Strenuous exercise and soreness is not needed to improve muscle size, strength, or performance

 If you think you need to ‘go hard’ at the gym to make your muscles stronger, think again!  

New research at ECU has revealed strenuous exercise and soreness is not needed to improve muscle size, strength, or performance. 

“The idea that exercise must be exhausting or painful is holding people back,” ECU’s Director of Exercise and Sports Science, Professor Ken Nosaka, said. 

“Instead, we should be focussing on eccentric exercises which can deliver stronger results with far less effort than traditional exercise - and you don’t even need a gym!” 

Eccentric exercise is when muscles work as they lengthen, usually during the ‘lowering’ part of the movement such as lowering a dumbbell, walking downstairs or slowly sitting down in a chair. 

The study showed muscles generate more force during these movements - while using less energy than they would by lifting or pulling an object and walking upstairs. 

“You can gain strength without feeling as exhausted. So, you get more benefit for less effort. That makes eccentric exercise appealing for a wide range of people,” Professor Nosaka said. 

While eccentric exercises might leave you sore the next day, especially if they’re not done regularly, you definitely don’t need any pain to get the gain.  

Simple home‑based eccentric exercises, such as chair squats, heel drops, and wall push‑ups, have been shown to deliver meaningful health improvements in as little as five minutes a day. 

And because eccentric exercise places less strain on the heart and lungs, it is ideal for older people and those with chronic health conditions.  

“These movements mirror what we already do in daily life. That makes them practical, realistic and easier to stick with,” Professor Nosaka said.  

“When exercise feels achievable, people keep doing it.” 

Ultra-processed foods damage your focus even if you eat healthy

New research from Monash University, the University of São Paulo and Deakin University shows a diet high in heavily processed foods can negatively impact the brain’s ability to focus and increases the risk of developing dementia.

The study published today in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring, a journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, examined the diets and cognitive health of more than 2,100 Australian dementia-free adults middle-aged and older.

The findings demonstrate that a slight daily increase in a person’s intake of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) is linked to a measurable drop in attention span – even if someone otherwise eats healthy.

Lead author Dr Barbara Cardoso, from the Department of Nutrition, Dietetics and Food and the Victorian Heart Institute at Monash University, said the study reinforces a clear connection between industrial food manufacturing and cognitive decline.

“To put our findings in perspective, a 10 per cent increase in UPFs is roughly equivalent to adding a standard packet of chips to your daily diet,” Dr Cardoso said.

“For every 10 per cent increase in ultra-processed food a person consumed, we saw a distinct and measurable drop in a person’s ability to focus. 

“In clinical terms, this translated to consistently lower scores on standardised cognitive tests measuring visual attention and processing speed.”

The participants of the study consumed roughly 41 per cent of their daily energy from UPFs, closely mirroring the national Australian average of 42 per cent.

UPFs include everyday products like soft drinks, packaged salty snacks and ready-made meals – essentially anything that’s not fresh whole foods.

Because the negative effects of UPFs take place regardless of a person’s overall diet quality, even for people following a healthy Mediterranean diet, researchers say the degree of food processing plays a critical role in the damage.

“Food ultra-processing often destroys the natural structure of food and introduces potentially harmful substances like artificial additives or processing chemicals,” Dr Cardoso said.

“These additives suggest the link between diet and cognitive function extends beyond just missing out on foods known as healthy, pointing to mechanisms linked to the degree of food processing itself.”

Eating more UPFs was linked to an increase in dementia risk factors, which include health conditions such as high blood pressure or obesity that can actively be managed to protect the brain.

While the study did not find a direct association between UPFs and memory loss, attention span is the foundation for many important brain operations, such as learning and problem-solving.

Read the research paper: doi.org/10.1002

Prostate cancer overdiagnosis rises sharply with age

 

Researchers at Queen Mary University of London have found that the likelihood of prostate cancer overdiagnosis – the detection of a cancer that would never have been diagnosed during a patient’s lifetime but for PSA screening – is low in younger men but rises substantially with old age.

In a new study, published on 21 April in the International Journal of Cancer, researchers from Queen Mary University of London found that overdiagnosis of prostate cancer through prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening is low in younger men, but it rises sharply with age. 

The study, which aimed to estimate the impact of age on overdiagnosis of prostate cancer 15 years after screening stops, analysed long-term follow-up data from the UK CAP (Cluster Randomised Trial of PSA Testing for Prostate cancer) trial, alongside English male mortality rates.

Analysing data from more than 400,000 men randomised as part of the CAP trial, the team compared the prostate cancer detection rate at screening (1.17%) with the difference in incidence 15 years post-screening (0.14%). They found that 11.7% of prostate cancers diagnosed at the one-off PSA screen would have remained undiagnosed for 15 years if they had been randomised to the control arm (not invited for screening), and importantly, if they would not die from other causes. 

