Browse evidence-based analysis of health-related claims and assertions
When your body doesn’t respond well to insulin (like in prediabetes), it makes more of the bad, tiny, sticky cholesterol particles that clog arteries.
Mechanistic
A toxic form of LDL with a strong negative charge damages the inner lining of arteries by triggering cell death and attracting inflammatory cells, making plaque more unstable.
Lp(a) is a weird cholesterol particle that looks like a clotting protein, which makes blood harder to clot properly and carries toxic oxidized fats that inflame arteries.
When cholesterol particles get damaged by free radicals, they turn into a toxic form that sticks to artery walls, tricks immune cells into eating them until they burst, and causes swelling and inflammation that worsens plaque.
Tiny, dense cholesterol particles stick around longer in the blood and slip more easily into artery walls, where they get damaged and trigger inflammation that leads to clogged arteries.
Kids in this study got about 3 out of every 10 calories from packaged and processed foods, which is a lot and might be bad for their health over time.
Descriptive
Eating more processed foods doesn’t seem to change most of the body’s inflammation signals in kids, except maybe for a couple of them.
Correlational
Kids who eat a lot of processed foods may have higher levels of a chemical that tries to calm down inflammation, as if their body is working extra hard to balance things out.
Older kids (9–10 years old) who eat more packaged and processed foods may have higher levels of a body chemical linked to inflammation, but younger kids don’t show the same pattern.
Kids who eat a lot of packaged snacks, sugary drinks, and processed meats may have slightly higher levels of a body chemical that signals inflammation, especially if they eat more of these foods.
When obese women eat extremely few calories (under 800 per day), they sometimes gain belly fat, lose muscle, and don’t lose much fat—making it worse than eating a little less.
When obese women only eat during a short window each day (without counting calories), they lose less weight and gain more belly fat than when they eat fewer calories overall.
When obese women follow a very low-carb, high-fat diet (ketogenic), they lose more belly fat and keep more muscle than when they just eat fewer calories.
When obese women eat fewer carbs (but not fewer calories), they lose more belly fat and shrink their waistline more than when they just eat less food overall.
When obese women eat more protein while losing weight, they tend to gain more muscle and lose more fat than when they just eat fewer calories overall.
In people with diabetes, high levels of a blood marker called cystatin C—which shows kidney stress—explain nearly half of why eating unhealthy plant foods raises heart disease risk, pointing to kidney health as a major link.
For people with diabetes, not eating enough whole grains like brown rice, oats, and whole wheat explains about one-third of why eating unhealthy plant foods raises their risk of heart disease.
Quantitative
In people with prediabetes, drinking sugary sodas and juices explains about one-third of why eating unhealthy plant foods like white bread and candy raises heart disease risk.
People with prediabetes or diabetes who eat a lot of white bread, soda, and candy have a higher chance of having a heart attack or stroke than those who avoid these foods—even if they don’t eat meat.
People with prediabetes who eat more healthy plant foods like whole grains, beans, and veggies have a lower chance of having a heart attack or stroke than those who eat fewer of these foods.
Cutting calories doesn’t help improve heart health markers in obese people—what matters more is what they eat (carbs and fat), not how many calories they consume.
Causal
Only low-carb diets raise 'good' cholesterol (HDL) in obese people without diabetes—even if they lose the same amount of weight as people on low-fat diets.
To lower blood sugar significantly in obese people without diabetes, they need to lose a lot of weight—about 15 kg—no matter if they eat low-carb or low-fat.
When obese people eat fewer carbs (as a percentage of their calories), their blood pressure and triglycerides drop—even if they don’t lose weight—improving their heart health.