External research
External research
Protein & amino acids
- FAO: Dietary Protein Quality Evaluation in Human Nutrition (2013)
- WHO/FAO/UNU Protein and Amino Acid Requirements (2007 · NBK: NBK234922)
- Protein content and amino acid composition of commercial plant-based protein isolates — Gorissen et al. (2018 · PMCID: PMC6245118)
- Determinants of amino acid bioavailability — Gaudichon & Calvez (2020 · PMCID: PMC7752214)
- Dietary protein and muscle mass: reviewing the role of protein quality — Gorissen & Witard, Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 2018 · PMID: 28847314
- Higher protein intake above DRI preserves lean mass during caloric restriction — Longland et al. (AJCN 2016 · PMCID: PMC4958860)
- The anabolic response to plant vs. animal protein — van Vliet et al. (Journal of Nutrition 2015 · PMID: 26224750)
- Protein for Life: Optimal Protein Intake, Sustainable Dietary Sources and Appetite in Ageing Adults — Lonnie et al. (Nutrients 2018 · PMCID: PMC5872778)
- PDCAAS and DIAAS explained — FAO Expert Consultation (EFSA 2012 · DOI: 10.2903/j.efsa.2012.2557)
Glycine
- Glycine requirement for collagen synthesis exceeds endogenous production — Meléndez-Hevia et al. (Amino Acids 2009 · PMCID: PMC6153947) — body synthesizes ~3g/day; collagen turnover alone requires ~10–12g; dietary/supplemental glycine is essential
- Amino acid composition of dietary proteins and collagen precursors (J Nutr 2022)
- Glycine supplementation mimics methionine restriction and promotes longevity pathways (PMID: 37004845) — glycine counters excess methionine from high-animal-protein diet; activates lifespan-extending pathways
- Dietary methionine restriction extends lifespan across multiple species (PMCID: PMC9508608)
- Glycine supplementation decreases glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) in type 2 diabetics — Gannon et al. (PMID: 18852529)
- Glycine reduces oxidative stress and improves antioxidant status (PMID: 24144057)
Fasting & meal timing
- Intermittent fasting and metabolic health — de Cabo & Mattson (NEJM 2019 · DOI: 10.1056/NEJMra1905136)
- Time-restricted eating and its effects on body weight — Lowe et al., JAMA Internal Medicine 2020
- Meal frequency and energy balance — Bellisle et al., British Journal of Nutrition 1997 · PMID: 9155494
- Postprandial insulin response to different meal compositions — Holt et al. (AJCN 1997 · PMID: 9356547)
Insulin & metabolic health
- Insulin resistance and its impact on metabolic disease — Petersen & Shulman (Physiological Reviews 2018 · DOI: 10.1152/physrev.00063.2017)
- Hyperinsulinemia as a cause of obesity — Templeman et al. (Obesity Reviews 2017 · PMID: 28145089)
- Production of insulin resistance by hyperinsulinemia — Rizza et al., Diabetologia 1985 · PMID: 3884419
Fructose & liver
- Fructose: metabolic, hedonic, and societal parallels with ethanol — Lustig, J Am Diet Assoc 2010 · PMID: 20800122
- Consuming fructose-sweetened beverages increases visceral fat — Stanhope et al., JCI 2009
- Fructose-induced fatty liver in children — Schwimmer et al. (Hepatology 2015 · PMID: 25307036)
Fats & cooking
- Dietary fat and cardiovascular disease: replacing saturated fat — Siri-Tarino et al. (AJCN 2010 · PMCID: PMC2824150)
- Trans fatty acids and cardiovascular disease — Mozaffarian et al. (NEJM 2006 · DOI: 10.1056/NEJMra054035)
- Oxidative stability and health effects of vegetable oils on heating — Grootveld et al. (Nutrients 2020 · PMCID: PMC7468748)
- Acrylamide in food and cancer risk — IARC Monographs Vol. 60 · Some Industrial Chemicals 1994
Oxalates & lectins
- Reduction of oxalate in food by boiling — Chai & Liebman (Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 2005 · PMID: 16076098)
- Lectins in food and their physiological effects — Dolan et al. (Food Reviews International 2010 · PMID: 20198430)
Processed meat & nitrosamines
- Processed meat and colorectal cancer — IARC Monographs Vol. 114, Lancet Oncology 2015 · DOI: 10.1016/S1470-2045(15)00444-1
- N-nitroso compounds in cured meats and inhibition by ascorbate — Mirvish (Cancer Letters 1995 · PMID: 7537325)
Resistance starch & gut
- Resistant starch — Wikipedia
- Resistant starch as a functional food ingredient — Frontiers in Nutrition 2024 · DOI: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1369950
- Gut microbiota and SCFAs in response to resistant starch and fermentable fibers — Baxter et al. (mBio 2019 · PMID: 30696735)
