished Professor at the University of South Carolina. Dr. Hébert’s professional focus for the past several years has been on developing and refining the Dietary Inflammatory Index™ (DII®), which has now been established as an effective research tool.
Dr. Hébert is also a Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, a Professor of Epidemiology at the Medical University of South Carolina, a Professor of Community Medicine and Epidemiology at the University of South Carolina, School of Medicine, and the Director of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program.
Dr. Hébert obtained his ScD (Doctor of Science) in nutritional epidemiology from Harvard University in 1984.
Show Notes: sigmanutrition.com/episode353
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Sep 15, 2020
#352: Do Diets Even Work in the Long-term? - A Look at Weight Loss Maintenance
Danny and Alan take a look at the evidence on weight loss maintenance, answer a question about ApoE4, and admit another nonsensical claim into the quack asylum. In this episode:
[02:56] Today's Topic in Focus: Weight Regain vs Weight Loss Maintenance
[58:56] I Have a Question!: "How does the ApoE4 allele affect lipid metabolism? And how should someone structure their diet around having one or both alleles due to it resulting in higher LDL-C than someone without the gene?"
[63:09] Quack Asylum: Irish doctors gives nonsensical and harmful nutrition recommendations.
[76:35] Random Recommendations
Show notes: sigmanutrition.com/episode352
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Sep 8, 2020
#351: Prof. Glenn Gibson - Human Gut Bacteriology, Prebiotics & Probiotics
Glenn Gibson is Professor of Food Microbiology at University of Reading. He has been researching bacteria in the gut for over 30 years. Together with his colleague Marcel B. Roberfroid, both researchers coined the term prebiotics in their 1995 paper.
He has published over 450 research papers and 8 books. He currently researches acute and chronic gut disease, with specific projects on probiotics and prebiotics, gas production, gut microbiota development, gastroenteritis, obsesity and colonic homeostasis.
Show Notes: sigmanutrition.com/episode351
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Sep 2, 2020
#350: Peter Olusoga, PhD & Hugh Gilmore – Coaching Burnout: The Research & Applied Psychology
Dr Peter Olusoga is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Sheffield Hallam University. His current research focuses on stress, burnout and wellbeing in sports, with a particular interest in high-performance environments and elite coaching. Peter is a Chartered Psychologist with the British Psychological Society (BPS).
Hugh Gilmore is an accredited sport psychologist with experience working in elite sport in the UK. Hugh has worked with elite athletes across a number of sports, including with the British Weightlifting team in the lead-up to the Olympic Games.
Hugh has a MSc. in Applied Sport and Exercise Psychology. And is accredited by The Irish Institute of Sport and the British Association of Sport and Exercise Science (BASES).
Peter and Hugh are the hosts of the new sport psychology podcast Eighty Percent Mental.
Show Notes: sigmanutrition.com/episode350
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Aug 26, 2020
#349: Prof. Naomi Allen – How the UK Biobank is Powering Chronic Disease Research
Professor Naomi Allen was appointed Chief Scientist for UK Biobank in 2019, having joined UK Biobank in November 2011 as Senior Epidemiologist. She is Professor of Epidemiology at the Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, with a keen research interest in cancer epidemiology.
At UK Biobank she is responsible for following-up participants both through linkage with routine health-related datasets, and through web-based questionnaires. She is also involved in developing the scientific strategy for future enhancements for the study.
Her research interest is largely in the role of diet, obesity and circulating biomarkers in cancer development.
Show Notes: sigmanutrition.com/episode349
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Aug 19, 2020
#348: Omega-3 Supplementation & Heart Disease
Today's Topic in Focus: Omega-3 Supplementation & Heart Disease [01:52]
"I Have a Question!" [66:30]: UK government obesity plan.
Quack Asylum [87:00]:
Is a gram of PUFA in chicken worse than 250g of sugar from honey? Carnivore cannibalism!
Random Recommendations [94:20]
SHOW NOTES: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode348/
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Aug 12, 2020
#347: Alex Thomas - Advancing the Sports Nutritionist Profession
Alex Thomas is the founder of Sports Nutrition Association (SNA), which is global association that contains Sports Nutrition Australia, Sports Nutrition NewZealand, Sports Nutrition Asia, and Sports Nutrition USA.
Alex is an experienced Clinical Accredited Sports Nutritionist. He is the Australasian Ambassador of the ISSN (International Society of Sports Nutrition). He is co-creator of the Metabolic Health Screen (A health risk and contraindication identification and triage system – now imbedded in the MyPocketcoach platform).
His passion is in providing legitimate education, qualifications and insurance pathways to ensure the successful and sustainable career pathways for the profession of Sports Nutritionists. Alex believes we now have a unique opportunity to establish a significant meaningful impact and pride in what it is to hold the title of ‘Accredited Sports Nutritionist’ within the industry.
Show notes: sigmanutrition.com/episode347
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Aug 4, 2020
#346: Kathryn Bradbury, PhD – Diet & Colorectal Cancer Risk
Dr. Kathryn Bradbury, PhD is a researcher at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Her research has focused on examining the role of diet in the development of cancer, cardiovascular disease and other non-communicable diseases.
Dr. Bradbury spent 5 years in the Cancer Epidemiology Unit at the University of Oxford. There, she worked as a nutritional epidemiologist on large cohort studies, including the European Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), and the UK Biobank.
She also has expertise in traditional and web-based dietary assessment methods, nutritional epidmiology (including prospective analyses of large cohort studies), biomarkers of nutritional status (including folate), blood lipids, the role of diet in the development of gastrointestinal cancers, and vegetarian nutrition.
Show Notes: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode346
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Jul 29, 2020
#345: Rebecca Leech, PhD – Impact of Meal Patterning on Diet Quality & Health
Dr. Rebecca Leech is a Registered Nutritionist and Nutritional Epidemiologist, based at Deakin’s Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition.
Rebecca has a PhD in Nutritional Epidemiology, and in 2018, was awarded an Alfred Deakin Medal for her doctoral thesis, which examined adults’ eating patterns and their associations with diet quality and obesity.
Her postdoctoral research, extends on this, and applies novel analytic approaches to understand determinants of food intake at eating occasions and the role of eating patterns in cardiometabolic health in adults.
Dr. Leech is funded by an Alfred Deakin Postdoctoral Fellowship and received category 1 funding from the National Heart Foundation (NHF) Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2019.
Show notes: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode345/
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Jul 22, 2020
#344: Prof. Martin Caraher – Food Poverty & Food Aid Provision
Prof. Martin Caraher is Emeritus Professor of food and health policy at Centre for Food Policy at City, University of London. He has worked for and acted as a consultant to the UK Department of Health, the World Bank and the World Health Organisation.
He was a member of the original London Food Board which developed the food strategy for London. He is a member of the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) scientific committee. He also sits on the Safefood Irl scientific committee.
Show Notes: sigmanutrition.com/episode344
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Jul 16, 2020
#343: Understanding Causality in Nutrition Science
Danny & Alan discuss how to understand causality in nutrition research. The episodes includes: inferring causality vs demonstrating causality, the hierarchy of evidence vs. standards of proof, the erroneous application of the biomedical model to nutrition, RCTs vs. epidemiology, what the “highest quality evidence available” is, and how nutritional epidemiology can infer causality.
Episode also includes a listener question, random recommendations and the Quack Asylum!
Show notes: sigmanutrition.com/episode343
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Jul 7, 2020
#342: Are Vegan Diets Superior for Health?
In this episode Alan and Danny discuss the nutritional science research on vegan diets and human health. Some of the concepts covered include: defining “plant-based” diets, examination of various intervention trials comparing diets, veganism across the lifestage, benefits of a vegan diet, nutrient considerations and lots more.
Show Notes: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode342
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Jul 1, 2020
#340: Ethics of Veganism & Omnivorism (Part 4) – Diana Rodgers, RD & Robb Wolf
Diana Rodgers and Robb Wolf are the co-authors of Sacred Cow, a book exploring the important role of animals in our food system.
