Dr. Chet’s Health Memos
If it’s in the health news today, I’ll be writing about it as soon as I read the research, both old and new. With my email Health Memos, you’ll know more about making lifestyle choices that will help you get and keep good health. These free, concise updates on health are emailed to subscribers twice a week. Subscribe today and get a free MP3, in English or Spanish, of Dr. Chet’s Top Ten Tips—Small Changes for a Healthier Life.
The Reasons for Retraction
Publications related to food habits are important if you’re in the weight loss field; I rely on them to help people achieve their weight loss goals. If the studies were poorly done, that’s unfortunate but behavioral science is an inexact science anyway. But if someone intentionally manipulated the data to get a specific outcome, that’s […]
Scientific Retractions
One of my favorite observational scientists has been Dr. Brian Wansink, former Director of the Food and Brand Lab at Cornell University. I’ve written about his research and used it in presentations several times over the years. One of my favorite tips came from one of his studies: use a salad plate instead of a […]
Aspirin and Unintended Consequences
We began the week considering a type of shortcut to health called biohacking. The polypill was a biohack to reduce the risk of CVD events, but there’s no research showing whether the polypill will ever prove to be effective. However, the results of the ASPREE trial may give us an idea whether the long-term trials […]
An Aspirin a Day
In Tuesday’s Memo, I talked about biohacking. Specifically, I talked about the idea of having everyone over a certain age take a pill that can impact the risk factors for CVD: high blood pressure, cholesterol, high heart rate, and blood cell stickiness. The idea is that taking that single pill in low doses every day […]
A Look at Biohacking
One of the terms that have evolved in the health and fitness field that I really dislike is biohacking. Whether related to fitness, nutrition, or supplementation, the implication is that there are shortcuts to get health benefits. I believe that we can do things that are a more efficient use of time but when it […]
What We Can Learn from Kipchoge
There are a couple of lessons that we can get from Eliud Kipchoge and his approach to setting the world record in the marathon. Let’s take a look at what he did to prepare to be called the best marathoner of all time. He Knew It Was Possible When I say he knew it was […]
Only Three Seconds Faster
Eliud Kipchoge shattered the world record for the marathon by one minute, eighteen seconds. But breaking it down, that was about three seconds per mile faster. Sustaining that faster pace for the entire duration was an amazing physical feat but in its essence, it was three seconds per mile. Let’s carry the logic to weight […]
New World Record 2:01:39
The marathon is 26.2 miles. If you’ve ever done one, you know what kind of effort it takes to just finish a marathon. For people who are better runners, qualifying for the Boston Marathon is a significant goal. It takes intense training to achieve that goal. This past weekend, a Kenyan named Eliud Kipchoge set […]
Why I’ll Keep Taking My Probiotics
One thing I try never to do is to take cheap shots at research studies. I’ve acknowledged that my expertise in the methodologies of microbiome analysis is limited. I think that these research groups did something unique in their approach to assessing the microbiome. That doesn’t prevent me from pointing out some obvious issues with […]
New Probiotics Research Results
The methodology used in the two studies I’m reviewing is complicated. I mentioned the endoscopic biopsies on Tuesday (and a big thanks to the people who volunteered for an endoscopy); subsequent analysis of the actual microbiome utilizes very complex techniques. I’m not an expert in those techniques so I can’t assess the results the way […]
