Metabolism
Blood sugar, insulin and weight, the engine of aging.
120 answers, from 808 studies
Last updated: September 2026
Key questions
What is spermidine and where is it found?
Spermidine is a molecule that occurs naturally in your body, declines with age, and that you also obtain through fermented…
Yes · Moderate evidence
What does taurine do in your body?
Taurine has several demonstrable functions in your body: it supports the retina, heart, and brain, and helps cells maintain…
Yes · Moderate evidence
Does berberine help with weight loss?
Berberine leads to modest weight loss in some studies, but a large well-designed study found no effect on visceral fat. It is…
Moderate evidence
Can early liver fat accumulation and fibrosis be reversed by addressing the underlying metabolic causes?
Early liver fat accumulation and even fibrosis are largely reversible through weight loss of 10% or more. Start with a…
Yes · Moderate evidence
What are the effects of microdosing with Ozempic?
Microdosing with Ozempic has not been studied, so nobody knows whether it works or is safe. If you are considering using…
Insufficient evidence
What do mitochondrial mutations mean for how quickly you age?
Mitochondrial mutations and dysfunction likely contribute to faster biological ageing. You cannot control the accumulation of…
Yes · Moderate evidence
Does a fasting-mimicking diet work better than simply eating less?
There is currently no convincing evidence that a fasting-mimicking diet works better than simply eating less. For weight loss…
Preliminary evidence
What does urolithin A do to your muscles and mitochondria?
Urolithin A shows positive effects on mitochondrial health and muscle strength in small studies, but the evidence is still…
Yes · Moderate evidence
Does a NAD+ infusion do something that an NMN pill does not?
There is no study that directly compares a NAD+ infusion with an oral NMN pill, so any advantage of the infusion has not been…
Preliminary evidence
How much berberine do you need per day?
For blood sugar control in type 2 diabetes, berberine works best at a daily dose of 500 to 2000 mg, spread throughout the day;…
Yes · Moderate evidence
What do we really know about metformin and ageing?
Metformin may extend your healthy years by helping to prevent disease, from diabetes to heart and vascular disease. Whether it…
Preliminary evidence
What does stable blood sugar do for healthy ageing?
A stable, low blood sugar is associated worldwide with more healthy life years. The association is clear, but the exact gain…
Yes · Moderate evidence
Do your hormones influence how quickly you age?
Hormones do influence ageing, but do not control it entirely. Fat distribution, muscle mass and inflammatory processes are all…
Yes · Moderate evidence
Does black seed oil work as a supplement?
Black seed oil has shown measurable effects on blood lipids, blood pressure and inflammatory markers in randomised research,…
Yes · Moderate evidence
Does a NAD infusion (IV drip) make sense?
A NAD infusion has no proven advantage over cheaper oral supplements, and even those show hardly any demonstrable effect in…
No · Preliminary evidence
Does the fasting-mimicking diet such as Prolon actually work?
For healthy people with risk factors such as elevated blood pressure or blood lipids, there are indications that the diet…
Moderate evidence
What works better to raise NAD+: NMN or NR?
Based on the only direct head-to-head comparison study in humans, NMN and NR perform equally well for raising NAD+, so for now…
Moderate evidence
Which form of iron is best absorbed?
Haem iron from meat, fish and poultry is clearly better absorbed than the form of iron from plant-based foods. If you eat…
Strong evidence
What is the relationship between fatty liver and type 2 diabetes?
Fatty liver and type 2 diabetes mutually reinforce each other: they share the same underlying mechanism and roughly double…
Does excess weight really make your hormones worse?
Excess weight disrupts your hormones in multiple ways simultaneously, and this is not a coincidental association. In men,…
Does chewing slowly really help with better digestion?
Chewing well certainly helps form a smooth food bolus and increases saliva production, but whether it actually leads to better…
Preliminary evidence
How does your body fat affect hormone production as you get older?
Body fat has a considerable influence on your hormonal balance as you age: more abdominal fat disrupts insulin sensitivity,…
What does caffeine do to your stress hormones when you drink a lot of it?