Diana is a Registered Dietitian living on a working organic farm in New England, where she runs an active nutrition practice. She speaks at universities and conferences internationally about nutrition and sustainability, social justice, animal welfare and food policy issues. She’s just completed work on the new book and film project, Sacred Cow.
Robb Wolf is a former research biochemist and a New York Times/WSJ Best Selling author (for both The Paleo Solution and Wired To Eat). Robb has functioned as a review editor for the Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism (Biomed Central) and as a consultant for the Naval Special Warfare Resiliency program.
Show notes: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode340/
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Jun 26, 2020
#339: Prof. Corinna Hawkes - Food Policy, Food Systems & Public Health
Professor Corinna Hawkes has been working for the past 20 years with UN agencies, governments, NGOs and academia at the local, national and international level to support the design of more effective policies throughout the food system to improve diets and prevent malnutrition in all its forms.
She is currently Director of the Centre for Food Policy at City, University of London, UK, a Centre dedicated to shaping a more effective food system through education, research and engagement with the world of food policy.
In 2018 she was appointed Vice Chair of the London Child Obesity Taskforce by the Mayor of London.
She was a member of the EAT-Lancet Commission on Healthy Diets from Sustainable Food Systems and the Lancet Commission on Obesity.
Corinna has worked at the World Health Organization, the International Food Policy Research Institute, the University of Sao Paulo and as Head of Policy and Public Affairs at World Cancer Research Fund International, where she established the NOU…
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Jun 21, 2020
#338: Ethics of Veganism & Omnivorism (Part 3) - Alex O' Connor
Alex J. O’Connor is founder of the Cosmic Skeptic YouTube channel, podcast and blog; platforms dedicated to the publication of philosophical ideas and debates in an accessible format. He is currently reading for a degree in philosophy and theology at St John’s College, Oxford University.
Alex is an impassioned animal rights advocate and religious critic, regularly discussing these topics on his online platforms. He has spoken at conferences internationally and has engaged in debates on ethics and philosophy.
Show Notes: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode338/
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Jun 16, 2020
#337: Ethics of Veganism & Omnivorism (Part 2) – Prof. Paul Thompson
Professor Paul B. Thompson holds the W.K. Kellogg Chair in Agricultural, Food and Community Ethics at Michigan State University, where he serves on the faculty in the departments of Philosophy, Community Sustainability and Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics.
He received his Ph.D. in Philosophy from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and has held posts at Texas A&M University and Purdue University.
Thompson’s research and teaching has focused on ethical and philosophical topics in food and agriculture.
Show Notes: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode337
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Jun 10, 2020
#336: Ethics of Veganism & Omnivorism (Part 1) – Andrew Chignell, PhD
Andrew Chignell is a professor at Princeton, with appointments in Religion, Philosophy, and the University Center for Human Values. He was previously an associate professor at Cornell and a professor at University of Pennsylvania. He received his PhD from Yale.
Chignell’s work to date focuses on Immanuel Kant and other modern European philosophers, philosophy of religion, the moral psychology of hope and despair, and the ethics of belief. He also has an interest in food ethics, and recently co-produced (with Will Starr at Cornell) a Massive Open Online Course on “The Ethics of Eating” for EdX.org.
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Jun 4, 2020
#335: Kyra Bobinet, MD – Systems, Dietary Behaviour Change & the Iterative Mindset
Dr. Bobinet received her Masters in Public Health at Harvard University, specializing in Healthcare Management, Technology-enabled Behavior Change, and Population Health Management. She received her medical degree from the UCSF School of Medicine. She has also studied in Dr. BJ Fogg’s Persuasive Tech Lab at Stanford.
Kyra has founded several healthcare start-ups, spanning behavior health, population health, and mobile health. She has designed behavior change programs, big data algorithms, billion dollar products, mobile health apps, and evidence-based studies in metabolic medicine.
Show notes: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode335
Get 20% off at Legion Athletics using the code SIGMA: buylegion.com/sigma
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May 28, 2020
#334: Austin Baraki, MD – Potential Harms of Screening, Overdiagnosis and Overtreatment
Dr. Austin Baraki, MD is an Internal Medicine Physician, based in San Antonio, Texas. He completed his doctorate in medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School, and Internal Medicine Residency at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. He also works as a strength coach and puts out information via Barbell Medicine.
Show notes: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode334
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May 20, 2020
#333: Diet & Immunity
Today's Topic in Focus: Immune Function & Diet
Innate and adaptive immune response
How does body composition impact immune function?
Will a calorie deficit or fasting decrease immunity?
Vitamins A, C, D.
Supplementation with zinc: yes or no?
Eating “to support the immune system”
Exercise and immunity
Environmental factors in infancy
Show Notes: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode333
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May 15, 2020
#332: Prof. Sam McConkey – COVID-19: Public Health Response, Clinical Presentation & Socioeconomics
Prof. Sam McConkey is a doctor and researcher specializing in the prevention and control of infectious diseases. Currently he is Associate Professor and Head of the Department of International Health and Tropical Medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. He is also a Consultant in General Medicine, Tropical Medicine and Infectious Diseases at Beaumont Hospital Dublin.
Previously Prof. McConkey was a Research Fellow in Infectious Disease at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri and an Honorary Consultant in Infectious Diseases at Oxford Radcliffe Trust.
Show Notes: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode332/
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May 5, 2020
#331: Prof. Roy Taylor – Diabetes Remission, Very-low Calorie Diets & the Twin Cycle Hypothesis
Roy Taylor is Professor of Medicine and Metabolism at the University of Newcastle in the UK. There he is also director of the Newcastle Magnetic Resonance Centre. Prof. Taylor is an Honorary Consultant Physician at Newcastle Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.
Since publishing his "twin cycle" hypothesis of type 2 diabetes in 2008, Prof. Taylor and colleagues have published several fascinating studies with potentially large implications for the potential to put diabetes into remission.
Three of the most important trials were the Counterpoint Study, the Counterbalance study and the DiRECT study. All of which will be discussed in this episode.
Do you want to get your whey protein or pre-workout from a brand that's trustworthy? Get 20% off you first order at Legion Athletics with the code SIGMA: buylegion.com/sigma
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Apr 28, 2020
#330: Eric Trexler, PhD – Antioxidants, Oxidative Stress & Exercise Adaptations
Eric Trexler is Director of Education at Stronger By Science, where he co-hosts the SBS podcast. He also is one of the four contributors to the MASS Research Review.
Eric has a prolific background in exercise science research, with more than 30 publications to his name by the time he completed his PhD at UNC-Chapel Hill.
One-week anniversary sale of the MASS Research Review: https://sigmanutrition.com/mass
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Apr 20, 2020
#329: Diet & Inflammation
Click here to subscribe to Sigma Nutrition Premium
In this episode Danny & Alan discuss:
* Today's Topic in Focus: Inflammation & Diet.
* Today's Member Question: "Is the carcinogenic risk of this high enough that I should be throwing them away and starting again?
* Being consigned to the Quack Asylum in this episode is... "Leveraging-COVID-to-further-my-diet-idealogy".
* Danny & Alan's random recommendations of the week. Click here to subscribe to Sigma Nutrition Premium
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Apr 14, 2020
#328: Meeta Singh, MD – Sleep, Immunity & Mental Health
Dr. Meeta Singh is a board-certified sleep medicine doctor and is currently the service chief of the sleep medicine at the Henry Ford sleep laboratory in Michigan.
She did her training in psychiatry at the Mayo clinic and a sleep fellowship at the Henry Ford hospital. She is board-certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology as a psychiatrist and sleep medicine sub-specialist.
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Apr 8, 2020
#327: David Dunne – Behavioural Science in Nutrition
David’s a Performance Nutritionist with a track record in developing and delivering nutrition programmes to elite athletes, teams, Olympians and sports legends – all over the globe.
He has worked in elite sport with PGA Tour golfers and various teams including Harlequins (rugby union), Bradford Bulls (rugby league) and Queens Park Rangers (soccer).
David is currently completing PhD out of Liverpool Johns Moores University in the UK, doing research on digital media & behaviour change interventions in sports nutrition. David is the CEO of Hexis.