Gut health & microbiome
- Revised Estimates for the Number of Human and Bacteria Cells in the Body — Sender et al. (Cell 2016 · PMID: 27593229) — ~3.8×10¹³ bacteria; roughly equal to the number of human cells; replaces the outdated 10:1 ratio
- The intestinal epithelial barrier: a therapeutic target? — Odenwald & Turner (Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol 2017 · PMID: 27848961) — tight junction biology: ZO-1, occludin, claudins; disease links across IBD, T2D, metabolic syndrome, neurological disorders
- Intestinal Barrier Impairment, Preservation, and Repair: An Update — Matar & Camilleri (Nutrients 2024 · PMID: 39458489) — fat increases permeability; fiber, glutamine, zinc, vitamin D, polyphenols decrease permeability; microbiome and epigenomic interactions
- Effects of dietary components on intestinal permeability in health and disease — Khoshbin & Camilleri (Am J Physiol Gastrointest 2020 · PMID: 32902315) — 200-reference review: fiber, SCFAs, glutamine, vitamin D improve barrier; emulsifiers, fat, alcohol worsen it
- Human Intestinal Barrier: Effects of Stressors, Diet, Prebiotics, and Probiotics — Camilleri M (Clin Transl Gastroenterol 2021 · PMID: 33492118) — zinc and glutamine enhance barrier; fructose and ethanol increase permeability; probiotics improve barrier via SCFA production
- What is the leaky gut? Clinical considerations in humans — Camilleri M (Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care 2021 · PMID: 34138767) — barrier fortified by vitamins A/D, zinc, SCFAs, glutamine; enteral glutamine reverses stress-induced leakiness
- A Dietary Fiber-Deprived Gut Microbiota Degrades the Colonic Mucus Barrier and Enhances Pathogen Susceptibility — Desai et al. (Cell 2016 · PMID: 27863247) — fiber deprivation causes bacteria to consume the mucus layer; pathogen susceptibility increases sharply without fermentable fiber
- Dietary fiber and prebiotics and the gastrointestinal microbiota — Holscher HD (Gut Microbes 2017 · PMID: 28165863) — fermentation of fiber to SCFAs; bifidogenic effects; all major prebiotic classes and dose-response data
- Short-chain fatty acids: linking diet, the microbiome and immunity — Mann, Lam & Uhlig (Nat Rev Immunol 2024 · PMID: 38565643) — 502-citation landmark review; butyrate anti-inflammatory via T cells, B cells, phagocytes; systemic effects at liver, lung, brain
- The Postbiotic Properties of Butyrate in Combination with Polyphenols and Dietary Fibers — Maiuolo et al. (Int J Mol Sci 2024 · PMID: 39000076) — butyrate: energy source, HDAC inhibitor, anti-inflammatory, epigenetic regulator; polyphenols and fibers drive butyrate production
- Commensal microbe-derived butyrate induces the differentiation of colonic regulatory T cells — Furusawa et al. (Nature 2013 · PMID: 24226770) — landmark paper; butyrate drives Treg differentiation in the colon; the mechanistic link between dietary fiber, microbiome, and immune tolerance
- Glutamine supplementation on gut permeability in adults: systematic review and meta-analysis — Abbasi et al. (Amino Acids 2024 · PMID: 39397201) — 10 clinical trials, 352 participants; doses >30g/day significantly reduce intestinal permeability
- Zinc supplementation restores the permeability of the gut in patients with Crohn’s disease in remission — Sturniolo et al. (Inflamm Bowel Dis 2001 · PMID: 11396333) — RCT; zinc significantly reduced gut permeability vs placebo in Crohn’s patients
- Dietary emulsifiers impact the mouse gut microbiota promoting colitis and metabolic syndrome — Chassaing et al. (Nature 2015 · PMID: 25731162) — polysorbate-80 and CMC at FDA-acceptable doses disrupt microbiota, erode the mucus layer, and promote colitis and metabolic syndrome
- Incomplete recovery and individualized responses of the human distal gut microbiota to repeated antibiotic perturbation — Dethlefsen & Relman (PNAS 2011 · PMID: 21504928) — ciprofloxacin courses cause incomplete microbiome recovery at 6 months; some taxa permanently depleted; high individual variation
- Gut-microbiota-targeted diets modulate human immune status — Wastyk et al. (Cell 2021 · PMID: 34256014) — 17-week RCT; fermented-food diet increased microbiome diversity and decreased 19 inflammatory proteins; outperformed high-fiber diet in low-diversity individuals
