Resources
Media reports, company marketing efforts, and self-proclaimed experts can make interpreting health news confusing. These outlets recognize that people are drawn to exceptional or miraculous stories that elicit an emotional response.
Good science is the best tool that we have to figure out how something is influencing our health. Finding out “what works” isn’t usually the result of a single study, but often years of research from various disciplines. To evaluate a diet, health claims, exercise regime, practices, or products, you should consult sources who use the best scientific evidence available while considering cumulative scientific knowledge in that area.
I’ve put together a list of resources who use this evidence-based approach.
Sports Science
- The Science of Sport
- Alex Hutchinson’s Sweat Science Blog
- Guru Performance
- Mike Young’s Elite Track Blog
- New York Times Fitness Features
- Dr. Mirkin provides short reviews of recent research on fitness, nutrition, and health, and puts them in context.
- Medicine of Cycling Research Library – tremendous resource of sports science research in cycling
- Swimming Science
- mysportscience.com. This site is produced by Asker Jeukendrup, a leading exercise physiologist and sports nutritionist. He aims to provide unbiased and objective view of a wide range of sports science and nutrition topics, using an evidence based approach. Asker has an impressive list of publications in the field, and is good at providing practical information. This is a great resource for coaches and athletes!
Sports Science Research Update Resources
- Pubmed. You’ll find more than 24 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. Increasingly, citations include links to full-text content from PubMed Central and publisher web sites.
- Infographics by Yann Le Meur. Summarizing complex studies can be a challenge. Exercise physiologist Yann Le Meur is helping make sports science research understandable for all, using graphics and simplified text to illustrate recent studies. Le Meur conducts research at the National Institute of Sport, Expertise, and Performance in Paris. If you like these graphic summaries, be sure to visit Yann Le Meur’s website, which he updates regularly with new research (or follow him on twitter at @YLMSportScience). You’ll find recent summaries of interval training, warmup protocols, sleep, injury rehab or prevention, recovery, strength training, and much more.
Public Policy for Physical Activity & Nutrition
- Designed to Move – a physical activity action agenda.
- Institute of Medicine Food and Nutrition
- Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity is a research and public policy organization devoted to improving the world’s diet, preventing obesity, and reducing weight stigma.
- World Health Organization (WHO) Nutrition
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Reviewed and updated April 24, 2017