Show notes: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode327
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Apr 3, 2020
#326: Krista Scott-Dixon, PhD – Adaptability & Autonomy in the Nutrition Coaching Process
Dr. Krista Scott-Dixon is a former university professor and researcher who now designs curriculum for Precision Nutrition.
She focuses on helping people make meaningful change through the Precision Nutrition Coaching and coaching Certification programs.
Krista is also the author or co-author of several books, with the latest being Why Me Want Eat: Fixing Your Food Fuckedupitude.
Show Notes: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode326
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Mar 29, 2020
#325: Kirk Parsley, MD - Stress, Sleep & Anxiety During a Pandemic
Dr. Kirk Parsley is a former SEAL, and received his Medical Degree from Bethesda, Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences (USUHS) in 2004. He served as an Undersea Medical Officer at Naval Special Warfare Group One from 2009 - 2013. While there, he led the development and supervised the group’s first Sports Medicine Rehabilitation center.
Dr. Parsley has been a member of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine since 2006 and has served as Naval Special Warfare’s expert on Sleep Medicine. After leaving the Navy he went into concierge medicine and consulting. He continues to consult for multiple corporations, and professional athletes/teams.
Show notes: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode325
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Mar 24, 2020
#324: Fatima Cody Stanford, MD – Obesity Treatment & Weight Bias
Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford is an obesity medicine physician, scientist, educator, and policy maker at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. She is a national and international sought after expert in obesity medicine who bridges the intersection of medicine, public health, policy, and disparities.
She completed her Obesity Medicine & Nutrition Fellowship at MGH/HMS after completing her internal medicine and pediatrics residency at the University of South Carolina. She has served as a health communications fellow at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and as a behavioral sciences intern at the American Cancer Society.
Show notes: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode324
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Mar 17, 2020
#323: COVID-19 & SARS-CoV-2 with Rizwan Sohail, MD
Dr. Rizwan Sohail is an infectious disease specialist based at the Mayo Clinic, where he holds a joint appointment with the divisions of Infectious Diseases and Cardiovascular Diseases.
He completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago and then a Fellowship in infectious diseases at the Mayo Clinic.
In This Episode We Discuss
* Distinguishing between COVID-19 (disease) and the actual novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV2)
* What is different about this specific coronavirus compared to others
* This coronavirus has a respiratory droplet transmission
* The difference between respiratory droplet and airbourne transmission
* Time from exposure to SARS-CoV-2 to symptom
* The disease mechanism
* Current case reports on those hospitalized
* In those who have recovered, do we know yet whether they can be reinfected or if they have established immunity?
* Is the severity of the disease impacted by the length or magnitude of the e…
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Mar 12, 2020
#322: Dominic Munnelly – Coaching People To Health: Philosophy, Empathy & Community
Dominic Munnelly is one of Ireland’s leading personal trainers having worked in the business for over 20 years. He has supported many clients on their health and fitness journey advising them on training, nutrition, mobility and wellness and in the process helped people lose weight, get fit and lead a happier and healthier life.
His background is Sports Science had he holds a degree from the University of Sunderland as well as other qualifications and certifications.
He is a co-author of Move Train Nourish, The Sustainable Way to a Healthier you, published by The Collins Press.
SHOW NOTES: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode322/
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Feb 25, 2020
#321: Dave Feldman & Alan Flanagan – Debating LDL Causality & the “Lipid Triad”
Dave Feldman is a software engineer and runs the Cholesterol Code website. In 2015 Dave adopted a low-carb high-fat diet, which improved his overall health. However, upon seeing his LDL-cholesterol skyrocket, he set out learn all he could about blood lipids and health.
Dave has gained prominence as a “LDL-skeptic” and promoter of his “lipid triad” hypothesis. This lipid triad relates to a situation where one sees high LDL-C, high HDL-C and low triglycerides. Dave hypothesises that in such a context, the high LDL-C does not confer high risk of cardiovascular disease. This is counter to the current consensus position of the lipid hypothesis, where LDL plays a causal role in atherosclerosis development.
Alan Flanagan is the Research Communication Officer here at Sigma Nutrition. Alan is currently pursuing his PhD in nutrition at the University of Surrey, UK, with a research focus in chrononutrition. Alan previuosly completed a Masters in Nutritional Medicine at the same institu…
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Feb 17, 2020
#320: Hannah Ritchie, PhD – Environmental Impacts of our Diet: Climate, Carbon Footprint & Land Use
Hannah Ritchie is a researcher at the University of Oxford, working at the online publication OurWorldinData.org. The publication aims to present empirical research on how the world is changing through the use of interactive data visualisations and explainers.
Her research is focused on the intersection between sustainability and global development, with a focus on how to couple economic development and improved living standards with environmental sustainability.
Hannah holds a BSc in Environmental Geoscience, and an MSc in Carbon Management from the University of Edinburgh. There, her doctoral studies focused on the assessment of global food systems and their capacity to address malnutrition and environmental sustainability simultaneously.
At the University of Edinburgh she was also a lecturer in Sustainability, Society and Environment, and worked on the development of teaching programmes directed towards interdisciplinary approaches to sustainability. She has worked on a number of…
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Feb 11, 2020
#319: Women in Science: Past Guests as Role Models in Nutrition
The release of this episode coincides with the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, which has taken place annually on the 11th February, since 2016.
The day recognizes the critical role women and girls play in science and technology.
The International Day of Women and Girls in Science is implemented by UNESCO and UN Women, in collaboration with intergovernmental agencies and institutions, as well as civil society partners, that aim to promote women and girls in science.
The day’s purpose is to promote full and equal access to participation in science for women and girls.
In this episode, we look back on a handul of women who have appeared on the podcast over the past 12 months, to highlight the outstanding work and achievements of women in nutrition science and health science research.
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Feb 3, 2020
#318: Chris Melby, PhD – Impact of Energy Flux on Weight Loss Maintenance
Dr. Chris Melby is a Professor in Food Science and Human Nutrition at Colorado State University. He has a long-standing research focus on the interplay between dietary eating patterns and exercise/physical activity in regard to energy metabolism and positive and negative energy balance.
In recent times Dr. Melby has published work on the relationshop between energy flux and the probability of maintaining a previous loss of body weight. Long-term maintenance of weight loss requires sustained energy balance at the reduced body weight. This could be attained by coupling low total daily energy intake (TDEI) with low total daily energy expenditure (TDEE; low energy flux), or by pairing high TDEI with high TDEE (high energy flux).
This episode is sponsored by Legion Athletics. Get 20% off your order using the code SIGMA. All US order come with free shipping and all international orders have free shipping on orders over $99. All orders have a money-back guarentee. Check out the products at…
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Jan 28, 2020
#317: Understanding Diet & Heart Disease Risk
This episode is a supplemental/follow-up episode to the ‘Diet & Cardiovascular Disease’ Series of Sigma Statements. If you have not read those statements, you can find them on sigmanutrition.com
his episode is sponsored by Legion Athletics. Get 20% off your order using the code SIGMA. All US order come with free shipping and all international orders have free shipping on orders over $99. All orders have a money-back guarentee. Check out the products at buylegion.com
Sigma Statements: https://sigmanutrition.com/category/blog-post/statements/
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Jan 22, 2020
#316: Michael Grandner, PhD – Societal, Social & Psychological Influences on Sleep
Dr. Michael Grandner is the Director of the Sleep and Health Research Program and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry in the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson. He is Board-Certified in Behavioral Sleep Medicine.
His research focuses on how sleep and sleep-related behaviors are related to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, neurocognitive functioning, mental health, and longevity.
He has published over 150 articles and chapters on issues relating to sleep and health and his work has been cited over 2,500 times. He is associate editor of the journal Sleep Health and serves on the editorial boards of the journals SLEEP, Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, Sleep Medicine, Behavioral Sleep Medicine, Journal of Sleep Research, and Frontiers in Neurology: Sleep and Circadian Rhythms.
