Nutrition Archives

Weight Loss Research: Brain MRI Scans, Food Cravings, and Weight Regulation

Two systems are commonly referred to in the neurobiology of eating and obesity: the "homeostatic" and "hedonic" systems. Homeostatic systems regulate eating relative to energy...

Posted in Nutrition & Brain Health, Nutrition Research

Zinc & Brain Health: Mechanisms and Depression

In the early 1960s, a series of case reports related zinc deficiency to stunted growth and sexual maturation in both male and female adolescents. It...

Posted in Micronutrient Nutrition, Nutrition & Brain Health

Intuitive Eating Research: Is It Useful for Your Relationship with Food?

The term ‘intuitive eating’ was coined by research dietitians Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch in 1995, and, as highlighted in ongoing intuitive eating research, is...

Posted in Nutrition & Behaviour, Research Methodology in Nutrition, Women’s Health Nutrition

Low Carb Diet Research: Exploring the “Metabolic Advantage”

The question of “is a calorie a calorie?” is as old as nutrition research, and it frequently surfaces in modern low carb diet research. Understanding...

Posted in Controversies in Nutrition, Metabolic Health, Research Methodology in Nutrition

Diet & Heart Disease: How Nuts and Unsaturated Fats Lower Risk

This historic focus of nutrition science was on single nutrients and the potential interaction of isolated nutrients. For example, the replacement of saturated fat with unsaturated...

Posted in Macronutrients Science, Metabolic Health, Nutrition & Metabolism

Iodine Requirements During Pregnancy: Timing, Thyroid Hormones, and Fetal Brain Development

In a 2019 survey sample of women in a UK, only ~20% were aware of the increased requirements for iodine for perinatal nutrition, despite clear...

Posted in Macronutrients Research, Women’s Health Nutrition

Appetite Regulation, Hunger & Satiety: Mechanisms and Implications for Weight Loss

Let's define the terms "appetite" and "hunger", two central concepts in appetite regulation. Appetite may be considered the process that influences food intake; hunger reflects...

Posted in Macronutrients Research, Metabolic Health, Nutrition Research

The Dietary Guidelines are Good for You

Why have dietary guidelines become such a focal point of nonsensical arguments? Like much contemporary noise in nutrition, the hard-chargers come from the low-carb world,...

Posted in Controversies in Nutrition, Dietary Guidelines, Nutrition Policy, Nutrition Research

Lipoprotein(a), Causality, and Checkmate on Low-Carb Cholesterol Denialism

I think this must be checkmate. I’ve noticed that in the low-carb/cholesterol-denialism (yes, they are synonymous) community, much attention is now being given to high...

Posted in Causation, Controversies in Nutrition, Nutrition Research, Research Methodology in Nutrition

Saturated Fat & Cardiovascular Disease: Evaluating the JACC ‘State-of-the-Art’ Review

Let’s consult a dictionary: state of the art steɪt əv ðɪ ˈɑːt/ phrase of state the most recent stage in the development of a product, incorporating...

Posted in Cardiovascular Nutrition, Controversies in Nutrition, Nutrition Research, Nutrition Science

‘Methodolatry’, RCTs, and the Limits of Reductionism: Part 2

Insofar as proof to 100% certainty does not exist, what is meant by the term ‘proof’ is in fact a sufficiency of data to support...

Posted in Nutrition Research, Nutrition Science, Scientific Epistemology

‘Methodolatry’, RCTs, and the Limits of Reductionism: Part 1

“Methodolatry”: the veneration of the RCT as the only valid method of investigation, dismissing or discounting valuable input from other sources. A cursory search of...

Posted in Nutrition Research, Nutrition Science, Scientific Epistemology