Links: Go to episode page (with study links) Subscribe to Premium Past episodes referenced: Episodes 493, 481 & 317 Further reading: How Diet Influences Heart Disease Risk About This Episode: The Sydney Diet-Heart Study was a clinical trial conducted in the 1960s and 1970s that aimed to examine the hypothesis that reducing saturated fat intake in the diet would lead to a reduced risk of heart disease. However, it really only gained attention after a more recent re-analysis by Ramsden...

Note: This is a Premium-exclusive episode, so in order to listen to the full episode you’ll need to subscribe to Sigma Nutrition Premium.  About This Episode Nutritional epidemiology has faced strong criticism over time. While some of the methodological limitations are fair, often there are criticisms that are misguided and inaccurate. In this episode, Danny touches on a few examples of the misunderstandings of the field and how such claims can be addressed in a more accurate manner. ...

Links: Go to episode page (with study links) Subscribe to PREMIUM Receive emails from Sigma Nutrition Sigma's Recommended Resources About This Episode: The field of research exploring sex differences in exercise response has yielded intriguing findings, shedding light on the complex interplay between biology, physiology, and training adaptations. One of the fundamental areas of investigation pertains to sex disparities in strength, power, and hypertrophy. Historically, it’s been...

Links: Subscribe to PREMIUM to get study notes to this episode Go to episode page to see background detail & links See our recommended resources for further learning Previous episodes referenced: SNP17: Is Personalized Nutrition Superior to General Nutrition Advice? 414: Will Machine Learning Overtake Traditional Nutrition Research Methods? 469: Chrononutrition – New Findings & Updated Views About This Episode: To mark the 500th episode of the podcast, Danny and Alan take a look...

Links: Subscribe to PREMIUM Go to episode page (with further reading links) Receive our weekly emails About This Episode: Sensory cues, comprising taste, smell, texture, and appearance, serve as the initial drivers that influence our food preferences and liking for particular items. These sensory cues can be both inherent, such as the natural sweetness of fruit, and learned, as in the association between a particular aroma and a favorite dish. One crucial aspect of this research is...

Links: Subscribe to PREMIUM Go to episode page Learn more about the podcast Sigma's recommended resources About This Episode: PREDIMED (Prevención con Dieta Mediterránea) is a landmark clinical trial conducted in Spain. The study made a huge splash due to the rarity in nutrition of having large RCTs with hard endpoints. In addition, it had results of a large magnitude; showing a 30% reduction in cardiovascular events. But the study did face criticisms and controversies over...

Links: Subscribe to PREMIUM Go to episode page (with linked studies) Receive the weekly Sigma email newsletter Recommended resources About this Episode: The PROPEL (Promoting Successful Weight Loss in Primary Care in Louisiana) trial was a cluster-randomized weight loss trial, specifically tailored to address the pressing health concerns of an underserved population in Louisiana, where obesity rates have reached alarming levels. The core of the intervention comprises a pragmatic,...

Links: Go to episode page Subscribe to PREMIUM Recommended resources Receive Sigma's free email newsletter Learn more about the podcast About This Episode: Food frequency questionnaires (FFQs) have been widely employed in nutrition research to assess dietary intake patterns among study participants. However, debates surrounding the reliability of FFQs have persisted both inside and outside the academic community. These debates primarily revolve around issues related to measurement error,...

Links: Subscribe to Premium Sigma recommended resources Learn more about the podcast About this episode: In 1985 a paper titled “Sick Individuals and Sick Populations” was published in the International Journal of Epidemiology. The paper, authored by eminent epidemiologist Geoffrey Rose, can be considered as seminal and important because it brilliantly raised the concept of the “prevention paradox” and challenged traditional approaches to public health and preventive medicine. The...

Links: Go to episode page Subscribe to PREMIUM Get our free weekly emails Learn more about Sigma Nutrition Radio About This Episode: The Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention Study (ATBC) stands as a seminal and pioneering research endeavor within the domain of epidemiology and cancer prevention. Conducted in Finland, the study aimed to examine the potential protective effects of alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E) and beta-carotene supplementation against the occurrence of various...

Links:  Episode page with extra resources Subscribe to PREMIUM Receive our free weekly emails Learn more about Sigma Nutrition Radio About this Episode: The field of circadian biology has long been associated with regulating diurnal physiological processes, notably the sleep-wake cycle. However, recent advances have unveiled a broader role for circadian clocks across various tissues, including skeletal muscle. Within this context, the investigation of circadian clocks within the skeletal...

Links: Go to episode page (with study links & resources) Subscribe to PREMIUM Receive our weekly newsletter More episodes on cholesterol & heart disease About This Episode: The Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial (MRFIT) was a groundbreaking clinical trial conducted in the 1970s and 1980s. Its main objective was to investigate the relationship between various risk factors and the incidence of heart disease. The study aimed to determine whether modifying risk factors, such as...

Links: Go to episode page (with resources for this episode) Subscribe to PREMIUM Join the Sigma email newsletter Learn more about Sigma Nutrition Radio About this Episode: One of the most important and influential papers in nutrition science is one by Ancel Keys and his colleagues that was published in The Lancet in 1957. This seminal paper examined the relationship between dietary fat intake and serum cholesterol levels. The researchers investigated how different types of fats in the...