This episode is sponsored by Legion Athletics. Get 20% off your order using the code SIGMA. All US order come with free shipping and all international orders have f…
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Jan 14, 2020
#315: Samia Mora, MD – Lipids, Lipoproteins & Atherosclerosis
Dr. Samia Mora is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts. She is a cardiovascular medicine specialist at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where she is the Director of the Center for Lipid Metabolomics. Dr. Mora’s research focuses on risk factors and prevention of cardiovascular disease.
Dr. Mora received her undergraduate degree from Harvard University, and her medical degree from Harvard Medical School. She completed an internal medicine residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and a cardiovascular disease fellowship at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, where she also obtained a Masters in Health Science (Epidemiology) from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
This episode is sponsored by Legion Athletics. Get 20% off your order using the code SIGMA. All US order come with free shipping and all international orders have free shipping on orders over $99. All orders have a money-back guarentee. Check out the products at bu…
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Jan 9, 2020
#314: Q&A – Hemochromatosis, Sodium, Bone Health, & More!
* [05:00] how should we define calorie restriction in the context of its scientifically observed connection with longevity?
* [12.30] I'd love to hear your thoughts about the consumption of duck meat. Does it get categorized as red meat consumption in epidemiological studies?
* [14.10] Can obese or overweight women experience REDs when dieting? If so how do you manage the risk vs. reward of losing excessive body fat vs inducing REDs?
* [21.20] How much the Nutrition will change in 10 years, and how much impact it will have in our daily lives?
* [25.00] Cancer recovery: What type food to eat and training protocols to follow whilst healing after operation and what type of exercise during chemo?
* [26.00] I'd love to know what your "weaknesses" are!
* [34.00] What non-tracking methods do you use for combat athletes?
* [38.20] can we adapt to higher fat oxidation during exercise so that exogenous CHO isn’t necessary?
* [42.55] How do you plan a diet to lose muscle mass…
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Dec 31, 2019
#313: Fergus Connolly, PhD – Authenticity, Elite Human Performance & Getting the Best From Others
Dr. Fergus Connolly is one of the world’s foremost human performance thought leaders and influencers, and has applied performance science with leading sports, military, and business teams. He is the only coach to have full times roles in every major sport. Fergus has served as Director of Elite Performance for the San Francisco 49ers, Sports Science Director with the Welsh Rugby Union, and Performance Director for University of Michigan Football. He has guided coaches, support staff and players in the NBA, Australian Rules Football and international cricket. Fergus has also trained world boxing champions and advises elite military units and companies across the globe.
This episode is sponsored by Legion Athletics. Get 20% off your order using the code SIGMA. All US order come with free shipping and all international orders have free shipping on orders over $99. All orders have a money-back guarentee. Check out the products at buylegion.com
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Dec 16, 2019
#312: Allison Brager – Sleep Architecture, Chronotypes & Rescuing Performance
Dr. Allison Brager is a behavioral neurobiologist with an expertise in sleep and circadian rhythms for the United States Army (active duty), as well as their contributions to psychiatric, neurological, and inflammatory disease states. She is currently the Director of Human Performance Operations and Outreach Education at the US Army Warrior Fitness Training Center in Fort Knox, Kentucky.
Her work has examined sleep and activity regulatory mechanisms as well as adaptation and resiliency to environmental stressors such as exercise, jet lag, and sleep deprivation. She consults with US Olympic, collegiate, and professional sporting teams and major police and fire departments (e.g., NYPD, Boston) in preparation for travel and to create sleep friendly environments.
She has served on the Board of Directors of the Sleep Research Society and presently chair a public advocacy committee for the Society for Research on Biological Rhythms. She previously was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Morehouse…
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Dec 9, 2019
#311: Andrew Chappell, PhD – Diet Strategies in Elite Natural Bodybuilders
Dr. Andrew Chappell is a Lecturer/Researcher at Robert Gordon University, conducting research in sports nutrition, with a specific focus on bodybuilding.
Andrew is also a world-class natural bodybuilder with an unprecendented level of national and international success; having 2 Pro Cards and 6 British titles to his name. Andrew also has judged physique contests for over 7 years and has judged at British and World Finals.
Andrew holds a PhD from the Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health. He also holds a BSc in Sport and Exercise Science and a MSc in Human Nutrition and Metabolism.
This episode is sponsored by Legion Athletics. Get 20% off your order using the code SIGMA. All US order come with free shipping and all international orders have free shipping on orders over $99. All orders have a money-back guarentee. Check out the products at buylegion.com
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Dec 2, 2019
#310: Meeta Singh, MD – Sleep & Circadian Disruption in Pro Athletes: Dealing With the NBA Schedule
Dr Meeta Singh is a sleep doctor whose work and research focuses on “coaching the sleep muscle” to help maximize performance in both individual athletes and sports teams.
She is the Service chief of the sleep medicine, and section head and medical director at the Henry Ford sleep laboratory in Michigan.
She did her training in psychiatry at the Mayo clinic and a sleep fellowship at the Henry Ford hospital. She is board-certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology as a psychiatrist and sleep medicine sub-specialist.
She has served as a consultant for multiple NFL, MLB, NHL and NBA teams. Dr. Singh performs athletic sleep assessments with personalized prescriptions for better sleep. She also helps sports teams and athletes with their travel management with a focus on addressing sleep deprivation and jet lag and maximizing athletic performance.
This episode is sponsored by Legion Athletics. Get 20% off your order using the code SIGMA. All US order come with free shi…
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Nov 26, 2019
#309: Ciaran O’ Regan – Epistemology, Ignorance Navigation & the Error-Correcting Machinery of Science
Ciaran O’ Regan is currently a strength & conditioning coach in Cork, Ireland, predominantly working with rugby teams. He recently began a Professional Doctorate under John Kiely of University of Central Lancashire.
Ciaran has a BSc. in Sport & Exercise Science from the University of Limerick. Ciaran also works online with combat sport athletes on their nutrition and fight preparation here at Sigma Nutrition.
This episode is sponsored by Legion Athletics. Get up to 30% off your order using the code SIGMA. All US order come with free shipping and all international orders have free shipping on orders over $99. All orders have a money-back guarentee. Check out the products at buylegion.com
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Nov 19, 2019
#308: Robin Tucker, PhD, RD – Impact of Sleep on Taste Perception, Cravings & Food Reward
Dr. Robin Tucker is currently an Assistant Professor of Food Science & Human Nutrition at Michigan State University.
The Ingestive Behavior Lab at MSU, under Dr. Tucker’s direction, examines the biological and environmental factors that influence human feeding practices.She is especially interested in how the chemical senses (taste and smell) and sleep influence food intake, physical activity, and body composition.
Robin is a registered dietitian and has a PhD in Nutrition Science from Purdue University, focusing on Concentration-Ingestive Behavior.
Show Notes: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode308/
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Nov 11, 2019
#307: Stephan Guyenet, PhD – Are Popular Nutrition & Health Books Trustworthy, Accurate & Health-Promoting?
Stephan Guyenet is an obesity researcher, neurobiologist, and author. In addition to his research, he enjoys synthesizing and communicating science for a general audience over at his hugely successful blog.
Stephan has a PhD in neurobiology (University of Washington). He is the author of ‘The Hungry Brain’, which dives into the causes of obesity from the perspective of overeating and related brain chemistry.
He is also the founder of Red Pen Reviews, a site that uses a structured expert review method to deliver the most informative, consistent, and unbiased nutrition/health book reviews available.
Show notes: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode307
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Nov 4, 2019
#306: Daniel Davey – Food Preparation Skills, Being an Effective Nutritionist & Creativity
Daniel Davey has worked as a performance nutritionist with a host of elite athletes in a range of sports such as golf, athletics, rugby and GAA.
He is perhaps best known for his roles working as a performance nutritionist with with Leinster Rugby and the Dublin senior footballers.
Daniel holds an MSc in Nutrition, Physical Activity & Public Health from the University of Bristol, in addition to a BSc in Science from University College Dublin.
As an athlete Daniel has played Gaelic football at intercounty level for Sligo and won an All-Ireland club football medal in 2016 with Ballyboden St’ Enda’s in Dublin.
