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Two 2012 reviews argue the primary cause of diabetes is not insulin resistance but hyperinsulinemia — and thus, that treatment with exogenous insulin may drive disease progression.

The American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) proclaims itself to be a pro-science, consumer advocacy nonprofit group that exists only to support legitimate science and medicine while debunking “health scares.” However, according to veteran journalist and researcher Carey Gillam, while the name gives ACSH the appearance of being an independent voice on controversial questions of science and public health, internal ACSH records show in reality the organization has relied for years on hefty donations from corporations and foundations whose interests ACSH promotes.

This 2014 review summarizes cases of statin-induced rhabdomyolysis (rhabdo). Any detrimental effects statins may have on muscle weakness and/or muscle function are worth observing closely given the clinical significance of mobility in the elderly populations frequently prescribed statin drugs.

“Patrick Zeiher, owner of CrossFit Indian Trail, notes that one reason CrossFit is so beneficial for all ages is that the physical needs of a person vary by degree — not by kind. ‘We can literally have a 60-year-old athlete doing a similar variation of a workout as a 25-year-old competitive athlete,’ he says. ‘Their needs don't vary by kind; in other words, they both need to be able to squat to a toilet, pick something up off the floor, or get themselves off the floor.’”

This 2019 study tested a variety of dietary interventions designed to elevate serum ketone levels on autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD). The study found time-restricted feeding, fasting, a ketogenic diet, and beta-hydroxybutyrate supplementation each slowed the progression of, and in some cases even reversed, ADPKD in rats.

On Dec. 4, 2019, Judge Janis L. Sammartino ordered terminating sanctions against the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) in the case of CrossFit, Inc. v. NSCA. With this ruling, the court ordered the NSCA to pay CrossFit $3,997,868.66 as a sanction and then terminated the case in CrossFit’s favor. CrossFit’s experience with the NSCA provides vital insight into the widespread damage that results from bad and outright corrupt science and, as in this case, efforts to conceal the corruption from the public and judicial system. CrossFit, Inc. has remained resolute in the fight to vindicate its affiliates and trainers in the face of the false charges leveled against them and the CrossFit methodology. This ruling marks a major victory in both this fight and CrossFit’s ongoing effort to pursue truth and expose deeply entrenched corruption in the fitness and health sciences.

Previous research has suggested intermittent fasting drives metabolic benefits independent of weight loss, including improvements in insulin sensitivity, lipid profile, liver fat, and markers of inflammation and oxidative stress. This 2018 trial assessed the metabolic benefits of a specific form of intermittent fasting: early time-restricted feeding, where all food intake was confined to a single six-hour window early in the day. Researchers found subjects who ate within that window improved insulin sensitivity and beta cell functionality as well as blood pressure and markers of oxidative stress.

"Hereditary and relatively common, polycystic kidney disease (PKD) has long been thought to be progressive and irreversible, condemning its sufferers to a long, slow and often painful decline as fluid filled cysts develop in the kidneys, grow and eventually rob the organs of their function. Progress toward finding a cure has been sluggish, with only one drug proven to slow — but not stop — the progression of PKD. But now, thanks to research conducted by a UC Santa Barbara team, a solution may be no farther than the end of your fork. Diet, they discovered, could hold the key to treating PKD. … Ketosis, the underlying metabolic state of popular diets such as the ketogenic diet, and, to a lesser extent, time-restricted feeding (a form of intermittent fasting), has been shown in the group’s studies to stall and even reverse PKD."

Dr. Malcolm Kendrick concludes his series on the response to injury hypothesis for cardiovascular disease (CVD) by observing that reducing risk relies on doing at least one of three things, and ideally all three: protecting the endothelium from damage, reducing blood coagulability, and improving the body’s healing processes. Kendrick highlights several specific ways to protect the endothelium, from quitting smoking to getting more sun to increasing potassium intake.

“The reaction [to the Annals of Internal Medicine publications debunking the advice to eat less meat] was swift and unsurprising. Proponents of the current guidelines were quick to attack the papers and the authors. The first thing that I noticed in the first media article I read was that the word “controversial” appeared in the first sentence. … A (essentially, if not entirely) non-conflicted panel published four systematic reviews of all the evidence available (which was vast for observational studies, if not RCTs) and concluded that any associations observed were very small and the certainty of evidence was low or very low. They cautioned that observational studies cannot establish causation; they don’t report absolute differences; and they are at high risk of confounding. My conclusion from this would have been to dismiss existing guidelines and advise that they be ignored. The panel’s recommendations to continue current consumption were cautious in this context, not controversial.”

In these contrasting pieces, two authors provide differing argumentation regarding whether the replication crisis, p-hacking, and similar well-documented issues indicate science is broken or working as intended in a self-correcting process.

This 2018 review describes the causes and benefits of “flipping the metabolic switch” — that is, using fasting to transition the body from a state of fat storage to one of fatty acid release and oxidation.

"A new report examining the first decade of study results being reported on ClinicalTrials.gov finds that there has been slow progress among drug companies and academic research centers in reporting the results of human studies, but the quality of the data may still present a larger problem. The lack of quality data is undermining efforts at transparency. … ClinicalTrials.gov is often the only place that any results from trials are shared. Of a sample of 380 trials, 58% didn’t publish their results in a journal by the end of a year’s follow-up. And there is reason to believe that sponsors may not be reporting the same data on the database as they do in publications: Among the 47 trials that reported patient deaths, for instance, the authors counted up 995 deaths. When these same trials were later published in journals, they had reported 964 deaths."