BodyFat.Tips Desk

BodyFat.Tips Desk

The BodyFat.Tips Desk is the research and editorial operation behind BodyFat.Tips, a publication of TAK Marketing, LLC, part of the Omnishun information systems. It is a desk, not a person: no headshot, no invented bio, no borrowed credentials. Every verdict here is produced by reading the research itself rather than the press release, rating how strong the evidence actually is on a fixed four-point scale, tracing where the claim came from, and correcting in public when we get something wrong. Nobody pays us to reach a conclusion. This is journalism, not medical advice — take personal health questions to a clinician. How we work, in detail: bodyfat.tips/how-we-read-a-study/
  • Joined: June 1, 2024
  • Articles: 232
35%bigger rise in blood sugar over an hour from a maltodextrin-type glucose polymer than from the same weight of table sugar, in 14 young men; our arithmetic from the trial's figuresYESEstablished

Is Maltodextrin Bad for You? Gram for Gram, It Does Spike Blood Sugar More Than Table Sugar. “Worse Than Sugar” for Your Liver and Belly Fat Is Not What the Trials Found.

Cartoon bar chart of four bars at true scale: glucose 190, maltodextrin 178, table sugar 132 and fructose 72, the rise in blood sugar over an hour in 14 young men; beside it the figure 35%

Gram for gram, maltodextrin raises blood sugar about as much as pure glucose and more than table sugar, so that part of the viral claim is true. Worse than sugar for insulin resistance, belly fat or a fatty liver is another matter: trials of glucose against fructose and against table sugar found glucose no worse, and on some measures better. And the 65 to 250 pounds a year traces to nothing we could find.

1 of 4plaque measures that differed from a dummy after a year in the 55-person trial behind the soft-plaque claim; total plaque did notMAYBEPreliminary

Aged Garlic Extract: Six Small Trials Slowed a Number on a Heart Scan. None Showed an Artery Unclogging.

Cartoon of four boxes, one filled and marked softest, three empty and marked no clear difference: four plaque measures after a year in a 55-person trial of aged garlic extract; beside it the figure 1 of 4

Six small one-year trials found aged garlic extract slowed a number on a heart scan; five came from one Los Angeles lab, and at least five had money, capsules or staff from the extract's maker. Total plaque did not shrink in either trial that measured it, and the one long trial that counted heart deaths found no fewer.

0.15 lbdifference in weight from a dummy capsule after four months of pasteurized Akkermansia, in the largest trial, 142 adults (0.07 kg); the trial missed its main goalMAYBEPreliminary

Akkermansia Benefits: The Supplement Trials for Weight and Blood Sugar Are Small and Mixed. The Cancer Link Is a Stool Finding, and More Was Not Better.

Cartoon of a petri dish with bacteria; beside it the figure 0.15 lb, the difference in weight from a dummy capsule after four months of pasteurized Akkermansia in the largest trial, 142 adults

Eleven randomised trials of Akkermansia supplements for weight or blood sugar are small and split: the largest, 142 adults, missed its main goal, and the clearest result was 4.4 lb less weight regained after a diet. Four reported GLP-1, and they disagree. The cancer link is a stool finding, and the one such trial to report results had nine patients and no comparison group.

1.69more complete bowel movements a week than at the start, after four weeks of two green kiwifruit a day, in the largest trial's 121 adults with constipation; psyllium, a fibre supplement, gave 0.90MAYBEPreliminary

Kiwi Benefits: For Constipation, Two a Day Kept Pace With Mostly Low-Dose Fiber Supplements Over Weeks, Not 24 Hours. Against a Dummy, No Clear Difference Yet.

Cartoon bar chart: a bar at plus 1.69 marked two kiwifruit and a shorter bar at plus 0.90 marked psyllium, complete bowel movements a week gained over four weeks in 121 adults with constipation; beside it the figure 1.69

In trials of adults with constipation, two or three kiwifruit a day added roughly one to three complete bowel movements a week to where people started, about what a fiber supplement did, over four weeks. The one randomised trial against a dummy found no clear difference across everyone in it. No trial of the fruit we found reported the first 24 hours, and a kiwifruit marketer paid toward every gut study of the whole fruit on this page.

1.89times the breast cancer rate, most vs least body fat, in 3,460 women with a normal BMI; the videos said three-foldMOSTLYSupported

Is Skinny Fat Dangerous? At a Normal Weight, a Large Waist Went With More Deaths. The Study That Best Fits the ‘Three-Fold’ Claim Found 1.9.