Show notes: sigmanutrition.com/episode306
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Oct 28, 2019
#305: John Berardi, PhD - Be a "Change Maker" in your Health & Fitness Career
John Berardi, PhD is best known as the co-founder of Precision Nutrition. He is also the founder of Change Maker Academy, which is devoted to helping people turn their passion for health and fitness into a successful career. Over the last 15 years he has advised Apple, Equinox, Nike, and Titleist, as well as the San Antonio Spurs, Carolina Panthers, US Open Champ Sloane Stephens, and 2-division UFC Champ Georges St. Pierre.
Get a free chapter to John's new book (or pre-order the book) at the show notes page: sigmanutrition.com/episode305
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Oct 22, 2019
#304: Tommy Wood, MD, PhD – Neurodegenerative Disease, Traumatic Brain Injury & Genetics
Dr. Tommy Wood is a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Washington in the Pediatrics Department. esearch focuses on ways to increase resilience of, and treat injury of, the developing brain. He studied biochemistry at Cambridge, received a medical degree from Oxford, and has a PhD in physiology and neuroscience from the University of Oslo.
Show notes: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode304
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Oct 15, 2019
#303: Brad Dieter, PhD - How Do We Tackle Type 2 Diabetes & Lifestyle-related Chronic Disease?
Brad is a trained Exercise Physiologist, Molecular Biologist, and Biostatistician. He completed his a post-doctoral fellowship in translational science at Providence Medical Research Center, where he studied how metabolism and inflammation regulate molecular mechanisms disease and is involved in discovering novel therapeutics for diabetic complications.
His research career has spanned the translational spectrum utilizing basic science, human trials, and machine learning in large data sets to identify and develop novel therapies and technologies.
His long term career goals include leading teams of people to make major inroads in health care through the development of new technology. Brad is also passionate about scientific outreach and bringing science to the public.
Show Notes: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode303
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Oct 8, 2019
#302: Leonie Heilbronn, PhD – Alternate-Day Fasting, Early Time-Restricted Feeding & Caloric Restriction
Associate Professor Leonie Heilbronn is the leader of the Obesity and Metabolism group based at the University of Adelaide, Australia.
She has a sustained record of translating basic discoveries in nutrition to humans and has contributed to current concepts of caloric restriction (CR), intermittent fasting (IF) and time restricted eating (TRE) in humans.
She is keenly interested in understanding mechanisms of insulin resistance in skeletal muscle and in adipose tissue utilising nutritional perturbations. She is an Associate Editor of Obesity and Obesity Research and Clinical Practice.
Show Notes: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode302
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Sep 30, 2019
#301: John Berardi, PhD - Tribalism in Nutrition
John Berardi, PhD is best known as the co-founder of Precision Nutrition. He is also the founder of Change Maker Academy, which is devoted to helping people turn their passion for health and fitness into a successful career. Over the last 15 years he has advised Apple, Equinox, Nike, and Titleist, as well as the San Antonio Spurs, Carolina Panthers, US Open Champ Sloane Stephens, and 2-division UFC Champ Georges St. Pierre.
Show notes: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode301
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Sep 25, 2019
#300: The Random Episode
Sigma Nutrition Radio has reached the 300th episode! To mark the occassion, Patreon supporters of the podcast and subscribers to the Sigma Synopsis email were able to submit questions about anything they wished.
In this episode, Gar Benn joins me to go through some of the questions submitted.
This episode focuses on all the random questions submitted about a range of things, from my schedule to religion to career highlights to living in Ireland, and everything in between!
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Sep 17, 2019
#299: Mark Hopkins, PhD – Compensatory Eating, Exercise-induced Weight Loss & Energy Balance Homeostasis
Dr. Mark Hopkins is a lecturer in nutritional physiology at the University of Leeds, UK. His research focuses primarily on the physiological mechanisms of appetite control, and the interaction between diet, physical activity and appetite control. This includes examining the physiological and behavioural responses to dietary and exercise-induced weight loss.
Mark is a member of the Association for the Study of Obesity, the British Association of Sport & Exercise Science and The Nutrition Society.
Show notes: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode299/
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Sep 10, 2019
#298: David Zeevi, PhD – Genes of Gut Microbes & Inter-Individual Variation in Glucose Response
David Zeevi is an independent research fellow at Rockefeller University in New York. His current work focuses on developing computational methods for studying microbial ecology in the human gut and in the marine environment, and its contribution to human and environmental health.
Previously he completed his PhD at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel under Prof. Eran Segal, studying the human microbiome and its effect on host health and personalized nutrition. He was lead author on two important studies to come from the lab, published in Nature and Cell respectively.
SHOW NOTES: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode298/
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Sep 3, 2019
#297: Cliff Harvey, PhD – Carbohydrate-Restriction, Ketosis & Neuroprotection
Cliff Harvey has a PhD in Nutrition from Auckland University of Technology (AUT), with his research focus being on ketosis, ketogenesis, and individual responses to diet. His research interests include MCTs, keto-induction, “keto-flu”, and finding appropriate carbohydrate intake for individuals based on their metabolic state, activity and ethno-genetic factors.
He is a Registered Clinical Nutritionist in New Zealand, with over 20 years of experience as a practitioner. Cliff was one of the very first practitioners to begin prescribing and working with low-carb, high-fat (LCHF), ketogenic, and lower-carb, higher-protein diets in the late 1990s. Cliff is the founder of the Holistic Performance Institute.
SHOW NOTES: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode297
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Aug 27, 2019
#296: Alan Flanagan – Circadian Entrainment, Chronotypes & Chrononutrition
Alan Flanagan is currently a PhD researcher at the University of Surrey, UK. His research is in the general field of chrononutrition, with a specific focus on how calorie distribution and timing may impact health & energy balance. Alan has a Masters in Nutritional Medicine, also from the University of Surrey. Alan is also a qualified lawyer, practising in Dublin, Ireland before embarking on his PhD.
SHOW NOTES: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode296/
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Aug 21, 2019
#295: Ben House, PhD – How Much of a Surplus Do Advanced Lifters Need for Optimal Muscle Gain?
Ben House has a Ph.D. in Nutrition from the University of Texas at Austin. Ben has worked as a Strength and Conditioning Coach and Nutritionist since 2006. He is currently the owner and founder of Functional Medicine Costa Rica, where he hosts courses, mentorships and retreats. House has numerous publications in peer reviewed scientific journals such as The International Journal of Obesity, has presented his work at multiple international conferences, and lectures regularly on health and nutrition at The University of Texas.
SHOW NOTES: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode295/
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Aug 12, 2019
#294: Nicola Guess, PhD, RD - Prediabetes & Type 2 Diabetes Nutrition
Nicola Guess is a Registered Dietitian with a PhD in the dietary management of prediabetes from Imperial College London. She is currently Head of the Nutrition Unit at Dasman Diabetes Institute (DDI) in Kuwait. Nicola is a research fellow at King’s College London where her research focuses on the role of diet in the prevention and management of type 2 diabetes.
She has a particular interest in the use of low-carbohydrate diets in the management of type 2 diabetes, and leads a research programme investigating dietary modification – including increasing protein or the use of very-low-calorie-diets – on the factors underlying type 2 diabetes.
Nicola received her Registered Dietitian qualification in the United States which included clinical rotations at the Baylor College of Medicine, and world-famous Weight Management Clinic at the Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas.
Nicola’s expertise in the area of diet and type 2 diabetes is well recognised. She is currently a National In…
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Aug 7, 2019
#293: Jessica Setnick, RD – Orthorexia: Positive vs. Pathological Nutrition
Jessica Setnick background in human behavior (she holds a Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from The University of Pennsylvania) combined with her expertise in dysfunctional and disordered eating (she is a Registered Dietitian with a Master’s Degree and writes books and articles about eating disorders).
A Certified Eating Disorder Dietitian and CEDRD Supervisor, Jessica is the author of The Eating Disorder Clinical Pocket Guide and Eating Disorders Boot Camp. She is a co-founder of IFEDD, the International Federation of Eating Disorder Dietitians.
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Jul 31, 2019
#292: Prof. Alexandra Johnstone, PhD – Appetite Control, Satiety & Diet Interventions
Prof. Alexandra Johnstone is recognized as a leading innovative UK researcher within the field of human appetite control and specifically, the role of dietary protein. She is a Professor at The Rowett Institute at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland.