However, when competing mortality (ie, the risk of dying from something other than prostate cancer) was factored in, the team found that the picture changed markedly by age:

• Men diagnosed at age 50 had a 16% chance that their cancer would never have been detected within 15 years 
• This rose to 32% for men diagnosed aged 70

And rose further to 58% for men diagnosed at age 80.

The findings suggest that prostate cancer screening and PSA testing is more appropriate for men in their 50s and early 60s, as there are likely to be low levels of overdiagnosis in this group.

Dr Adam Brentnall, a Reader in Biostatistics at Queen Mary’s Wolfson Institute of Population Health and lead author of the study said: “These findings suggest the need for more targeted, age-informed PSA testing or prostate cancer screening policies, including reexamining PSA testing policies in settings where they have led to high rates of opportunistic screening in older men, like the UK.

“This is because the current `PSA tests on demand' healthcare policy has led to high rates of opportunistic PSA testing in older men, who are at high risk of harms from overdiagnosis. These harms include unnecessary treatment – including surgery and radiotherapy – which carries significant side effects and can have a negative impact on the quality of life of men whose cancers would never have harmed them. In addition, screening men older than 70 years is also unlikely to confer benefit in terms of mortality reduction.” 

The authors note that there are some limitations to their analysis, including the fact that screening in the CAP trial was done before the use of magnetic resonance imaging targeted biopsy, which is expected to reduce overdiagnosis. Ongoing trials, including TRANSFORM, co-led by Professor Rhian Gabe from Queen Mary and IMProVE co-led by Queen Mary’s Professor Peter Sasieni in the UK, will help to provide additional evidence on overdiagnosis using contemporary screening protocols.

Why diagnosing endometriosis often takes many years

 Endometriosis is a chronic inflammatory condition in which tissue similar to the lining of the uterus is also found outside the uterus. Symptoms include menstrual pain, chronic pelvic pain, pain during intercourse, and in some cases fertility problems.

Endometriosis affects up to one in ten women and girls of reproductive age, but for many, the path to diagnosis is both long and complex.

Now, two new studies from Aarhus University show that a significant part of the explanation can be found in primary care, where the condition is often difficult to recognise in its early stages.

The studies were conducted as part of the EU-funded FEMaLe project and are based on interviews with general practitioners in Denmark and the Faroe Islands. They offer insight into doctors’ day-to-day clinical practice and the diagnostic considerations they make when encountering patients with symptoms of endometriosis.

“Primary care plays a crucial role as the first point of contact in the healthcare system. Our studies show that endometriosis is often difficult to recognise because the symptoms are unclear and overlap with many other conditions,” says Ulrik Bak Kirk, co-author of both studies and former scientific coordinator of the FEMaLe project at Aarhus University.

Symptoms rarely fit neatly into a box

In one of the studies, researchers examined Danish GPs’ diagnostic considerations based on three clinical cases that reflect very different ways in which endometriosis may present. The doctors were not informed of the diagnosis in advance.

The results show that GPs are generally good at recognising and acting on classic gynaecological symptoms. However, when symptoms are non-specific, for example gastrointestinal complaints, endometriosis is less likely to be considered.

At the same time, cyclical symptoms such as bloating and mood changes play an important role, but they are not always systematically explored.

“When symptoms do not follow the expected pattern, the condition can easily be overlooked. This points to a need for a more systematic approach, even when symptoms are diffuse,” says Ulrik Bak Kirk.

The study also indicates that stigma and taboos surrounding menstruation and gynaecological symptoms may still influence both patients’ help-seeking behaviour and the doctor’s clinical assessment.

In addition, the researchers identify so-called “diagnostic hierarchies”, where certain conditions are prioritised over others during the diagnostic process. This may mean that endometriosis is only considered later in the diagnostic process.

“We see a tendency for endometriosis to be considered only after other explanations have been ruled out,” says Ulrik Bak Kirk.

Need for better collaboration

In the second study, general practitioners in the Faroe Islands describe their concrete experiences with patients presenting with symptoms of endometriosis.

Here, GPs call for closer collaboration with specialists, improved referral pathways, and greater knowledge about the many different presentations of the condition.

“If we are to shorten the time to diagnosis, it requires not only more knowledge. It also requires us to organise care differently and work more closely across sectors. Otherwise, patients risk being passed around the system without clarification,” says Ulrik Bak Kirk.

The researchers highlight several areas that could strengthen diagnostics in primary care:

• Increased awareness of non-gynaecological symptoms of endometriosis
• More systematic exploration of cyclical symptoms
• Strengthened interdisciplinary collaboration
• Targeted continuing professional development 

The studies from the FEMaLe project contribute new knowledge that may help improve patient pathways and reduce delays in the diagnosis of endometriosis.