High caffeine intake raises your cortisol, especially during stress or exercise and later in the day; you partially adapt to…
Does the order in which you eat your food affect your digestion?
Yes, the order in which you eat affects your blood sugar and digestion speed: eating protein or vegetables first and…
Yes · Moderate evidence
What is the role of bile acids in healthy digestion?
Bile acids are indispensable for proper fat digestion and the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins. If you suffer from greasy…
Can low blood sugar disrupt your hormones, and how do you notice it?
Low blood sugar immediately raises stress hormones and causes symptoms such as trembling, sweating and irritability. People…
Yes · Moderate evidence
Are the gut bacteria of lean people different from those of heavier people?
The gut bacteria of people with excess weight differ measurably from those of lean people, but whether those bacteria are the…
What does a high-fat diet do to your gut microbiome?
A high-fat diet noticeably disrupts the gut microbiome: less bacterial diversity, more harmful species and a leaky gut wall…
Does having type 2 diabetes increase your risk of certain cancers?
Type 2 diabetes increases the risk of several cancers, including liver, pancreatic, uterine and colorectal cancer. If you have…
Does drinking apple cider vinegar help your digestion?
There is no research whatsoever showing that apple cider vinegar improves digestion. If you want to use apple cider vinegar…
No · Preliminary evidence
What happens to your cells when you don't move enough?
Moving too little demonstrably disrupts how your cells handle sugar, signals and inflammatory processes. Even a small increase…
Can your gut microbiome control your appetite and hunger?
Yes, your gut microbiome can influence your hunger and eating behaviour via a direct connection to your brain. Eating more…
Does diabetes increase the risk of bone fractures?
Both type 1 and type 2 diabetes clearly and demonstrably increase the risk of bone fractures. If you have diabetes, discuss…
What does eating too much sugar do to your gut health?
Eating a lot of sugar probably disrupts your gut microbiome and makes the gut wall more permeable, but it is the combination…
What is sleep debt and can you actually pay it back?
Paying off sleep debt over a weekend does not work: after two recovery nights, cognitive functions are still impaired.…
Yes · Moderate evidence
Does someone with diabetes age faster biologically?
Yes, diabetes noticeably accelerates biological ageing: the risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, and premature death…
Does the timing of meals throughout the day affect your weight?
When you eat matters: meals earlier in the day appear more favourable for your metabolism than eating late, although the…
Yes · Moderate evidence
What does pregnancy do to your hormone balance in the long term?
Pregnancy brings about hormonal changes that are partly temporary, but in the case of gestational diabetes the risk of type 2…
Does eating more fibre help against high blood sugar?
Eating more water-soluble fibre probably helps in lowering high blood sugar, but the overall meal composition also plays a…
Yes · Moderate evidence
What does alcohol do to your blood sugar and insulin sensitivity?
The effect of alcohol on your blood sugar depends strongly on context: on an empty stomach the risk of low blood sugar is…
Does cinnamon really lower your blood sugar?
Cinnamon can modestly lower fasting blood sugar in type 2 diabetes, but whether that makes any meaningful difference to…
Moderate evidence
Does fasting (intermittent fasting) help improve your insulin levels and other hormones?
Fasting probably improves your insulin levels, but most studies are small and short-term. Eating early in the day appears to…
Yes · Moderate evidence
Does it matter for your weight whether your calories come from fat or carbohydrates?
In the long term, the ratio of fat versus carbohydrates matters little for your weight, as long as your total calorie intake…
No · Strong evidence
Does strength training work better against high blood sugar than cardio?
Strength training appears to work better than cardio alone in people with diabetes and a normal weight, but in overweight…
Moderate evidence
Does being overweight affect your bone density?
Being overweight does not straightforwardly increase bone density, and the location and amount of fat strongly determine…
What does chronic stress do to your weight in the long run?
Chronic stress contributes to long-term weight gain and abdominal fat through elevated cortisol, inflammation, and less…
How bad is sitting for too long for your blood sugar and metabolism?