She has published an extensive list of studies to assess the impact of diets on the body and the mind and to investigate how different meals and drinks affect our appetite, health and wellbeing.
SHOW NOTES: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode292/
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Jul 24, 2019
#291: Gab Fundaro, PhD – Gut Microbiome, Bacterial Diversity & the Impact of Diet & Probiotics
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Dr. Gabrielle Fundaro is a coach and science communicator for Renaissance Periodization coach. Dr. Fundaro is a former Assistant Professor of Exercise Science at Georgia Gwinnett College, and holds a PhD in Human Nutrition.
In This Episode We Discuss:
- Bacertial diversity: eveness & richness
- What is an “optimal” gut microbiome composition
- How rapidly does it change on changing diet?
- Relationship between microbiome and disease states: which way around does this occur?
SHOW NOTES: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode291/
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Jul 15, 2019
#290: Menno Henselmans & Eric Helms, PhD - Diet Breaks, Calorie Cycling & Muscle Retention
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In This Episode We Discuss:
* How low is “too low” for low calorie days?
* How much do very low calorie days or fasting impact muscle retention?
* Is there a physiological benefit to diet breaks and refeeds?
Eric is currently a Research Fellow at Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand. His work is focused on training and nutrition interventions that could have implications for bodybuilders, powerlifters and other strength athletes. Eric has many peer reviewed publications and currently has many ongoing research projects and collaborations.
Previously, Eric completed his PhD at AUT. He also holds a BS in fitness and wellness, an MS in exercise science, and a MPhil in sports nutrition.
Once a former business consultant specialized in advanced statistical data analysis, Menno has MSc from the University of Warwick (UK) in that area. Menno’s background in science and statistics helped him to develop a unique way of…
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Jul 5, 2019
#289 Ciaran Fairman, PhD – Exercise Interventions in Cancer Treatment
Ciaran is a post-doc research fellow at the Exercise Medicine Research Institute (EMRI) at Edith Cowan University in Western Australia.
Ciaran completed his PhD in the Exercise and Behavioral Medicine Laboratory at The Ohio State University under the mentorship of Dr. Brian Focht. Here, his research focused on the physiological and psychosocial responses to physical activity lifestyle interventions in a variety of clinical populations including breast and prostate cancer, and individuals with knee osteoarthritis.
Ciaran is also strong advocate of the dissemination/translation of scientific research to a variety of audiences. He is the founder of REACH (Research in Exercise and Cancer Health), a company designed to provide evidence-based guidelines of physical activity to health/medical professionals and individuals with cancer.
SHOW NOTES: https://sigmanutrition.com
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Jun 26, 2019
#288: Ted Ryce: Meditation, Communication & Understanding Behaviours
Ted is an online coach and podcaster. He has been in the fitness industry for over 20 years, with much of that spent as a sought-after personal trainer in Miami, Florida. During his coaching career he has worked with a variety of clients including Fortune 500 CEOs and celebrities, including Richard Branson and Robert Downey Jr. In more recent years he has continued to coach people online whilst being based in several different locations around the world.
Show notes: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode288/
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Jun 19, 2019
#287: Gregg Slater - Dietary Fatigue, Nutrition Periodization & the Deficit-Adherence Model
Gregg Slater is head of education at Lift The Bar, a company providing education to fitness professionals. After completing his BSc in Sports and Exercise Science Gregg started out his professional life as a Physical Education Teacher before making the transition towards his passion for fitness as a Physical Training Instructor in the Royal Air Force for 10 years.
In 2015 he took up his role as Head of Education for Lift The Bar. Over this time Gregg has designed a number of acclaimed courses on a variety of topics, mentored trainers, consulted with gyms and runs regular educational seminars for personal trainers.
In This Episode We Discuss
* “Dietary fatigue”
* The deficit-adherence model (dietary performance = deficit – fatigue)
* Balancing diet sustainability, rate of progress and adherence
* How previous experiences with diets shoudl be taken into account
* Transitioning from a period of dieting to a period of weight maintenance
* Dietary autoregulation
SH…
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Jun 11, 2019
#286: James Morton, PhD - Fuelling Elite Sport: Team Sky, Liverpool FC & Carbohydrate Periodization
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Dr. James Morton is a Professor of Exercise Metabolism at Liverpool John Moores University. He has an extensive list of published peer-review research in high impact journals, as well as being deeply involved in the highly-regarded sport science and nutrition programs at LJMU.
James was Head of Nutrition at Team Sky (now Team Ineos) during a period where the team captured 5 Tour de France titles. Previously, Dr. Morton worked as head performance nutritionist at Liverpool Football Club. He also also worked with professional and amateur boxers.
Show Notes: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode286/
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Jun 4, 2019
#285: What is Health? A Conceptual Framework
Intro to Danny’s framework for defining “health”: 1) Physical Reality – 06.30; 2) Contentedness – 14.08; 3) Psychological Framework – 31.37
DUBLIN SEMINAR: https://sigmanutrition.com/healthseminar/
SHOW NOTES: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode285
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May 28, 2019
#284: Simone Harding – Tackling Negative Body Image & Weight Stigma
Simone is an Intuitive Eating Counsellor, currently finishing MSc Nutrition and Behaviour at Bournemouth University. She is also a PhD Counselling psychology candidate. Her academic research area is body image and adaptive eating, and she practices as a therapist in the field of nutrition, chronic dieting, body image and eating disorders.
In This Episode We Discuss
The scale of the problem of negative body image
Tying appearance to self-worth & personal identity
External drivers of negative body image
Root causes of obesity
Why “self-responsability” isn’t helpful at scale
Steps in modifying body image
Self-talk: moving from negative to neutral to positive
Can non-weight loss interventions improve health to the same degree as those that lead to weight loss in “at risk” groups (e.g. those with diabetes or with obesity)?
SHOW NOTES: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode284/
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May 21, 2019
#283: Alun Williams, PhD - The Genetics & Science Behind the Historic Caster Semenya/IAAF Case
Dr. Williams is the Director of the Sports Genomics Laboratory and is a Reader in Sport and Exercise Genomics at Manchester Metropolitan University. Alun is also Honorary Senior Research Associate at University College London. He has a PhD from the University of Birmingham.
He has published expert position statements about the ethics and practicality of applying genetic technologies in sport. And was recently involved in the historic IAAF vs. Caster Semenya case related to testosterone levels within athletes with differences of sexual development (DSD).
SHOW NOTES: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode283/
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May 14, 2019
#282: Louise Burke, PhD - Project Supernova: The Science of Fuelling Elite Athletes
Professor Louise Burke has been one of the most highly respected and accomplished sports nutrition researchers over several decades. She has been the head of sports nutrition at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) for nearly 30 years, publishing a vast number of important, novel and high-quality papers in the sports nutrition field.
Professor Bourke’s research interests lie in nutritional intervention strategies for sporting performance. The goal of Louise’s research is to find practical nutrition strategies that athletes and coaches can use to achieve optimum performance. Often this will involve examining metabolism during and after exercise to discover how complex systems work.
SHOW NOTES: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode282/
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May 6, 2019
#281: Jake Linardon, PhD – Eating Disorders, Binge Eating & Body Image
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Dr. Jake Linardon is a Lecturer in Psychology at Deakin University, Melbourne Australia. He started working at Deakin in 2018, shortly finishing his PhD at Australian Catholic University (2017). He continues to research into eating disorders, with a primary focus on testing and evaluating a broad range of treatment approaches for eating disorders.
SHOW NOTES: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode281/
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Apr 30, 2019
#280: Kirsty Elliot-Sale, PhD – Energy Availability, Menstrual Disorders & RED-S
Dr Elliott-Sale is an associate professor in female physiology at Nottingham Trent University.
There, she is also the Head of the Musculoskeletal Physiology Research Group.
She is also responsible for teaching on the undergraduate and postgraduate Sport Science degree programmes.