Cartoon bar chart from one baseline: a bar at 1.00 marked least body fat and a taller bar at 1.89 marked most body fat, 3,460 women past menopause with a normal BMI; beside the figure 1.89

At a normal weight, a large waist went with higher death rates in big studies; a high body-fat reading did so less consistently. The breast cancer study that best fits the videos' "three-fold" found 1.9 times. Small trials moved the fat; none counted the deaths.

18%smaller blood-sugar rise after chilled, reheated rice in 14 healthy adults, the trial the video cites first; the peak was no lowerMAYBEPreliminary

Resistant Starch: Chilled Rice Cut the Blood-Sugar Rise 18% in the Study a 3-Million-View Video Cites. A 40-Person Rice Trial Found No Difference.

Cartoon grid of 28 boxes, one per one-meal trial of cooled against fresh starchy food: 15 filled for a clearly smaller blood-sugar rise, 11 open for no clear difference and 2 grey for no test result; beside it the figure 18%, the drop after chilled, reheated rice in 14 healthy adults

Cooling cooked rice, pasta or potatoes turns a little of the starch resistant to digestion. Of the 28 single-meal trials we found and could read in people without diabetes, 15 found a clearly smaller blood-sugar rise, 11 found no clear difference and 2 reported no test result for it. The peak often barely moved, and no trial of chilled food alone that measured blood sugar lasted longer than a day. Resistant-starch supplements are a separate, weaker story.

6 of 7kinds of exercise that cut visceral fat in a review of 84 randomised trials; the seventh had 29 people and could not tellYESEstablished

How to Lose Visceral Fat: Exercise Shrank It in Trial After Trial, Often by More Than the Scale Showed. The Green Tea Evidence Comes Mostly From Its Makers.

Cartoon of seven boxes in a row: six filled, marked cut visceral fat, and a seventh empty with a question mark, marked 29 people; seven kinds of exercise in a review of 84 randomised trials; beside it the figure 6 of 7

Six of seven kinds of exercise cut visceral fat across 84 randomised trials, and in one eight-month trial it fell 6.9% while weight fell 2.6%. The green tea sold to shrink it was tested mostly by companies that sell tea. Of three trials we read with no company among their authors, two found no change and one, a small trial alongside exercise, found less.

64%had liver fat back under 5% after a year-long lifestyle programme, against 20% on usual careYESEstablished

Can Fatty Liver Be Reversed? The Fat, Yes, Within Weeks. In a Year-Long Study, the Scarring Moved Both Ways.

Cartoon bar chart: a bar at 64 percent marked programme and a shorter bar at 20 percent marked usual care, the share with liver fat back under 5% after a year; beside the figure 64%

Yes, for the fat: in a year-long randomised trial, 64% of people on a lifestyle programme had liver fat back under the line that defines the disease, against 20% on usual care, and liver fat starts falling within days of eating less. The scarring, which is what predicts how the disease ends, is a slower and smaller story.

1.7%of 129,732 rounds of parasite testing doctors ordered found a parasite that causes disease (a national US laboratory, 1997 to 2006)NOUnsupported

Do Parasite Cleanses Work? One Seller Told Buyers 90% of Americans Have Parasites. In 129,732 Rounds of Lab Tests Doctors Ordered, 1.7% Found One That Causes Disease.

Cartoon dot grid: 1,000 dots with 17 filled; beside it the figure 1.7%, the share of 129,732 rounds of parasite testing at a US laboratory that found a disease-causing parasite

A seller told buyers that 90% of Americans have parasites. In 129,732 rounds of parasite testing doctors ordered at a national laboratory, 1.7% found one that causes disease. We found no trial of a cleanse in people without an infection; herbs tried on people who had one gave mixed results, and against the drug they mostly lost.

7.5%of caregivers died over about six years; 9.0% of matched non-caregiversNOUnsupported

Does Caregiving Shorten Your Life? The 63% Came From Strained Spouses. The Big Studies Since Found Caregivers Dying Less Often.

Cartoon bar chart: a bar at 7.5 percent marked caregivers and a taller bar at 9.0 percent marked matched non-caregivers; beside the figure 7.5%

A widely watched caregiving channel says stress keeps caregivers' cortisol high, and another of its videos puts their extra risk of dying at 63%. That figure came from strained spouses in one 1999 study. In the large studies since, caregivers died less often than similar non-caregivers. What rises, consistently, is depression and stress.