Sitting for long uninterrupted periods noticeably impairs your blood sugar and metabolism, but short breaks of 2-3 minutes of…
What is glycation and how does sugar damage your cells from the inside?
Sugar damages your cells through a chain of chemical reactions that affect proteins, power plants, and small blood vessels.…
Does type 2 diabetes increase your risk of dementia?
Type 2 diabetes substantially increases the risk of dementia, and the younger you are at diagnosis, the greater that risk.…
What is the difference between high blood sugar and a blood sugar spike?
Chronically high blood sugar and a blood sugar spike are two different things that each require their own approach. If your…
What does alcohol do to your hormones when you drink it regularly?
Drinking alcohol regularly disrupts your hormonal balance in several ways: testosterone falls in men, cortisol rises…
Does cold showering or an ice bath speed up your metabolism?
Cold water clearly speeds up metabolism for as long as you are in it, but whether this produces any meaningful effect on…
Moderate evidence
What does excess weight do to your inflammation levels?
Excess weight structurally raises your inflammation levels through multiple biological pathways. Exercise, and strength…
What does intermittent fasting do to your insulin sensitivity?
Intermittent fasting improves insulin sensitivity in most people, but be aware of possible muscle loss and hormonal effects,…
Can too much sugar weaken your immune system?
Chronically high blood sugar levels, as seen in diabetes or severe obesity, demonstrably weaken immune defences. For healthy…
Moderate evidence
Can poor sleep cause me to develop diabetes sooner?
Consistently sleeping too little or poorly demonstrably increases your risk of type 2 diabetes, so it is worthwhile taking…
Yes · Moderate evidence
What does excess weight do to your brain in the long run?
Excess weight harms your brain in multiple ways at once: less brain tissue, weaker connections and a higher risk of dementia.…
Does muscle tissue burn more calories than fat, even at rest?
Muscle tissue burns more calories at rest than fat tissue, and strength training produces a measurable increase in resting…
What is visceral fat and why is it more dangerous than subcutaneous fat?
Visceral fat is more dangerous than subcutaneous fat because it acts directly on the liver, releases more inflammatory…
Does the order in which you eat food and vegetables during a meal matter?
Eating vegetables and/or protein first and carbohydrates last demonstrably blunts the post-meal blood sugar spike, even in…
Yes · Moderate evidence
Does magnesium help with insulin resistance?
There is a reasonable amount of evidence that magnesium has a beneficial effect on insulin resistance, particularly if your…
Yes · Moderate evidence
Why do you gain weight more easily after 40, even if you eat the same amount?
After forty, your body burns fewer calories, mainly due to muscle loss and a lower resting metabolism. You therefore do not…
Does a large belly increase my risk of cancer more than being simply overweight?
A large belly raises the risk of colorectal cancer in particular more than ordinary overweight does, and measuring your waist…
Yes · Moderate evidence
Is brown fat really different from regular fat, and can I activate it?
Brown fat is genuinely different from regular fat and you can activate it, with cold exposure having the strongest evidence.…
Yes · Strong evidence
What does chronically high cortisol do to your belly fat and blood sugar?
Chronically high cortisol directs fat toward the abdominal cavity and increases the risk of insulin resistance and type 2…
Does metformin help with weight loss?
Metformin helps with weight loss, but the effect is modest: expect a few kilograms, not a dramatic transformation. Lifestyle…
Yes · Moderate evidence
Can you take metformin without having diabetes?
Metformin has a reasonable evidence base for specific groups without diabetes (prediabetes, PCOS, overweight with insulin…
Moderate evidence
Does strength training help against insulin resistance?
Strength training probably helps against insulin resistance, although the effect is most strongly demonstrated in combination…
Yes · Strong evidence
How do you measure insulin resistance?
There is no single best method for everyone: the clamp is the most accurate but is only feasible in a specialised setting. For…
Does insulin resistance accelerate ageing?