Dr Elliott-Sale teaches mainly in the areas of Exercise Physiology and particularly in Female Physiology, Performance, and Health.
In This Episode We Discuss:
--> Menstrual disorders: secondary amenorrhea (loss of 3 or more consectively) vs. oligomenorrhea (cycle longer than 45 days), vs.Functional --> Hypothalamic Amenorrhea (FHA) vs milder symptoms of some dysfunction
--> What is happening on a hormonal level that ties in with menstrual issues?
--> Understanding “energy availability”
--> How do we quantify what is “low” energy availability?
--> Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport VS. Female Athlete Triad
--> Landmark papers that really advanced understanding of this concept
Triad can lead…
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Apr 23, 2019
#279: Avrum Bluming, MD & Carol Tavris, PhD – Estrogen, Menopause & Misconceptions About Hormone Replacement
Links:
* Click here for episode page
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About This Episode:
Avrum Bluming received his MD from the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons. He spent four years as a senior investigator for the National Cancer Institute and for two of those years was director of the Lymphoma Treatment Center in Kampala, Uganda. He organized the first study of lumpectomy for the treatment of breast cancer in Southern California in 1978, and for more than two decades he has been studying the benefits and risks of hormone replacement therapy administered to women with a history of breast cancer.
Dr. Bluming has served as a clinical professor of medicine at USC and has been an invited speaker at the Royal College of Physicians in London and the Pasteur Institute in Paris. He was elected to mastership in the American College of Physicians, an honor accorded to only five hundred of the over one hundred thousand board-certified internists…
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Apr 16, 2019
#278: Jackson Peos, PhD – The ICECAP Trial, Intermittent Energy Restriction & the Science of Diet Breaks
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About This Episode:
Jackson Peos, PhD was the lead researcher on the ICECAP trial (Intermittent versus Continuous Energy restriction Compared in an Athlete Population), looks at the effect of including a “diet break” week after every 3 weeks of dieting, compared to a continuous hypocaloric diet for the duration of the full dieting period.
In This Episode We Discuss:
- Theoretical reasons for including diet breaks and refeeds within dieting periods
- Distinguishing between intermittent fasting protocols and intermittent moderate energy restriction (MOD-IER)
- Lessons learned from the MATADOR trial
- What might differ between obese and athletic populations
- Design of Jackson’s “ICECAP trial”
- Determining the duration, frequency and magnitude of diet breaks, refeeds and energy restriction
- Current best practices for implementing these strategies
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Apr 9, 2019
#277: Eric Helms, PhD - Non-Quantitative Dieting, Personal Experiments & Optimal Weight Gain for Hypertrophy
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About This Episode:
Eric is currently a Research Fellow at Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand. His work is focused on training and nutrition interventions that could have implications for bodybuilders, powerlifters and other strength athletes. Eric has many peer reviewed publications and currently has many ongoing research projects and collaborations.
In This Episode We Discuss:
* Ongoing trial looking at effects of differnt sizes of caloric surplus for muscle gain
* Eric’s unconventional appraoch to his current contest prep
* Non-quantitative tracking and assessment of progress
* Applying lessons from bodybuilding to other areas of life
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Apr 2, 2019
#276: Nick Gant, PhD - Neurometabolism: Brain Function, Fatigue & Nutritient Interventions
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About This Episode:
Nick Gant is Director of the Exercise Neurometabolism Laboratory at the University of Auckland.
His group uses interdisciplinary approaches from the nutritional sciences and neurosciences to investigate the role of nutrition in brain health and performance. Nick is particularly interested in foods and supplements that prevent brain fatigue and improve physical and cognitive function.
His research is currently funded by the Royal Society of New Zealand, the Health Research Council of New Zealand, and several industrial partnerships. He partners with clinicians and dieticians within the NZ Centre for Brain Research and provides scientific and educational support for elite athletes, government and military organisations
In This Episode We Discuss:
* Understanding fatigue
* Hypoxia-induced decrements in cognitive performance
* Role of caffeine and stimulan…
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Mar 26, 2019
#275: Kate Solovieva - Psychology, Empathy & Coping Strategies for Better Coaching
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About This Episode:
Kate has both undergraduate and graduate degrees in Psychology and spent time as a psychology professor at a college and university level.
She currently is a health & nutrition coach, working for Precision Nutrition, where she has coached over 1,000 people. Now she coaches fitness professionals on how to be better coaches.
In This Episode We Discuss:
--> Using an understanding of human psychology to improve coaching outcomes
--> How we go about rationalizing our behaviour.
--> How coaches can develop empathy
--> Fitting the diet to your lifestyle: how much leeway/flexible does one give?
--> The best skills a coach can teach themself
--> Resilience
--> Proactive and reactive coping strategies
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Mar 19, 2019
#274: James Lindsay, PhD - When Peer-Review Goes Wrong
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About This Episode:
James A. Lindsay holds degrees in physics and mathematics, with a doctorate in the latter. His previous books include Dot, Dot, Dot: Infinity Plus God Equals Folly and Life in Light of Death.
He has been in the news for submitting, along with Peter Boghossian and Helen Pluckrose, a series of hoax papers to peer-review (seven of which were published) in fields that categorise as “grievance studies”.
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Mar 12, 2019
#273: Bryan Chung, MD, PhD – Dealing with Science Overwhelm & Improving Your Relationship with Research
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About This Episode:
Bryan Chung is a plastic/hand surgeon and PhD research designer. He is a methodologist who improves people’s relationship with science.
In This Episode We Discuss:
--> Bryan’s advice column for people who have “relationship problems with Science”
--> If things merely confirm what you are already doing, why you should filter it out
--> How to determine what is practically meaningful from a study
--> The importance of establishing what the research question is
--> How to deal with the daunting nature of statistics in research
--> Why you’re already good enough to start engaging with research
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Mar 8, 2019
#272: Barbora de Courten, PhD – Effect of Carnosine on Glucose Metabolism and Chronic Disease Risk
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About This Episode:
Professor Barbora de Courten, MD PhD FRACP MPH is a Professor at Monash University, Australia. She is a National Heart Foundation Future Leader Fellow and a specialist physician with a PhD in epidemiology, extensive training in clinical trials (NIH) and a Master of Public Health (Monash University). She has expertise across the translational research continuum from epidemiology, human mechanistic studies to clinical trials and public health interventions through to practice.
She is passionate about research into holistic approaches to prevention and treatment of chronic diseases by promoting health through safe, low-cost and easily scalable interventions with the potential to have an immediate public health impact to prevent and treat chronic diseases. She believes this will impact not only health of individuals but also be beneficial to our society and environ…
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Mar 4, 2019
#271: Prof. John Hawley – Circadian Metabolomics & Time-Restricted Feeding
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About This Episode:
Prof. Hawley is Director of the Mary MacKillop Institute for Health at Australian Catholic Universtiy in Melbourne, Australia.
He has published over 220 scientific manuscripts, written over 100 articles for technical journals and has authored numerous book chapters for exercise biochemistry and sports medicine texts.
He is an Associate Editor for Diabetologia and currently sits on the Editorial Boards of many international journals. He is a frequently invited speaker at both National and International scientific meetings.
John’s primary research focus includes the interaction of exercise and diet on the regulation of fat and carbohydrate metabolism, particularly within skeletal muscle, the molecular basis of exercise training adaptation and the cellular bases underlying exercise-induced improvements in insulin action.
In This Episode We Discuss:
--> Curre…
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Feb 26, 2019
#270: Alexander Kolliari-Turner – Anabolic Steroids, Muscle Memory & Advances in Drug Testing
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About This Episode:
Alex is currently completing a PhD at the University of Brighton in the UK, investigating the implications of RNA sequencing in the detection of anabolic steroid use and the harnessing of the molecular mechanisms of “muscle memory”. He is currently conducting research aiming to address a hypothesis that suggests that the myonuclei obtained via strength training and anabolic steroid usage are retained and therefore provide long term advantages to steroid users.
