I enjoy keeping up-to-date with the latest nutrition, sports science, and disease-prevention research. Remember, although one study can make a dramatic headline, it often takes years of research and different kinds of studies to show how something is affecting our health. Below are links to research that caught my attention. I’ll be updating the list so be sure to check back!
Sports Science
- Altitude: Predicting Your Performance at Altitude
- Altitude: study reveals best altitude (2000-2500 m) for better performance at sea level
- How hard was that practice? Coach & athlete ratings differ by athlete age & experience
- Heart Rate. Good research review on monitoring training status with heart rate
- Heart Rate. Is resting heart rate a good tool to monitor readiness for training?
- Heart Rate. Interesting study for athletes tracking morning heart rate (weekly average better than daily)
- Interval Training: New studies shed light on the best way to do interval training
- Interval Training: Study finds polarized training (mix of hard/easy) best for endurance athletes
- Interval Training: Is high-intensity interval training a time-efficient strategy to improve health and fitness?
- Interval Training. VO2max Trainability: longer intervals + high intensity continuous best
- Interval Training. Optimizing recovery for interval training – research on duration & active vs passive
- Interval Training. Critical power in xc skiing: 3-min all-out test= acceptable estimates
- Interval Training. Good training=hard days hard & easy days easy; study shows athletes struggle to do this
- Hormone released after exercise can ‘predict’ biological age
- All-out start (∼15 s) improves performance in short-duration (< 180 s) athletic events
- Why are elite athletes able to speed up when they see the finish line?
- Positive feedback lowers VO2 & perceived exertion & improves economy
- Sleep. Sleep or train? Early-morning workouts that limit sleep might affect performance
- Sleep. What’s more important: an extra hour of sleep or getting up early to exercise?
- Warmup. Higher intensity warmup improves sprint performance
- Immune System. How the Norwegian team reduced illnesses for the Vancouver Olympic Games
- Strength. How important is arm strength in cross country skiers?
- Strength. Runners benefit from strength training: Mo Farah & this study
- Workouts feel harder when your brain is tired
- Strength. Cardio & strength training in same session: Does order matter? Research says no.
- Stretching. Static stretching timing matters-> don’t stretch before/during strength training for max benefits
Sports Nutrition
- Intervention shows strategies to prevent eating disorders in young athletes
- Study shows alcohol after exercise hurts protein synthesis and impairs recovery & adaptation
- Why Vitamins May Be Bad for Your Workout
- Athletes should get nutrients from foods, not supplements: Vit C & E hamper endurance training
- More evidence shows moderate coffee intake won’t dehydrate you
- Caffeine over consecutive days improves endurance performance (xc ski double-pole)
- Diets of elite female athletes lack iron & calcium (especially aesthetic sport athletes)
- Exercising in the heat? You may need more carbs
- Study suggests high dose of Vit C can hurt athletic performance
- A poor diet can hurt your training without you even realizing it. Nice review of Australian study looking at glycogen
Nutrition News
- 7 reasons vegetarians healthier overall & live longer
- Fruit juice: just another sugary drink? Full text (Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology)
- New study adds to many benefits of Mediterranean diet: reduced risk of peripheral artery disease
- Chocolate, tea, & berries (yum!) might protect from diabetes (via better glucose regulation)
- New study suggests that the Mediterranean diet alone fights diabetes
- Coffee improves blood vessel function=clues to how it improves heart health
Vitamins and Supplements
- What You Don’t Know About Your Vitamins
- Prostate cancer chances rise with vitamin E, selenium supplements
- Why Vitamins May Be Bad for Your Workout
- Vitamin D2 supplements poor choice for athletes=greater muscle damage
- Latest research saying that Vitamin D is not necessary
- Meta-analysis shows dietary iron intake & body iron stores linked to heart disease
- Skip the supplements->potential harm often overlooked
- Arthritic knees? Exercise/weight loss more effective than Glucosamine And Chondroitin
- Beware of herbal products-> study shows most contaminated & poor quality
- Increased iron levels might raise Alzheimer’s risk
- Study suggests high dose of Vit C can hurt athletic performance
Healthy Living/Disease Prevention
- Excess body fat can hurt your brain, but exercise can help
- Diet High in Meat-Proteins Raises Cancer Risk for Middle-Aged People
- More evidence that keeping active as you age will keep your muscles young
- Stand-up desks alone won’t beat ‘chair disease’->plan breaks to move
- A bad night’s sleep? Convince yourself you’re well rested & you’ll perform better
- More reasons to move->how inactivity changes the brain
- Compelling reasons to make sleep a priority for health
- Exercise ‘potentially as effective’ as many drugs for common diseases. BMJ
- Eating peanut butter might cut breast cancer risk (beans, lentils, soybeans & corn might also be protective)
- Study in 90-yr-olds shows benefits of strength training – never too late to start!
- High coffee intake may help against prostate cancer
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