Insulin resistance is associated with measurably faster biological ageing, greater muscle loss, and possibly a higher risk of…
Yes · Moderate evidence
What foods improve your insulin sensitivity?
Diet can clearly improve your insulin sensitivity: a wholesome diet high in fibre, eating your largest meal early in the day,…
Moderate evidence
What are the earliest signs of insulin resistance?
Early signs of insulin resistance are measurable long before a diabetes diagnosis: elevated fasting insulin, abdominal fat,…
Can your HbA1c also be too low?
An HbA1c below 5.0% is associated with an increased risk of death in people without diabetes, although this is likely a signal…
Yes · Moderate evidence
How often should you have your HbA1c measured?
In stable diabetes, measuring twice a year is standard; when values fluctuate or treatment has changed, four times a year is…
Moderate evidence
What does your HbA1c tell you about your risk of diabetes and ageing?
An elevated HbA1c, even well below the official diabetes threshold, is associated with a greater risk of diabetes, kidney…
How do you lower a high HbA1c?
Several medications demonstrably lower HbA1c: the weekly semaglutide injection has the strongest evidence base, but oral…
Strong evidence
What is a healthy HbA1c value?
There is no fixed 'healthy' HbA1c value: lower within the normal range appears to be better, but how low is optimal also…
Do proteins inhibit your autophagy?
Proteins inhibit autophagy because the amino acids in your meal keep mTOR active, the best-known brake on autophagy. If you…
Yes · Moderate evidence
How many hours of fasting are needed to activate autophagy?
There is no proven hourly threshold for activating autophagy in humans. If you use this as a reason for a fasting pattern, be…
At what age does taking NAD+ supplements make sense?
There is no established age at which NAD+ supplementation becomes worthwhile; studies focus on middle-aged and older adults,…
Preliminary evidence
How does too much LDL or ApoB lead to clogged arteries?
Too many LDL and apoB particles sets off a well-established chain reaction that gradually clogs arteries. Having your apoB…
What is the relation between NAD+ and vitamin B3?
Vitamin B3 is the only dietary building block for NAD+ in your body -- that relationship is causal and well supported. Whether…
What is the controversy surrounding NAD+?
NAD+ supplements raise your NAD+ levels, but whether that translates into any health benefit has not been proven, and in the…
Does NAD+ cause weight gain?
There is no scientific evidence that NAD+ supplements such as NMN or NR cause weight gain. Animal research even suggests the…
No · Preliminary evidence
What are the effects if you take NAD every day?
Taking 600-900 mg of a NAD supplement per day raises your NAD levels and provides some benefit for endurance, but long-term…
Does coffee activate mTOR?
Caffeine inhibits mTOR in cell and animal research, but coffee as a complete drink actually activated mTOR in the muscle…
Chronic sleep deprivation: how harmful is it for weight and hormones?
Chronic sleep deprivation disrupts your hormones and metabolism after just a few nights. Structurally sleeping too little…
What is AMPK and how do you activate it (through fasting or exercise)?
Exercise and (short-term) fasting are the best-supported ways to activate AMPK, but whether every fasting or dietary strategy…
Yes · Moderate evidence
What does insulin do to the ageing process?
Chronically too much insulin is probably bad for healthy ageing, but science does not yet know precisely what the ideal…
Is yo-yo dieting, repeatedly gaining and losing weight, bad for me?
Yo-yo dieting carries real risks, particularly for cardiovascular health and psychological wellbeing, although some widely…
Yes · Moderate evidence
Does eating a lot of sugar give you type 2 diabetes?
Sugary drinks clearly and demonstrably increase your risk of type 2 diabetes. Sugar from solid food barely does. The biggest…
Does it make sense to limit blood sugar spikes, even without diabetes?
Limiting blood sugar spikes makes sense even without diabetes: the risk of cardiovascular disease appears to rise with spikes…
Yes · Moderate evidence
Why is it harder for me to lose weight than it used to be?
Ageing lowers your energy expenditure through muscle loss and a slower metabolism, making weight loss objectively harder.…
Does my metabolism really slow down as I get older?