“We already know much more than is currently being translated into practice. The major challenge is not only to produce knowledge, but to ensure that it is applied in the clinic,” says Ulrik Bak Kirk.

Midlife fitness linked to longer, healthier lives

 How fit you are in midlife may help determine not just how long you live, but how many of those years are spent in good health, according to a new study published today in the JACC, the flagship journal of the American College of Cardiology.

The study found that adults with higher levels of cardiorespiratory fitness in midlife lived longer lives, developed fewer chronic diseases and spent more years free from serious illness compared with those who were less fit.

Cardiorespiratory fitness—how well the heart and lungs supply oxygen during physical activity—is known to reduce the risk of heart disease and early death. This study extends prior research by showing that fitness also plays a meaningful role in healthy aging, defined as years lived without major chronic disease.

The findings indicate that higher fitness in midlife is strongly associated with later onset of chronic disease, lower overall disease burden and longer life expectancy. These benefits were observed in both men and women.

Researchers followed more than 24,500 men and women who were healthy through age 65 and tracked their health outcomes later in life using Medicare data. Fitness was measured earlier in adulthood using a treadmill test, and researchers examined the development of 11 major chronic conditions, including heart disease, diabetes, kidney disease and cancer.

Compared with people who had low fitness levels, those with high fitness in midlife experienced clear benefits later in life. On average, they developed chronic diseases at least 1.5 years later, had fewer total conditions and lived longer overall. These patterns were seen in both men and women and across different ages, body weights and smoking histories.

Importantly, the study emphasizes health span—not just lifespan—highlighting that fitness helps people live more of their lives in good health, not simply live longer with disease.

The findings also underscore the public health value of physical activity, as cardiorespiratory fitness can be improved through regular movement such as brisk walking, cycling or other aerobic exercise.

Researchers note that improving fitness during midlife may be a key strategy for promoting healthy aging and preserving quality of life later on, even with modest increases in physical activity.

Limitations of the study include its observational design, which does not allow researchers to establish causality, and the fact that participants were generally health‑conscious, which may limit broader generalizability.

Yoga practice could reduce blood pressure in people with obesity

 

Practicing yoga could help people with overweight or obesity improve their cardiometabolic health, according to a study published April 22 in the open-access journal PLOS Global Public Health by Widya Wasityastuti from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and colleagues.

 Yoga is a popular form of exercise around the world, and is a gentle and accessible form of exercise for many people. To better understand the potential health benefits of yoga, the authors of this study performed a meta-analysis, examining 30 studies of yoga for its cardiometabolic benefits. They focused on studies which examined outcomes for blood pressure, lipid profiles, glucose homeostasis, markers of inflammation, and measures of antioxidants, and those which examined people with body-mass index over 23 for Asian countries, and 25 for other countries, indicating that participants had overweight or obesity. Of the 30 studies considered, 23 were conducted in Asian countries, while the remaining studies were from the United States, Germany, and Australia.

 Across the 30 studies and a total of 2,689 participants, the authors found that people who practiced yoga had a significant decrease in blood pressure, with systolic blood pressure lowered by an average of 4.35 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure by 2.06 mmHg. They also found modest beneficial effects on low- and high-density lipoproteins, types of cholesterol that have been linked to an increased risk of stroke. 

The authors note that the studies analyzed were not specifically recruiting people with obesity, and there was no dose-response measured, so it is unknown how much yoga is needed to produce these effects, though the studies they analyzed favored practice of at least 180 minutes per week. The studies also focused heavily on Asian participants, and practitioners with comorbidities were excluded from analysis. Finally, it’s important to note that due to the nature of this study, causality cannot be confirmed here despite the correlations found. Further studies will be needed to understand whether yoga can provide similar benefits to other populations, as well as people with co-morbidities such as diabetes or heart disease. The authors suggest that while more high-quality trials are needed, the meta-analysis supports potential benefits of yoga for cardiometabolic health in people with overweight and obesity.

The authors summarize: “Our review suggests that yoga may offer a helpful additional option for improving some aspects of cardiometabolic health in adults with overweight or obesity, particularly blood pressure.”

They add: “Yoga is often seen mainly as a wellbeing practice, but our findings suggest it may also support certain cardiometabolic health outcomes in adults with overweight or obesity.”

Citation: Wasityastuti W, Pramaningtyas MD, Wibowo RA, Adnan ML, Prabowo R, Tsurayya Z, et al. (2026) Impact of yoga on cardiometabolic health in adults with overweight or obesity: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. PLOS Glob Public Health 6(4): e0006174. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0006174

5 more of my supplements

 1. Glycine and NAC

Published in the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, a study shows that older humans taking GlyNAC for 16-weeks improved many characteristic defects of aging. This includes oxidative stress, glutathione deficiency and multiple aging hallmarks affecting mitochondrial dysfunction, mitophagy, inflammation, insulin resistance, endothelial dysfunction, genomic damage, stem cell fatigue and cellular senescence. These were associated with improvements in muscle strength, gait speed, exercise capacity, waist circumference and blood pressure.