In This Episode We Discuss:
--> The mechanism of hypertrophy via myonuclei accumulation
--> Defining “muscle memory” in relation to myonuclei
--> Animal models that show myonuclei don’t dissappear after atrophy
--> Anabolic steroids activate the stem cells in muscle (satellite cells) resulting in a donation of their nuclei into muscle fibres
--> How drug testing works
--> How you prove som…
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Feb 21, 2019
#269: Lyndon Purcell & Jacob Schepis: Physiology, Hypertrophy & Discussions
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About This Episode:
Lyndon is Head of Education at JPS Health & Fitness in Melbourne, Australia.He has a Bachelor of Applied Science in Exercise and Sport Science and is completing a Masters in High Performance Sport Science. He is also a qualified strength and conditioning coach and has coached many athletes over the past number of years.
Jacob is the founder and director of JPS Health & Fitness in Melbourne, Australia. Having worked in the industry for close to a decade, Jacob’s wealth of knowledge coupled with his experience in the trenches has led him to become one of Melbourne’s most sought out trainers. His role has extended fate beyond working with his beloved clients, to now mentoring aspiring personal trainers, holding workshops and seminars, and writing for the nations personal training governing body, Physical Activity Australia.
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Feb 18, 2019
#268: Luke Leaman - Physiology, Nutrition From First Principles & Prioritising Health
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About This Episode:
Throughout recent years, Luke Leaman has become a prominent figure in the health and fitness industry. With a mantra of “Health Over Everything,” his teachings, research, and knowledge boldly reflect that.
Luke has spent the last 9 years educating coaches, trainers, and health professionals around the world on biochemistry and physiology, with a large focus on the application of this knowledge.
Earlier on in his career, Luke sought out the best in their fields to internship with, learn from, and work alongside. Luke has mentored under world-renowned Strength Coach Charles Poliquin, as well as Dr James Lavalle formally of the Lavalle Metabolic Institute, and author of Cracking the Metabolic Code.
Over the years, Luke has focused his learning and education on the stress response in relation to fat gain, metabolic disruption, and performance. Through his kno…
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Feb 11, 2019
#267: Fiona Willer, AdvAPD - Health At Every Size, Non-Dieting & Weight-Neutral Approaches
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About This Episode:
Fiona is an Advanced Accredited Practising Dietitian (AdvAPD) and university lecturer in nutrition and dietetics. Her academic research areas are dietetic private practice benchmarking, interprofessional learning and HAES (Health At Every Size) integration into dietetics.
Fiona has close to a decade of academic work under her belt and has been employed by Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Central Queensland University (CQU) and the University of the Sunshine Coast (USC).
She will soon complete a PhD focusing on the clinical application of weight neutral approaches to weight concern in dietetics and it’s adoption into practice.
Fiona’s mission is to empower health professionals to adopt weight neutral practice by providing support and training in how and why to do so.
In This Episode We Discuss
* Defining Health At Every Size (HAES)
* We…
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Feb 5, 2019
#266: Marty Kendall - Nutrient Optimiser, High-Satiety Diets & Carb/Fat Combinations
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About This Episode:
Marty is an engineer by trade but his passion is for researching and writing about nutrition topics over at his site optimisingnutrition.com.
There he has created a framework for eating for health, which focuses on the intersection between energy density and nutrient density. He promotes maximizing micronutrient density of the diet, regardless of your dietary approach or goal.
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Jan 28, 2019
#265: Lessons From Experts - Prediabetes, Autophagy, Relative Energy Deficiency and Carbohydrate Periodization
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Jan 22, 2019
#264: Prof. Michael Ristow – Longevity, Mitochondria & Free Radicals
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About This Episode:
* Role of mitochondria in lifespan regulation and prevention of metabolic diseases
* Health-promoting effects associated with: low caloric intake, reduced glucose metabolism, physical exercise, sirtuin signaling & more
* How Prof. Ristow’s findings go against the popular “free radical theory of aging”
* How increased formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) within mitochondria can increase longevity
* ROS causing a vaccination-like adaptive response that culminates in increased stress resistance and extended longevity
* Mitochondrial hormesis or mitohormesis
* Human vs. non-human trials
* How do insulin, protein and resveratrol affect longevity?
* NAD
* Caloric restriction vs maintenance of lean physique for longevity
Head of Institute of Translational Medicine at ETH Zurich and heads up the Energy Metabolism Laboratory. Prof. Ristow…
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Jan 15, 2019
#263: Brenda Davy, PhD – Dietary Assessement Methods in Nutrition Research
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About This Episode:
Dr. Davy, is a Professor in the Department of Human Nutrition, Foods and Exercise at Virginia Tech. She conducts research investigating the role of diet and physical activity behaviors in the prevention and treatment of obesity and related comorbidities, beverage consumption and weight management, and dietary assessment methodologies.
Dr. Davy received a BS in Nutrition in 1989 and an MS in Exercise Physiology in 1992 from Virginia Tech, and a PhD degree in Nutrition from Colorado State University in 2001. Dr. Davy is a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and The Obesity Society, and serves on the Board of Editors for the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
Her research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health. To date, she has published more than 100 peer-reviewed journal articles. At Virginia Tech, she directs the…
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Jan 7, 2019
#262: Trevor Kashey, PhD – Thoughts on Science, Learning & Nutrition Practice
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About This Episode:
Trevor received a PhD in Biochemistry from the Univerisity of Arizona at the age of 23. Previous to that he completed his undergraduate degree whilst still in high school.
He currently is the owner of Trevor Kashey Nutrition, where he works with an array of different people. Previous to that he was an owner of Relentless Dietetics.
Trevor has competed in strongman and bodybuilding in the past, and has been the nutrition consultant to many athletes in those sports and other strength-based sports.
Trevor is a lover of learning, science and critical thinking.
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Jan 1, 2019
#261: Ari Snaevarsson – Eating Disorder Recovery, Body Positivity & Intuitive Eating
Ari Snaevarsson is a nutrition coach who works primarily with clients who suffer from disordered eating patterns. He also works as a dietetic technician at a residential eating disorder treatment center. In both capacities, he helps clients develop positive relationships with food and their bodies. His book, 100 Days of Food Freedom, outlines a simple, day-by-day process to recovery from one’s eating disorder.
In This Episode We Discuss
* Commonalitites in recovery from the various eating disorders
* Defining recovery
* The factors that may increase the probability of that recovery being a success
* Critical nature of support systems
* How you can support a friend/family member recovering from an eating disorder
* Modification of environment and lifestyle
* Goal setting: what metrics can be assessed on an ongoing basis?
* Understanding relapses accurately
* Cognitive dietary restraint – dieting messages from the diet industry
* Body-positive, intuitive eat…
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Dec 27, 2018
#260: Steve Taylor, RD - Sustainable Results, Human Behaviour & Dietary Approaches
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About This Episode:
Steve Taylor is a registered dietitian and lifestyle coach who through sustainable behavior changes elicits positive lifestyle transformations in, and with his clients.
Steve has a Master’s Degree in Dietetics, Nutrition, and Exercise Physiology. This formal training, combined with a decade of experience, has equipped him with powerful tools, skills, and strategies which he now teaches and shares with others.
In addition to his own coaching practice, Steve is the registered dietitian for 3D Muscle Journey.
Originally from Kansas City, Missouri, Steve now resides in Los Angeles, California.
In This Episode We Discuss
* Philosophy to coaching
* The issue of weight re-gain and loss of adherence
* Understanding client motivation and attitudes
* Sustainable diet methods
* Balancing sustainability with methods that can get rapid results
* Messag…
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Dec 24, 2018
#259: Chad Kerksick, PhD - Energy Availability and Pre-Exercise Protein vs. Fasted Training
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About This Episode:
Chad Kerksick, PhD currently works as an Assistant Professor of Exercise Science and Director of Graduate Programs in the School of Sport, Recreation and Exercises for Lindenwood University in St. Charles, MO.
He received his PhD in Exercise, Nutrition and Preventive Health from Baylor University, a Masters degree in Exercise and Sport Science at the University of Memphis and a Bachelor’s degree in Health and Exercise Science at Truman State University. He is certified as a strength and conditioning specialist by the National Strength and Conditioning Association and as an athletic trainer by the National Athletic Trainers Association and recognized as a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and International Society of Sports Nutrition.