Your resting metabolism really does decline with age, but the biggest culprit is muscle loss, not some mysterious metabolic…
Does it matter what time of day I eat?
Eating earlier in the day is more beneficial for your weight, blood sugar and hormonal balance than eating late or at night.…
Yes · Moderate evidence
Are smoothies and fresh juice just as healthy as whole fruit?
Whole fruit beats fruit juice: more fibre, greater satiety and fewer free sugars. Smoothies fall somewhere in between, but are…
No · Moderate evidence
Does the combination of glycine and NAC (GlyNAC) help against aging?
GlyNAC shows promising results in a small human study on oxidative stress, muscle function and inflammation, but the evidence…
Preliminary evidence
Does urolithin A from pomegranate do anything for your muscles and energy?
UA supplements (1000 mg/day) improve muscular endurance in older adults, but do not demonstrably increase total energy…
Moderate evidence
Does my weight and metabolism change during menopause?
During menopause, your body composition changes profoundly: more abdominal fat, less muscle and a lower resting metabolic…
Does losing weight noticeably improve my blood pressure and cholesterol?
Losing weight noticeably lowers your blood pressure and improves your cholesterol profile, but which value improves the most…
Yes · Strong evidence
What works better for weight loss: semaglutide or tirzepatide?
Tirzepatide consistently produces greater weight loss than semaglutide, but both medications have comparable gastrointestinal…
Yes · Strong evidence
Is my gut flora linked to being overweight?
Your gut microbiome is probably linked to excess weight through multiple mechanisms, but a proven causal relationship in…
Do you actually live longer if you structurally eat fewer calories?
In laboratory animals, eating less convincingly extends lifespan, but this has not yet been demonstrated for healthy people…
Moderate evidence
Does being overweight increase my risk of cancer, and if so, which types?
Excess weight increases your risk of at least 13 types of cancer, including uterine, colorectal, breast and liver cancer.…
What is a healthy HDL (good cholesterol) level, and can I raise it?
Raising HDL through lifestyle is possible, but your genes set the ceiling. Lowering triglycerides through less sugar and…
Moderate evidence
What is a healthy waist circumference and why does it matter?
A larger waist circumference is associated with a greater risk of diabetes, bone fractures, gum disease and premature death.…
What do artificial sweeteners do to your gut microbiome?
Whether artificial sweeteners truly disrupt your gut microbiome is not yet clear: studies contradict one another. Until there…
What is NAD+ and what does it do in your body?
NAD+ is an indispensable molecule for energy, DNA repair and cell health, but the question of whether you should actively…
Does berberine help against high blood sugar (the natural metformin)?
Be careful with this. Berberine measurably lowers blood sugar, but EFSA could not establish a safe intake level (signs of DNA…
Yes · Moderate evidence
How bad is fructose compared to regular sugar?
Fructose places a greater burden on the liver than glucose and raises triglycerides, belly fat and uric acid more. But regular…
How do I know if my blood sugar is healthy (prediabetes)?
Prediabetes can be measured reliably, but no single blood test provides complete certainty on its own. If in doubt, have…
I am overweight -- what will losing weight do for me?
Losing weight delivers measurable health gains from as little as 5% weight loss: better blood sugar, lower blood pressure and…
Does excess weight accelerate ageing?
Excess weight demonstrably accelerates biological ageing, but metabolic health counts at least as heavily as the number on the…
What is NAD+ and why does it decline as you age?
NAD+ is an indispensable energy carrier and guardian of your DNA, and your body produces less of it as you age. The mechanisms…
What does your thyroid do to your metabolism and energy?
Your thyroid is one of the most powerful regulators of your resting metabolism, and both too little and too much hormone has…
Do diabetes pills (SGLT2 inhibitors) also work against ageing?
For people with heart or kidney problems, large trials show that SGLT2 inhibitors clearly do more than lower blood sugar…
Moderate evidence
Does a walk after eating help with your blood sugar?
