Entries by Chet Zelasko

Should You Take Essential Amino Acids Before Surgery?

Tuesday’s study left us with a question: what could explain essential amino acids (EAAs) increasing, or at least preventing, muscle loss after total knee replacement surgery? Fortunately, another study examined those factors by obtaining muscle biopsies and blood before and after surgery. Researchers recruited 41 patients who were having total knee replacement. After randomly assigning […]

Essential Amino Acids and Knee Replacement Surgery

As I continue my research into increasing muscle mass for Aging with a Vengeance, I came across some information that I think is important for anybody who’s undergoing knee replacement surgery, and perhaps, any type of joint surgery. I’m going to review two studies and explain why using essential amino acids (EAAs) before and after […]

Obesity Game Changer?

Obesity is a serious issue in the U.S. and around the world; type 2 diabetes, hypertension, CVD, and other diseases associated with obesity have significant health costs. That’s why a real game changer would be important to help people lose weight and maintain their weight loss. The latest candidate is semaglutide, an anti-diabetic medication used […]

“Game-Changing” Treatment for Obesity!

If ever a health headline gets your attention, it’s one that proclaims there’s a better way to lose weight. “A game changer” said one of the principle authors of the study in a news release about the study. The results of any study that suggests “game-changing results” just has to be reviewed, and that’s what […]

How the Quality of Your Diet Changes Your Mycobiome

In the experiment I told you about on Tuesday, the researchers established that environment—exposure to light, temperature, and other environmental factors—affects the microbiome, including the fungi or mycobiome. The researchers then tested the changes in the mycobiome (the fungus part of the microbiome) after feeding the mice a highly processed diet compared with mice eating […]

The Fungus Among Us

The microbiome is made up of a variety of microbes. I tend to focus on the bacteria because that’s where the bulk of the research exists, but there are more microbes in and on us such as fungi, protozoa, and viruses. A recent paper provided some interesting insight into one category of microbes: the fungi, […]

How Periodontal Disease Makes COVID-19 Worse

Aging with a Vengeance is more than gaining muscle mass and losing fat around your waist; it also means that your immune system is robust. I think we often over-emphasize supplementation; while I think it’s necessary, it really should serve as support for other actions that are equally or even more important. For example, taking […]

How Exercise Improves Sleep

To become the best version of yourself, it takes more than just eating better and moving more. One factor that gets overlooked is sleep. Sleep patterns change over a lifetime; in addition, isolation during the COVID pandemic can also impact sleep patterns. Moderate to strenuous exercise has long been known to have a positive impact […]

Vitamin C, Zinc, and COVID-19: Ask the Right Questions

As we left off Tuesday’s memo, I suggested that both the researchers in the study that was halted as well as the physicians who used dietary supplements as part of their treatment were wrong in their conclusions. At this point we don’t know for certain whether vitamin C and/or zinc can help with COVID-19. Let’s […]

Vitamin C, Zinc, and COVID-19

Last week, a study was published in JAMA Online that did a randomized controlled trial using vitamin C and zinc to treat people diagnosed with COVID-19. Several longtime readers asked me to review videos posted by physicians and other healthcare professionals who’ve used vitamin C and zinc to treat COVID-19 infections. I did and I’ll […]