Browse evidence-based analysis of health-related claims and assertions
When stomach-digested adzuki bean sprouts with good bacteria are added to stomach cancer cells in a dish, they slow down the cells' movement even at very low doses, and increasing the dose doesn’t make it work any better.
Quantitative
When people eat a lot more fruits and fruit juice for 3 months, their sugar intake goes up by 40%, which might be a hidden downside of trying to eat healthier.
Causal
When people who don’t eat much fruit or veggies are given them for free every week, they start eating almost 8 servings a day—proving that lack of access is a big reason they don’t eat enough.
People stop eating lots of fruits and veggies not because they don’t know how to cook them, but because they’re too expensive, hard to buy often, and there’s just too much to eat every day.
Descriptive
Even after eating a lot of fruits and veggies for 3 months, most people go back to eating only a little bit again a year later unless someone keeps giving them the food.
Eating more fruits and veggies for 3 months doesn’t lower blood pressure, cholesterol, or sugar levels—or make arteries less stiff—in healthy people who were already eating poorly.
Eating more fruits and veggies for 3 months doesn’t help protect the DNA in blood cells from damage—even when those cells are stressed in the lab.
Even though eating more fruits and veggies boosts certain nutrients, it doesn’t make the body’s overall ability to fight off cell damage from oxidation any stronger in healthy people.
Eating more fruits and vegetables for 3 months makes the level of alpha-carotene—a plant nutrient—in the blood go up by 50% in people who didn’t eat much before.
When people eat a lot more fruits and veggies for 3 months, the levels of two important plant pigments—beta-carotene and lutein—in their blood jump by 70%, showing their body is absorbing more of these beneficial compounds.
Eating more fruits and veggies for 3 months raises the level of folate (a B vitamin) in the blood by 15% in people who used to eat very little of them, helping their body make healthy cells.
When people who don't eat much fruit or veggies start eating about 8 servings a day for 3 months, the level of vitamin C in their blood goes up by 35%, meaning their body gets more of this important nutrient.
Zerumbone slightly increases harmful molecules (ROS) in skin cells before UVA hits—this small rise is actually needed to activate the cell’s defense system.
Mechanistic
Zerumbone turns up the volume on a genetic switch (ARE) that controls antioxidant genes—more zerumbone means louder activation.
Zerumbone stops skin cells from making too much of an enzyme that breaks down collagen, helping keep skin structure intact after UVA exposure.
When scientists turned off the Nrf2 gene, zerumbone lost its ability to protect skin cells from UVA damage—proving Nrf2 is necessary for its effect.
Zerumbone doesn’t just use one path to activate the cell’s defense system—it uses at least seven different signaling routes to turn on protective genes.
Zerumbone turns on two important antioxidant genes (HO-1 and γ-GCLC) in skin cells, helping them fight off damage—HO-1 stays turned on for a full day.
Zerumbone helps a master switch (Nrf2) move into the nucleus of skin cells, turning on protective genes—this happens within 30 minutes to 4 hours.
Zerumbone blocks the activation of two proteins (c-Fos and c-Jun) that tell skin cells to break down collagen when exposed to UVA light.
When skin cells are damaged by UVA light, they start acting old—zerumbone helps them stay young by reducing this 'aging marker' by more than half.
Zerumbone helps skin cells in a dish clean up harmful molecules (ROS) that are made when they’re exposed to UVA light—more zerumbone means less damage.
A natural compound called zerumbone, when applied to skin cells in a lab, helps them survive better after being exposed to UVA light—especially at higher doses.
Most people who came in with constipation were already eating a lot of fiber—so they weren’t lacking it, which challenges the idea that fiber deficiency causes constipation.