A short walk after eating, or better still several short walking breaks of 2 to 3 minutes spread throughout the day, is a…
Yes · Strong evidence
What is metabolic syndrome and how do I get rid of it?
Metabolic syndrome is a combination of abdominal fat, high blood pressure, disturbed blood sugar, and poor blood lipids, and…
Yes · Strong evidence
Is a glucose meter useful if you don't have diabetes?
Without diabetes, a glucose monitor gives you some genuinely interesting information about how your body responds to food,…
Preliminary evidence
What is insulin resistance and can I reverse it?
Insulin resistance can in many cases be substantially reversed, and exercising more combined with a healthier diet are the…
Yes · Strong evidence
Latest articles
11 SepStatins may cut dementia risk in type 2 diabetes
Starting cholesterol-lowering medication shortly after a type 2 diabetes diagnosis appears to reduce the risk of developing…
1 min
Targeting cell metabolism to clear aging cells
Senescent cells accumulate in the body over time and fuel chronic inflammation. Researchers have now found a new way to…
1 min
Genes and metabolism shift in measurable aging patterns
What does human aging actually look like, measured from the inside?
1 min
Insulin signalling controls gene reading in kidney cells
Kidney cells that cannot process insulin properly lose more than their metabolism. They also lose the ability to read genes…
1 min
GLP-1 drug extends lifespan in mice
GLP-1 drugs are known for weight loss. But new research shows they also extend lifespan in mice. That raises questions about…
1 min
How your metabolism changes after 40, and what you can actually do about it
After 40, your body burns fewer calories. The main culprit is muscle loss, not some mysterious metabolic slowdown. Here is…
3 min
Exercise cuts a gut metabolite that harms bones
Regular exercise is known to protect bones. But new research reveals a specific biochemical link: physical activity lowers a…
1 min
Diabetes drug protects the heart via unexpected pathway
SGLT2 inhibitors, originally developed to lower blood sugar in diabetes, are known to protect the heart. But exactly how has…
1 min
Implanted muscle tissue boosts metabolism in aged mice
What if you could slow aging by placing a small piece of muscle tissue under the skin? Researchers did exactly that in mice…
1 min
Metformin against aging: what the evidence now shows
Metformin has been the most widely prescribed diabetes drug for decades. Now there is growing interest in whether it can slow…
2 min
How Much Your Lifestyle Lowers Your Cancer Risk
Four lifestyle factors do the most to lower your cancer risk: not smoking, limiting alcohol, maintaining a healthy weight, and…
3 min
Retatrutide vs semaglutide: what sets the newest weight-loss drugs apart
Retatrutide vs semaglutide: what do we know about efficacy, side effects and muscle loss with the newest weight-loss drugs? A…
2 min
Brain immune cells turn inflammatory with age via metabolism
Microglia, the brain’s immune cells, change their behavior as you age. New research explains how shifts in their metabolism…
2 min
Intermittent fasting for a longer life: what the evidence actually says
Intermittent fasting and caloric restriction: what really works for a longer, healthier life? Here is what the evidence says…
3 min
Midlife exercise protects the brain decades later
Regular physical activity in your forties and fifties may keep your brain sharper in old age. So does stable blood sugar.
1 min
Rare gene variant cuts heart disease risk by 60%
Some people seem naturally protected from metabolic disease. A new study of over one million people now suggests why.
1 min
Blood metabolites could sharpen biological age measurement
How do you know whether an anti-aging intervention actually works? Right now, that is nearly impossible to measure quickly.
2 min
Aging cells link lung disease and metabolic decline
Chronic lung diseases and metabolic conditions like type 2 diabetes seem unrelated. But aging cells that accumulate in lungs…
2 min
Five longevity drugs share one metabolic signature
Five different treatments that extend mouse lifespan all raise the same molecule in blood and brain.
2 min
Ageing lysosomes share a metabolic pattern with rare disease
Every cell contains a tiny recycling plant called the lysosome. As we age, these structures begin to fail.
