A team of scientists led by Christopher Turbill at the Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology in Australia have found that a diet rich in omega-6 fats increases sprint speed in mice. For two weeks, mice were fed either their normal diet or a diet high in omega-6-rich sunflower oil. The mice on the latter diet [...]

Continue...

According to new research from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, two methods commonly used to estimate body fat level - body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference - tend to overestimate fat levels in African-Americans. The problem appears to be that the calculations used to generate body fat estimates from BMI and [...]

Continue...

The following question is often asked: Is it better to lose weight slowly or quickly? Most experts say it is best to lose weight slowly because slower weight loss is more sustainable and may be healthier because it carries less risk of nutrient deficiencies and usually results in less muscle loss. On the other hand, [...]

Continue...

When people suddenly increase the amount of exercise they do (which athletes refer to as “overreaching”), there is also an increase in protein turnover and nitrogen excretion resulting from muscle tissue breakdown. Researchers recently tested the hypothesis that aerobically fit individuals would exhibit lesser signs of muscle breakdown in response to a sudden increase in [...]

Continue...

Past research has suggested that both exercise and intermittent fasting enhance spatial memory (the ability to navigate mazes) in rats. Scientists from Jordan University recently followed up on these findings by investigating the independent and combined effects of exercise and every-other-day fasting on spatial memory in rats. For six weeks, rats were subjected either to [...]

Continue...

Typically we think of hunger and fullness as opposite and mutually exclusive feelings. Either you are hungry or you are full or you are neither, but never both at the same time. But a new study from the University of Minnesota suggests that it is possible to be hungry and full simultaneously. That’s because hunger [...]

Continue...

While low-carbohydrate diets have been shown to be effective for weight loss, they are also difficult to sustain. But perhaps your approach to eating carbohydrate doesn’t have to be “all or nothing”. The results of a new study from the University of Alabama at Birmingham suggest that a modest reduction in carbohydrate consumption imrpoves satiety, [...]

Continue...

In a study newly published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, Korean and American researchers sought to determine whether endurance training would increase the metabolic rate of previously untrained individuals. Nine male subjects ran three to four times per week, 25 to 40 minutes per session, at 60 to 80 percent of VO2max [...]

Continue...

A new study from the University of South Australia suggests that sleep restirction causes humans to gain weight despite also decreasing their appetite and food intake. Ninety-two healthy men and women participated in the study. Eleven of them served as controls, sleeping normally throughout the study period. The others were subjected to severely restricted sleep [...]

Continue...

There is a mathematically predictable relationship between blood lactate levels and ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) during exercise. The June 2009 edition of the journal Medicine & Science in Sports and Exercise presents the results of a study in which researchers sought to determine whether carbohydrate consumption during exercise alters this relationship. On two occasions, [...]

Continue...