The book: makingweightbook.com What if you could guarantee your diet and weight-cutting plan would maximize performance? Take control and transform your performance with… Making Weight: The Ultimate Science-based Guide to Cutting Weight for Combat Sports. Whether you’re a nutrition professional or combat sports athlete looking to optimize the weight cutting process, then this is the book for you. Written by renowned combat sports dietitian Jordan Sullivan, and nutrition science...

This is a Premium-exclusive episode, so here you'll only hear a preview. In order to listen to the full episode you’ll need to subscribe to Sigma Nutrition Premium. About This Episode: It has been clearly demonstrated that elevated LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C), or perhaps more specifically pro-atherogenic lipoproteins, is causal in atherosclerosis development in humans. One crucial concept within this is that the risk relates not only to the magnitude of elevated LDL-C, but the duration of...

Links: Resources and info for this episode Subscribe to PREMIUM Receive Danny's weekly email newsletter About This Episode: Losing at least 5% of one’s initial body weight is associated with improvements in glycaemic control, blood pressure, triglyceride levels, and other positive outcomes. Due to these reasons, it is typically recommended that individuals classified as overweight or obese should engage in effective weight loss interventions. However, despite the potential for clinically...

Links: Episode Resources Subscribe to PREMIUM Receive our weekly newsletter About This Episode: There has been interest in, and debate about, how protein intake impacts metabolic health, particularly in relation to insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes risk. Recently, there has been interest in higher protein intakes as an intervention in diabetes, owing to a variety of potential mechanisms. For example, the satiety value of protein, the promotion of insulin secretion by protein, and...

Links: Go to episode page Subscribe to PREMIUM Receive our free weekly emails About This Episode: The management of type 2 diabetes has long been a challenge, but a new study conducted by researcher Mark Lyngbaek and his colleagues has the potential to add important considerations to the approach to treatment. Titled the “DOSE-EX” randomized clinical trial, their study uncovers the impact of exercise and weight loss on beta-cell function, a key factor in diabetes progression. DOSE-EX is...

Links: Subscribe to PREMIUM Episode page Receive Sigma emails About this Episode: We've just released a lengthy 'ask me anything' episode, where Dr. Alan Flanagan addressed specific listener questions, over on the Sigma Nutition Premium feed. In this episode, you'll hear one detailed answer from that AMA, in which Alan discusses the concept of "causal risk factors". This is a term that is regularly mentioned on the podcast, and has a very specific and important meaning. This episode will...

Links: Go to episode page (with resources) Receive Danny's weekly emails Twitter: @NutritionDanny Subscribe to PREMIUM About This Episode: In the UK, there is a threefold higher incidence of type 2 diabetes in UK African and Caribbean (AfC) communities, compared to the general population. And ethnic inequalities in type 2 diabetes treatment and outcomes have been documented. And so addressing these inequalities is an urgent healthcare priority in the UK. Differences in outcomes relate to...

Links: Episode page (with links to resources) Receive Danny's weekly emails Subscribe to PREMIUM About This Episode: The topic of whether hunger and satiety are affected by the time of day has generated considerable interest within the nutrition research community. Researchers have been particularly intrigued by the potential influence of circadian rhythms on caloric intake throughout the day. Initially, a number of studies proposed that consuming high energy intakes in the morning could...

Links: Join notification list for book pre-orders Go to episode page (w/ resources) Subscribe to Sigma Nutrition Premium About This Episode: “Weight cutting” is a common practice in weight-class based sports. And typically, combat sport athletes have reported cutting the largest amounts of weight for competition. The concept of cutting weight is based on the assumption that a size advantage gives a performance advantage in combat sports. And by getting into a lower weight class than...

Links: Go to episode page (with resources) Receive Danny's weekly emails Subscribe to PREMIUM Twitter: @NutritionDanny Instagram: @dannylennon_sigma About This Episode: Peaks in blood glucose (or “blood sugar spikes”) are commonly highlighted as something harmful to health. And, of course, an excessively high blood glucose response to a meal can be problematic, or at least indicate there is a problem. However, elevations in blood glucose after eating are a normal physiological response....

Links: Go to episode page Receive Danny's weekly emails Subscribe to PREMIUM About This Episode: Menopause is commonly associated with hormonal changes and physical symptoms, such as hot flashes, mood changes, sleep issues, and weight gain. Based on anecdotal reports, another interesting question emerges: what is the potential impact of menopause on appetite? As women undergo this transformative phase, many report fluctuations in their food intake and body weight, raising the question:...

Links: Go to episode page Subscribe to PREMIUM Receive Danny's weekly email Twitter: @NutritionDanny Instagram: @dannylennon_sigma About This Episode: Note: This is a Premium-exclusive episode, so in order to listen to the full episode you’ll need to subscribe to Sigma Nutrition Premium.  Low-carbohydrate diets come with a list of reported benefits, and research does show benefit for a number of different outcomes. However, many influencers and advocates of low-carb diets routinely add...