- Dietary Influences on Gut Microbiota with a Focus on Metabolic Syndrome — Thomas et al. (Metab Syndr Relat Disord 2022 · PMID: 35704900) — high-sugar and high-fat diet induces dysbiosis and disrupts barrier; high-fiber diet reverses metabolic dysbiosis and reduces systemic inflammation
- Polyphenols and Microbiota Modulation: Insights from Animal Models for Human Therapeutic Strategies — Anghel et al. (Molecules 2024 · PMID: 39770115) — polyphenols selectively modulate gut microbiota; antimicrobial vs pathogens; linked to prevention of metabolic, cardiovascular, and neurodegenerative disease
Muscle mass & longevity
- Sarcopenia: revised European consensus definition — Cruz-Jentoft et al., Age and Ageing 2019
- Cardiorespiratory fitness and mortality — Mandsager et al., JAMA Network Open 2018
- Prognostic value of grip strength — Leong et al. (Lancet 2015 · DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(14)62000-6)
- Resistance exercise and lean body mass in aging adults: meta-analysis — Peterson et al., Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 2011 · PMID: 20543750
- Muscle as an endocrine organ: myokines and systemic health — Pedersen (Journal of Applied Physiology 2009 · DOI: 10.1152/japplphysiol.91165.2008)
- Zone 2 training and mitochondrial function — Iaia & Bangsbo (Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports 2010 · PMID: 20136665)
Creatine
- ISSN Position Stand: safety and efficacy of creatine in exercise, sport, and medicine — Kreider et al. (J Int Soc Sports Nutr 2017 · PMID: 28615996) — comprehensive review; up to 30g/day for 5 years confirmed safe; covers performance, brain, and clinical applications
- Effects of creatine supplementation on performance and training adaptations — Kreider (Mol Cell Biochem 2003 · PMID: 12701815) — 300+ studies; +5–15% maximal strength/power and sprint work capacity
- Oral creatine monohydrate supplementation improves brain performance — Rae et al. (Proc R Soc Lond B 2003 · PMID: 14561278) — RCT; significant improvements in working memory and intelligence test scores
- Creatine supplementation and cognitive performance in elderly individuals — McMorris et al. (Neuropsychol Dev Cogn B 2007 · PMID: 17828627) — RCT; significant cognitive benefit across memory and reasoning tasks in older adults
- Effects of creatine on cognitive function: systematic review of RCTs — Avgerinos et al. (Exp Gerontol 2018 · PMID: 29704637) — 6 RCTs; short-term memory and reasoning improved; benefit strongest in aging and stressed populations
- Creatine supplementation on memory: systematic review and meta-analysis — Prokopidis et al. (Nutr Rev 2023 · PMID: 35984306) — 10 RCTs; improved memory vs placebo; effect much stronger in older adults 66–76y (SMD=0.88)
- Creatine supplementation on cognitive performance: largest RCT to date — Sandkühler et al. (2023 · PMID: 37968687) — n=123, crossover double-blind, 5g/day; Bayesian evidence for small beneficial effect on working memory
- Creatine supplementation on cognitive function in adults: meta-analysis — Xu et al. (2024 · PMID: 39070254) — 16 RCTs; improved memory, attention, processing speed; benefit strongest in diseased individuals and females
- Creatine supplementation in depression: mechanisms, efficacy, clinical outcomes — Juneja et al. (2024 · PMID: 39553021) — enhances brain energy metabolism; reduces depressive symptoms; positive as SSRI adjunct
- Dicyandiamide (DCD) contamination in non-certified creatine raw material — toxic synthesis byproduct found at high levels in cheap Chinese-sourced creatine
- Dihydrotriazine (DHT) contamination in creatine raw material — additional synthesis byproduct in substandard raw material
Sleep
- Sleep and Human Aging — Mander, Winer & Walker (Neuron 2017 · PMID: 28384471)
- Sleep restriction and protein synthesis — Dattilo et al. (Medical Hypotheses 2011 · PMID: 21550729)
- Sleep restriction reduces testosterone by 10–15% in young men — Leproult & Van Cauter, JAMA 2011
- Core body temperature and sleep onset — Krauchi (Physiology & Behavior 2007 · PMID: 17927990)
- Blue light exposure and melatonin suppression — Czeisler et al. (Science 2001 · PMID: 11232563)
- Chronic sleep restriction and all-cause mortality — Cappuccio et al., Sleep 2010
Caffeine
- Caffeine and the central nervous system — Nehlig, Pharmacology & Therapeutics 2022
