Reading

Blog

The evidence behind appearance and healthspan, read from the papers and written up properly.

  1. Why Calorie Counting Fails as a Weight-Loss Strategy

    Why calorie counting often fails in practice: measurement errors in food labels and food diaries, shifting expenditure, and why identical calories can produce different outcomes.

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  2. Does Alkaline Water Actually Do Anything? What the Evidence Shows

    An evidence-led look at alkaline water claims for blood pH, bone health, reflux, and cancer, checked against the actual clinical trial literature rather than marketing claims.

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  3. Does a High-Protein Diet Damage Healthy Kidneys? What the Evidence Shows

    A close look at protein and kidney function: what changes in healthy kidneys versus diagnosed kidney disease, checked claim-by-claim against the clinical trial and cohort evidence.

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  4. Grey Hair: The Real Biology Behind Greying, and What Reversal Evidence Shows

    Why hair actually turns grey: melanocyte stem cell biology, genetics, and disputed nutrient links, and what the evidence on reversal really supports, checked against the literature.

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  5. mTOR, Rapamycin and Longevity: What the Animal Data Do and Don't Show

    Rapamycin robustly extends lifespan in mice, but no trial shows it extends human life. A clinician reviews the mTOR mechanism, animal data and trade-offs.

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  6. The Coronary Calcium Score: What a "Zero" Really Means, and What It Can Miss

    A measured look at the coronary artery calcium (CAC) score: what a zero means, the MESA evidence, its limits, and when a scan actually changes management.

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  7. Cholesterol, LDL and Longevity: What the Evidence Does and Doesn't Show

    A clinician's evidence-led review of LDL, ApoB and all-cause mortality: where the lipid hypothesis is strong, where it is weak, and what better predicts risk.

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  8. The Metabolic Roots of High Blood Pressure: Why Cutting Salt Is Rarely the Whole Story

    An evidence-led look at why cutting salt often fails to control high blood pressure, and what the research says about insulin, magnesium and minerals.

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  9. Hyaluronic Acid: Molecular Weight, CD44, and Why It Is Not Simply a Moisturiser

    Hyaluronic acid is a molecular-weight-dependent signalling molecule that acts through CD44, not a simple moisturiser. What the science says, and what it doesn't.

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  10. Magnesium: Which Form, Which Test, and Who Actually Needs It

    Magnesium forms, testing and dosing, weighed against the actual trials: which salt for which problem, why the standard blood test misleads, and who benefits.

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  11. Muscle and Longevity: Sarcopenia, Strength and the Difference Between Correlation and Cause

    Muscle and strength track with a longer, healthier life, but tracking is not causing. A measured, cited look at sarcopenia, grip strength, glucose and training.

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  12. Ozempic Face: Fat Compartments, the Extracellular Matrix, and Why Rapid Weight Loss Shows in the Face First

    What causes "Ozempic face"? A measured look at how GLP-1 drugs (semaglutide, tirzepatide) drive facial fat and muscle loss, and what may reduce it.

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  13. Diet and Skin Wrinkles: Glycation, the Randle Cycle, and the Seed-Oil Question

    How diet may influence skin wrinkling: glycation, the Randle cycle, inflammaging and the seed-oil hypothesis, cited and critiqued. No magic foods, no overclaiming.

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  14. Vitamin D: A Statistical Error in the Recommended Intake, and Why a Blood Level Is Not the Same as a Benefit

    The 600 IU vitamin D recommendation rests on a published statistical error. What that means, what supplement trials actually show, and why I start with sun and food.

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  15. Why Your Face Sags After 40: It Might Be Your Skull, Not Just Your Skin

    Sagging after 40 is not just your skin. Dr Abs explains how the facial skeleton reshapes with age, why that drives the sag, and what it actually means for you.

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