Links: Go to episode page Subscribe to Premium Sign-up for our free weekly email: The Sigma Synopsis 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 thi ..read 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 t ..read more

Links: Go to episode page (with links & resources) Subscribe to Sigma Nutrition Premium Receive our free weekly email, The Sigma Synopsis 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 ..read more

Links: Episode page (with more links) Subscribe to Premium Introduction 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 ..read more

Links: Subscribe to Premium Go to this episode's page (with links) Live event: London - March 18th Receive 'Sigma Synopsis' emails 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 s ..read more

Links: Subscribe to Premium Episode page   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 ..read more

Links: Episode page Subscribe to Premium Live event in London, UK 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 importan ..read more

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 ..read more

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 epi ..read more

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. Links: Subscribe to Premium Live event: London, UK - March 2023 Buy UEBC 22 Replay ..read more