I was asked recently to provide some examples of health and fitness marketing that makes false claims and/or exploits human biases. I came up with a billion examples. Here are just 6:
4/6. Selling a respiratory training device on the premise it can protect against COVID-19. A dangerous and nonsensical claim.
5/6. The striking use of a ‘before and after' image to market a weight loss pill. This taps into the primal, decision-making centers of the brain that are easily mislead by emotive arguments. They also state “as seen on TV” – a blatant appeal to popularity.
6/6. Famous athletes being paid to endorse training products – another fallacious appeal to authority. This time, Chris Froome selling a nasal dilator:
Exaggerated claims and bad science make a mockery of the industry. It affects the work of exercise scientists and professionals, and has profound implications for population health.
If we don't oppose it, who will?
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Huberman: "Cold, in particular, can be leveraged to improve mental health, physical health, and performance... for endurance exercise, for recovering from various forms of exercise, for actually improving strength and power..."
One thing almost unequivocal about cold immersion is that it inhibits recovery and diminishes strength and muscle mass adaptations. 🧵1/4
2/4 There are a few probable mechanisms.
•Tracer studies show that cold water immersion after training significantly diminished muscle protein synthesis (fractional synthetic rate) for at least 5 hours. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31788800/
•There's also a blunting of anabolic signaling with cold immersion: an acute decrease in satellite cell numbers and activity of kinases regulating muscle hypertrophy. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC45…
3/4
These data are corroborated by at least three meta-analyses and/or systematic reviews.
The most recent meta, by @BradSchoenfeld's group, included 8 studies and showed that cold immersion immediately following resistance training attenuated hypertrophic changes. (Negative values favor training without cold immersion).
If you're training for #muscle strength, power, or hypertrophy, STOP ice bathing after your sessions. It's almost certainly diminishing your returns. 1/5 #strength#training Evidence summary ->
Exhibit 1. Cold-water immersion blunts the muscle's anabolic response to strength training. @JPhysiol@LlionARoberts 2/5
Exhibit 2. Cold-water immersion lowers the muscle's capacity for myofibrillar protein synthesis after resistance exercise. @JPhysiol@27CJ 3/5
In Oct 2021, I had a routine blood test that revealed elevated liver enzymes. A later blood test with a different doctor showed the liver panel was "elevated and worsening", more than double the normal range for some variables. 2/5
A series of additional tests, including abdominal ultrasound, were negative. Physician referred me to a gastroenterologist who suggested (an invasive) liver biopsy. However, before the next blood test, I stopped exercising for 7 days. 3/5
First and foremost, you can read here the full EIC retraction notice: ♾doi.org/10.1123/ijsnem…
♾And my "Letter to The Editor" in which I describe in more detail the most serious/perplexing issues: tinyurl.com/2p8f5mj7
🧵2/13
I learned about this study after Dr. Rhonda Patrick (Ph.D. in biomedical science) shared it among her nearly 400,000 Twitter followers who, in turn, retweeted it more than 500 times. 🧵3/13
The official #Olympics website endorsing #cryotherapy as an effective form of post-exercise recovery. Despite the fact the literature is very unimpressive, littered with low-quality studies, and tiny effects. #IOC