1 min
Brain waste clearance via the nose declines with age
The brain has its own drainage system for metabolic waste. It deteriorates with age, and that deterioration is linked to the…
1 min
Children’s body fat does not rebound at age six
For 42 years, doctors have flagged rising BMI in six-year-olds as an early warning sign of obesity. New research suggests that…
1 min
Five blood proteins flag liver disease sixteen years early
A liver disease linked to obesity and poor diet is usually caught only after serious damage has occurred. A panel of five…
1 min
Weight-loss startup bets against GLP-1 drugs
The obesity drug market is dominated by one type of medicine.
1 min
A long RNA molecule guards liver immunity with age
Inside the liver lives a long RNA molecule that keeps the balance between immunity and metabolism in check. In ageing mice,…
1 min
Gut bacteria metabolite speeds up brain aging
A compound made by gut bacteria appears to damage the brain. And the older you get, the more of it circulates in your blood.
2 min
Sensory nerves drive cancer-related muscle loss
Cancer patients often lose muscle and body weight rapidly, even when they are eating.
1 min
Cancer suppresses appetite through sensory nerves
Many cancer patients lose dramatic amounts of weight, not because they refuse to eat, but because their body actively…
1 min
Statins keep hearts of people with obesity healthy
People with obesity have worse cardiovascular health. That is the conventional wisdom. A 25-year study now challenges that…
2 min
Diabetes accelerates shoulder damage through tendon decay
People with diabetes suffer from serious shoulder problems far more often than those without. The link has been known for some…
1 min
Midlife blood metabolites linked to brain aging
Long before any symptoms appear, your blood may already be signaling how your brain is aging.
1 min
Are GLP-1 drugs actually slowing down aging?
GLP-1 receptor agonists are widely used for obesity and diabetes. But could they do something more fundamental, actually…
1 min
Blood metabolites link midlife lifestyle to brain aging
What your blood looks like at fifty may predict how your brain holds up at seventy. A large study now maps that connection…
2 min
GLP-1 drugs are reshaping health spending
Weight-loss drugs like semaglutide are wildly popular. But the bill is mounting fast: the US spent nearly $5.
1 min
Fat around arteries fuels heart disease from within
A thin layer of fat wraps around most small arteries. In healthy people, it helps vessels relax. In obesity and high blood…
2 min
New aging clock merges proteins and metabolites
A biological clock that simultaneously measures proteins and small molecules in blood predicts chronic diseases more…
2 min
How innate immune memory rewires cell metabolism
Your immune system remembers more than just infections. Immune cells can learn from earlier activation and respond more…
2 min
GLP-1 drugs: who wins the market race?
Wegovy and Zepbound currently dominate the weight loss drug market. But Pfizer, Amgen and others are positioning themselves to…
1 min
Senolytics reshape immunity and metabolism in aged mice
What happens inside the body after senescent cells are cleared? A new study maps the answer in unprecedented detail, and the…
2 min
The placenta keeps its own biological time
The placenta, the organ that sustains a foetus throughout pregnancy, appears to have its own internal clock. Researchers…
1 min
Naked mole-rats age without metabolic decline
The naked mole-rat lives up to ten times longer than comparably sized rodents.
2 min
Diabetes and dementia are more linked than thought
People with diabetes face a higher risk of dementia. But the relationship runs both ways: the two conditions reinforce each…
2 min
GLP-1 drug measurably slows biological aging
A widely used weight-loss drug does more than shed pounds. Researchers found that semaglutide also slows biological aging, as…
2 min
GLP-1 drugs cost supermarkets a billion
People using GLP-1 drugs for weight loss eat measurably less. In the United Kingdom, that already wiped nearly a billion…
1 min
TORC1 links chromosome errors to cell growth
Errors in how chromosomes are divided during cell division seem unrelated to metabolism.