- Caffeine half-life and individual variation — CYP1A2 pharmacogenomics review (EJCN 2018 · PMID: 29158567)
- Arousal effect of caffeine depends on adenosine A2A receptors — Lazarus et al. (Journal of Neuroscience 2011 · PMID: 21734299)
Vitamin D & K2
- A ChIP-seq defined genome-wide map of vitamin D receptor binding — Ramagopalan et al. (Genome Research 2010 · PMID: 20736230) — ~3% of the human genome has VDR binding sites; hundreds of genes across immune, metabolic, and brain function directly regulated by vitamin D
- Vitamin D toxicity: clinical and biochemical manifestations (PMID: 26053339) — safety thresholds and clinical presentations
- Dietary fat increases vitamin D-3 absorption — Dawson-Hughes et al. (JCEM 2015 · PMID: 25441954) — fat consumed with vitamin D significantly increases 25(OH)D levels
- Type of dietary fat associated with 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 increment in response to supplementation (PMCID: PMC3200243) — monounsaturated fat optimal for VD absorption
- The effect of combined magnesium and vitamin D supplementation on vitamin D status — Deng et al. (2022 · PMID: 35576873) — magnesium required for VD activation; combined supplementation more effective than VD alone
- Suboptimal magnesium status in the United States: are the health consequences underestimated? — Rosanoff et al. (2012 · PMID: 22364157) — majority of the population inadequate in magnesium; impacts VD activation and dozens of enzymatic processes
- 3-year MK-7 (vitamin K2) supplementation improves bone density in postmenopausal women — Knapen et al. (Osteoporosis Int 2013 · PMID: 23525894) — significant benefit on bone strength and arterial stiffness
- Efficacy of vitamin K2 in prevention and treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis (PMID: 36033779)
- Vitamin K2 and D supplementation in patients with aortic valve calcification (PMID: 35465686)
- Effects of vitamin K2 and D supplementation on coronary artery disease in men (PMID: 38938724)
- Annual high-dose oral vitamin D increases fall risk in older women — Sanders et al. (JAMA 2010 · PMID: 20460620) — warning: single annual megadose backfired; supports daily low-dose protocol
- Urinary tract stone risk in the Women’s Health Initiative calcium + vitamin D trial (PMID: 21525191) — elevated stone risk; supports K2 co-supplementation for calcium routing
- Long-term supplementation with 3200–4000 IU vitamin D daily is safe and effective (PMID: 36853379)
Polyphenols & olive oil
- Polyphenols and human health — Cory et al. (Molecular Nutrition & Food Research 2018 · DOI: 10.1002/mnfr.201600418)
- Extra virgin olive oil polyphenols and cardiovascular disease — Covas et al. (Annals of Internal Medicine 2006 · DOI: 10.7326/0003-4819-145-5-200609050-00006)
- Dark chocolate and polyphenol cardiovascular effects — Hooper et al. (Cochrane Database 2012 · DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD008893.pub2)
Cosmetics & endocrine disruptors
- Parabens and estrogenic activity — Routledge et al. (Toxicological Sciences 1998 · PMID: 9611278)
- Oxybenzone absorption into bloodstream — Matta et al., JAMA 2019
- Phthalates and testosterone in men — Meeker et al. (Environmental Health Perspectives 2010 · DOI: 10.1289/ehp.0901321)
Bile & digestion
- Bile — StatPearls, NCBI (NBK: NBK542254)
- Gallbladder motility and meal timing — Portincasa et al. (European Journal of Clinical Investigation 2008 · PMID: 18355383)
Thermic effect of food
- Thermic effect of food — Examine.com
- Diet-induced thermogenesis — Westerterp (Nutrition & Metabolism 2004 · DOI: 10.1186/1743-7075-1-5)
Electrolytes & minerals
- Magnesium — NIH Office of Dietary Supplements
- Potassium — NIH Office of Dietary Supplements
- Zinc — NIH Office of Dietary Supplements
- Sodium — NIH Office of Dietary Supplements
- Can Magnesium Enhance Exercise Performance? — Zhang et al. (Nutrients 2017 · PMID: 28846654)
- Update on the relationship between magnesium and exercise — Nielsen & Lukaski (Magnesium Research 2006 · PMID: 17172008)
- Magnesium citrate found more bioavailable than other Mg preparations — Walker et al. (2003 · PMID: 14596323) — chelate vs citrate vs oxide bioavailability comparison
- Sweat iron and zinc losses during prolonged exercise — DeRuisseau et al. (2002 · PMID: 12500986)
- Sweat mineral-element responses during 7h exercise-heat stress — Montain et al. (2007 · PMID: 18156662)
Water & microplastics