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Placebos are used in clinical trials to demonstrate that an experimental drug is superior to the control or “inactive” pill, but sometimes placebos can contain “excipients” such as chemicals, dyes, allergens, or other confounding agents, which might unintentionally bring about symptoms in trial participants. Maryanne Demasi, Ph.D., discusses the issues that arise when placebos are not inert and how these issues may be addressed by the medical journals publishing trial results.

Non-sugar artificial sweeteners (NAS) have been alternately hailed and demonized as the sweet, low-calorie saviors of the diabetic and obese on the one hand and destroyers of health on the other. Mary Dan Eades, MD, surveys the medical literature and discusses studies that have found an association between artificial sweeteners and Type 2 diabetes (T2DM). She then summarizes current hypotheses for the mechanisms behind the association, from the disruption of the gut's microbiome to the amplification of glucose and insulin signaling.

“Fewer than half of clinical trial sponsors reported their results to a U.S. government registry within a year of the trial’s completion, flouting U.S. law and risking fines, British researchers reported on [Jan. 17]. The study, published in The Lancet, found that in spite of legal efforts to curb well-documented lapses in reporting of negative trial results, many sponsors are still not reporting their findings, potentially keeping patients and doctors in the dark about benefits and side effects of treatments.”

A case study demonstrates reversal of mild cognitive impairment in a 57-year-old nurse with metabolic syndrome.

A 2019 article describes how the Alzheimer’s research field has been trapped by a single hypothesis that, despite a complete failure to deliver effective treatments for three decades, has turned into dogma.

The Australian CrossFit® Championship, a CrossFit Sanctionals™ competition, recently announced its plans to highlight the daily life-changing work of CrossFit affiliates by using ticket revenue from its March 2020 event to sponsor gym memberships for local Type 2 diabetics. CrossFit, Inc. is proud to announce support for the ACC’s initiative via matching sponsorship.

A 2017 editorial written by Maryanne Demasi, Robert Lustig, and Aseem Malhotra argues insulin resistance, not cholesterol or calories, ought to be targeted to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.

In the generally accepted model for Type 2 diabetes (T2D), excess calorie consumption is thought to lead to obesity, which then causes insulin resistance. Here, Malcolm Kendrick, MD, shares evidence that contradicts this model, instead suggesting insulin is itself obesogenic, which means reducing insulin levels may aid in weight loss and reverse Type 2 diabetes. He calls for a reevaluation of the standard of care for T2D patients and recommends lower carbohydrate consumption, exercise, and stress management for those suffering from the disease.

Terence Kealey, MD and Ph.D., dispels common myths about breakfast and explains how the confusion of association with causation — confusion perpetuated by researchers who are in league with the breakfast industry — may be exaggerating the benefits of our matutinal meal and negatively affecting our metabolic health. Kealey also shares his breakfast recommendations for the general population as well as Type 1 and Type 2 diabetics.

This comprehensive 2019 New England Journal of Medicine review summarizes the impact of intermittent fasting at both a cellular and an organ/body system level. It then outlines how these changes may benefit individuals with a variety of disease states.

While VO2 max might have been considered a gold standard of endurance at some point, we have demonstrated that it is but one of several important variables, and its status as the gold standard is not backed up by data. VO2 max should be regarded as one of many variables involved in fitness, defined as increased work capacity across broad time and modal domains.

“In the United States, nearly 1 in 4 young adults (24 percent) and close to 1 in 5 adolescents (18 percent) have prediabetes, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A CDC official described these numbers as ‘evidence of a growing epidemic.’ Someone with prediabetes has a blood sugar, or glucose, level that is higher than normal but not high enough for a diabetes diagnosis. But health experts say that some of the damaging effects of diabetes — on the heart, blood vessels and kidneys, for instance — can begin with prediabetes. … Although people with prediabetes often go on to develop full-fledged diabetes, that’s not inevitable. Lifestyle changes — such as more exercise, weight loss and healthier eating — can bring blood sugar levels back to normal.”

Michael Eades, MD, revisits a seminal study from 1992 by Samuel Klein and Robert Wolfe on the metabolic effects of carbohydrate restriction and fasting. Klein and Wolfe determined their results “demonstrate that restriction of dietary carbohydrate, not the general absence of energy intake itself, is of fundamental importance in the adaptive response to short-term fasting” and claimed their study “underscores the importance of carbohydrate intake for normal fuel homeostasis." Eades explains why their findings led him to different conclusions but confirmed that he was “on the right track using a low-carb diet to help ... obese, diabetic, and otherwise metabolically deranged patients.”