1 min
Severe obesity reshapes the heart’s muscle proteins
In severe obesity, the heart works differently at the molecular level. A study in Science now shows exactly what changes…
1 min
B cells reprogram their metabolism upon activation
When the immune system detects a threat, B cells do not just produce antibodies. They also completely restructure their…
2 min
Lysine modification links cell metabolism to gene activity
A small chemical tag on an amino acid turns out to play a surprisingly large role in cell biology.
2 min
Sirtuin 1 links exercise to metabolic benefits
Exercise improves metabolism in dozens of ways, but pinpointing which molecule causes which benefit is genuinely hard.
2 min
Metformin targets ATP synthase in cancer cells
Metformin has been the most prescribed type 2 diabetes drug for decades. New research now shows it also inhibits cancer cells…
2 min
Tooth infections disrupt insulin
A silent infection deep inside a tooth can do far more than cause jaw pain.
2 min
Aging muscle stem cells lose glutamine metabolism
Muscle stem cells in older animals struggle to activate. A new study pinpoints the reason: a specific metabolic pathway fueled…
2 min
Weightlessness accelerates aging like a fast-forward
Scientists studying aging face one persistent obstacle: it takes a long time for animals to grow old. An unlikely solution is…
1 min
Obesity and Alzheimer share molecular pathways
Obesity raises the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. The link has been suspected for years, but the underlying biology was murky. A…
2 min
Sugar-damaged proteins are quietly accelerating your aging, here’s what the science says
Your body is full of proteins that have been chemically modified by sugar, not because of what you eat, but because of basic…
2 min
A protein deficiency that should weaken cancer cells actually makes them grow faster
When a key energy-producing protein is reduced in cancer cells, the tumors don’t slow down, they accelerate. New research…
2 min
Losing weight doesn’t fully reset your immune system, it may remember years of obesity
The weight can come off. But according to a new study in mice, the immune system may hold onto a memory of obesity long after…
2 min
Intermittent fasting reshapes the liver, brain and muscles
Periodic fasting has been promoted for years as a powerful way to improve metabolism. But how the body actually responds…
2 min
A metabolic hormone slowed spinal disc aging in rats, and it’s already being tested in humans for other reasons
Back pain from worn spinal discs is one of the most common consequences of getting older.
2 min
When a key metabolic enzyme fades, fat cells age faster, and take the body with them
Fat tissue ages. That much has been known for a while. But what drives the aging process inside individual fat cells has…
2 min
How gut bacteria may be slowly breaking down your brain, and what science is doing about it
Your gut microbiome sends messages directly to your brain through metabolites and inflammatory signals.
2 min
Eating less protein reshapes your fat tissue - and your gut bacteria are doing the work
Restricting protein triggers a conversion of white fat into brown fat, a metabolically healthier tissue type. But the body…
2 min
Immune cells that can sniff out tumors: a new chapter in cancer therapy
Cancer cells leak specific metabolites, chemical byproducts of their abnormally high energy use. Researchers have now…
2 min
BioAge Labs: Promising Early Data for a New Metabolism Drug Targeting Aging
A small biotech company that treats aging as the biological root of metabolic disease has released early clinical results for…
2 min
Liver disease starts more quietly than we thought: how molecular profiles expose early MASLD
Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease, MASLD, the new name for what used to be called "fatty liver…
2 min
BioAge Labs scores a breakthrough with new metabolism drug targeting aging
BioAge Labs, a biopharmaceutical company focused on slowing biological aging, has presented positive interim results for its…
1 min
The Liver Changes Long Before the Blood Tells: New Molecular Atlas of Early Fatty Liver Disease
More than a billion people worldwide have metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease, yet the molecular events…
2 min
Your immune system as a clock: how aging dismantles your defenses from the inside out
Your immune system is not just your shield against pathogens -- it is also one of the first systems to buckle under the weight…
1 min
Your metabolism as a smoke detector: this molecule puts the brakes on the inflammation that ages you
Chronic low-grade inflammation, known as "inflammaging," is one of the most dangerous silent drivers of aging.
1 min
The mysterious metabolite that puts the brakes on inflammaging
As you get older, your immune system is increasingly on high alert, even when there is no real threat.
2 min
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