The figure below, from Brooks et al. (2005), shows a graph relating nitrogen balance and protein intake. A nitrogen balance of zero is a sta...

In a previous post ( ), I discussed the frequently reported lowest-mortality body mass index (BMI), which is about 26. The empirical results...

Do overweight folks live longer? It is not uncommon to see graphs like the one below, from the Med Journal Watch blog ( ), suggesting that, ...

I wrote most of this post a while ago, and then forgot about it. The recent blogosphere storm of comments regarding cold-induced thermogene...

In the two last posts I discussed the idea of gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time ( ) ( ). This post outlines one approach to mak...

In my previous post ( ), I mentioned that the idea of gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time seems impossible to most people because...

Many people struggle to lose body fat, and never quite make it to their optimal. Fewer people manage to do so successfully, and, as soon as...

Compensatory adaptation (CA)  is an idea that is useful in the understanding of how the body reacts to inputs like dietary intake of macronu...

This previous post  looks at the amounts of protein needed to maintain a nitrogen balance of zero. It builds on data about individuals doing...

This post has been revised and re-published . The original comments are preserved below.

Loss of muscle mass is associated with aging. It is also associated with the metabolic syndrome, together with excessive body fat gain. It i...

This is an issue that often comes up in online health discussions, and was the topic of a conversation I had the other day with a friend abo...