#508: Why Athletes Can Achieve High Performance During an Energy Deficit – Jose Areta, PhD
Release Date: 01/09/2024
#526: Eating Rate, Food Texture & Satiation – Marlou Lasschuijt, PhD
Sigma Nutrition Radio
Food science and behavior are intimately connected. One critical but often overlooked facet of this connection is food texture and its substantial impact on eating behavior and energy intake. Food texture encompasses characteristics such as hardness and structure. It categorizes food into liquids, semi-solids, and solids, each with a wide range of textures—from dry and crispy to elastic and more substantial. This classification deeply affects how we consume food. The time it takes to chew and swallow a food item can vary greatly based on its texture. Different textures can also influence the...
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#525: Cholesterol-Lowering Medication – Dr. Paddy Barrett
Sigma Nutrition Radio
Cholesterol-lowering medications, particularly statins, play a pivotal role in reducing low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and apolipoprotein B (apoB) concentrations, which are causal markers in atherosclerosis development. The efficacy of these medications is well-documented, with numerous clinical trials demonstrating substantial benefits in reducing cardiovascular events and improving overall mortality rates. Despite the robust evidence supporting the benefits of cholesterol-lowering medications, there are various misconceptions and misunderstandings regarding their use. One common...
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#524: Strength & Fitness Levels for Reducing Chronic Disease Risk & Promoting Health Ageing – Jordan Feigenbaum, MD
Sigma Nutrition Radio
When aiming for healthy aging and reducing chronic disease risk over the lifecourse, exercise, specifically a combination of resistance training and cardiorespiratory fitness, has a fundamental role to play. In addition it can mitigate age-related declines and support independence in later years. A strong evidence base exists showing the benefits of increased strength and cardiorespiratory fitness on a range of important outcomes related to lifespan and healthspan. But some intriguing questions remain, such as: How strong is strong enough? At what point do we maximize the benefits of...
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SNP29: Athletes & Plant-Based Diets – Evidence & Application in Practice
Sigma Nutrition Radio
Contemporary society is witnessing a growing interest in, and embracing of, plant-based diets. Numerous athletes are now gravitating towards such dietary choices, motivated by concerns for health, performance or ethics. Consequently, coaches, nutritionists, and other fitness experts find themselves increasingly tasked with guiding athletes who adhere to plant-based diets. For coaches and trainers, understanding the possible impacts of these dietary preferences on athletes’ objectives is paramount, as is devising dietary plans that optimize their performance. This episode discusses the...
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#523: How Trustworthy is the Food Frequency Questionnaire in Evaluating Dietary Intake? – Deirdre Tobias, ScD
Sigma Nutrition Radio
The Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) stands as a cornerstone in nutritional research, offering valuable insights into dietary patterns and habits over a specified period. Despite its widespread use and established utility, the FFQ has not been immune to criticism, much of which arises from a misunderstanding of its purpose and inherent limitations. At its core, the FFQ is designed to assess the frequency and quantity of food consumption, aiming to capture long-term dietary behaviors rather than precise intake levels. Researchers employ it to investigate relationships between diet and various...
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#522: Does Personalized Nutrition Outperform General Dietary Advice?
Sigma Nutrition Radio
Links: About This Episode: “Personalized nutrition” has been promoted as an approach that will improve people’s health by prescribing them specific dietary recommendations based on their own genetic and phenotypic data. The premise is that given we each respond differently to foods, having general dietary recommendations may be doing many people a disservice. And by using an array of personal data, it is now possible to give unique diets that improve health. The early and interesting findings of research in this area was met with much fanfare, and indeed, many companies are now...
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#521: How Does Coffee Impact Our Health?
Sigma Nutrition Radio
The relationship between coffee and health is complex, encompassing areas like blood lipids, cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative diseases, anxiety, and depression. Coffee has an interesting nutrient profile and contains diverse bioactive compounds that influence metabolism. Coffee has a potential impact on cardiovascular disease risk, with mechanisms that highlight potential benefits and some concerns. There may be an impact on blood pressure and blood lipid, but there are important nuances to this. Some research suggests that moderate intake may protect against neurodegenerative...
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#520: How Exercise Impacts Appetite, Food Intake and Adiposity – James Dorling, PhD
Sigma Nutrition Radio
Links: About This Episode: Have you ever wondered how exercise affects our appetite and energy intake? While we know that single bouts of exercise can create a short-term energy deficit, do they also influence our hunger levels? And what about long-term exercise training? Could it modify our appetite in ways that help us better control our weight? Recent research suggests that exercise may indeed play a role in appetite regulation. Could exercise modify the subjective and homeostatic mediators of appetite in ways that enhance our feelings of fullness after a meal? One of the most...
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SNP28: How To Eat for Longevity
Sigma Nutrition Radio
In a world flooded with claims, advice, and recommendations on how to extend our lifespan, the buzz around various diet approaches, supplement regimens, and lifestyle hacks is deafening. But amidst the noise, one must pause to ponder: Are these claims rooted in science? And perhaps more crucially, are we even asking the right questions or pursuing the correct goals in our quest for longevity? Join us in our upcoming podcast episode as Danny delves into these intriguing questions. Rather than getting lost in the sea of trends and fads, Danny offers his insights on the essential inquiries we...
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#519: Eating Disorders: Inpatient Treatment & Challenges – Helen West, RD
Sigma Nutrition Radio
Acronyms & Terminology: NHS - National Health Service (UK) CAMHS eating disorder unit - Child & Adolescent Mental Health Service Tier 4 Services - CAMHS services are organized through a tiered system. Tier 4 is the highest on the hierarchy and relates to highly specialized or inpatient services. NG Feed - nasogastric (NG) tubes MDT decision - multidisciplinary team (MDT) decision-making CBT-E - Enhanced Cognitive Behaviour Therapy - a “transdiagnostic” treatment for all forms of eating disorder including anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating...
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About This Episode:
Insufficient energy availability can significantly disrupt normal hormonal, metabolic, and physiological processes, prompting the body to initiate a coordinated response aimed at conserving energy.
While commonly viewed as beneficial for weight loss and managing cardiometabolic conditions in the current obesity epidemic, chronic energy deficiency in the context of modern sports and exercise nutrition is linked to adverse health outcomes and diminished athletic performance.
Nevertheless, the evidence regarding the negative impact of energy deficit on physical capacity and sports performance is not entirely clear.
Although severe energy deficiency can impair physical capacity, it’s noteworthy that humans can enhance aerobic fitness and strength even in the presence of significant energy deficits. Strikingly, many elite athletes compete at the highest levels despite displaying evident signs of energy deficiency.
This raises intriguing questions about how the human body adapts to energy deficits, challenging conventional views on the relationship between energy availability and athletic prowess.
To discuss some potential reasons for this ability to maintain peak physical performance while suppressing energetically demanding physiological traits, researcher Dr. Jose Areta of LJMU is on the podcast to discuss his work in this area.
About The Guest:
Dr. José Areta currently works as a lecturer in Sports Nutrition and Metabolism at the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences at LJMU.
José’s primary interest is in the area of training-nutrient interactions in humans. In other words, he investigates how to manipulate ingestion of carbohydrates, fat and protein around training to optimise physical performance and health.
The outputs of his research have not only expanded the knowledge of the field but had significant impact and influence on determining current dietary recommendations and practices world-wide.
His work has provided novel insights in relation to the amount, timing, quantity and distribution of carbohydrates, fat and protein and dietary supplements around training. Over the last few years José has been developing his research in the area of the endocrinological, metabolic and physiological effects of energy restriction, in which he is currently growing his research team and capability.