2. NAD+ 

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) is a vital coenzyme found in all living cells, crucial for energy production, DNA repair, and cellular health. As levels decline with age, supplementation may offer benefits like improved metabolism, increased energy, better cognitive function, reduced inflammation, and slowed aging, with studies highlighting potential in reversing age-related decline. 

Key Health Benefits of NAD+

• Enhanced Energy Production: NAD+ is essential for converting food into energy (ATP), which helps improve overall mitochondrial function and combats fatigue.
• Anti-Aging and Cellular Repair: It helps repair damaged DNA and protects cells, potentially delaying the hallmarks of aging and extending cellular lifespan
  .
Improved Cognitive Function: Increased NAD+ levels may support brain health, enhance mental clarity, and slow cognitive decline.
Cardiovascular Health: Research indicates that NAD+ can improve blood flow, lower blood pressure, and reduce aortic stiffness.
Metabolic Health: NAD+ improves insulin sensitivity and supports healthy weight management by boosting metabolism.
Addiction Recovery: NAD+ therapy is often used to support recovery from addiction (including alcohol and opioids) by reducing cravings and aiding in detox..

3. Vitamin B1

Vitamin B1 (thiamine) is an essential nutrient that boosts energy production by converting carbohydrates into fuel, maintains a healthy nervous system, and supports heart function. It acts as a coenzyme in cellular metabolism, aiding in growth and development. Key benefits include improved brain health, nerve protection, and potential support for diabetes management and mental health. 

Key Health Benefits of Vitamin B1 (Thiamine):

• Energy Production: Crucial for breaking down carbohydrates and metabolizing food into energy for cells.
• Nervous System Support: Essential for maintaining the myelin sheath that covers nerves, helping to prevent neuropathy, numbness, and tingling
  .
Brain Function: Known as an "anti-stress" vitamin, it aids in neurocognitive health and may improve mental clarity.

Heart Health: Supports healthy heart function, with deficiency being linked to cardiovascular issues.

Combating Deficiency Conditions: Used to treat or prevent conditions caused by low B1 levels, such as Beriberi and Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome (a brain disorder often related to alcohol abuse).

Mental Health Support: Potential to help fight depression and improve mood when taken alongside treatments.

Metabolic Health: Supports healthy glucose metabolism and may assist in treating diabetic complications




4. Turmeric Curcumin




Turmeric and its active compound, curcumin, offer significant health benefits, primarily through potent anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Key benefits include easing arthritis pain, supporting heart health, improving digestion, potentially delaying age-related diseases, and aiding in weight management. It is often taken as a supplement for higher potency. 

Key Health Benefits of Turmeric Curcumin:

• Powerful Anti-inflammatory: Curcumin acts as a natural anti-inflammatory compound, fighting chronic inflammation that contributes to diseases.
• Arthritis Management: Studies show it can treat symptoms of arthritis and is often comparable to anti-inflammatory drugs.
• Antioxidant Effects: It neutralizes free radicals and stimulates the body's own antioxidant enzymes.
• Heart Health: It may help reverse heart disease processes by improving endothelial function and reducing cholesterol and blood pressure.
• Brain Function: It may increase Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF), linked to improved brain function and a lower risk of brain diseases.
• Cancer Potential: Research suggests it may affect cancer growth, development, and spread at a molecular level.
• Digestive Health: It can help boost digestion and stimulate bile production.

5.  Taurine




Taurine is a conditionally essential amino acid, highly concentrated in the brain, heart, eyes, and muscles, that supports overall health by regulating electrolyte balance, facilitating nerve growth, and aiding digestion through bile salt formation. It acts as a cytoprotectant, reducing oxidative stress and stabilizing cell membranes. 

Key bodily functions and benefits include:

• Cardiovascular Support: Taurine helps regulate heartbeat, reduces blood pressure, and improves heart function, particularly in individuals with congestive heart failure.
• Brain and Nervous System
  :
   Acting as an inhibitory neurotransmitter and neuromodulator, it helps calm the nervous system and offers potential neuroprotection in conditions like Alzheimer's.
Muscle and Exercise Performance: It can reduce muscle fatigue, improve endurance, and potentially increase muscle strength.
Metabolism and Immunity: It contributes to eye health, supports immune system function, and aids in lipid metabolism.
Anti-Aging Potential: Studies suggest it may help maintain bone mass and reduce inflammation associated with aging.