Dr. Gabe Mirkin on Fitness, Health and Nutrition

Chat with Dr. Mirkin’s AI research assistant about health issues that are discussed on the site

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS)

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS)

To make muscles stronger, you need to exercise intensely enough to damage the muscles. You can tell that you are damaging muscles when you exercise vigorously enough to feel soreness in those muscles eight to 24 hours later, which is called Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness or DOMS.

Replacing Meat with Poultry or Fish Reduces Diabetes Risk

Replacing Meat with Poultry or Fish Reduces Diabetes Risk

Most people know that eating a diet that includes a lot of added sugar markedly increases risk for diabetes, but a diet that includes regular portions of red meat also increases risk for diabetes, and if you already have diabetes, it can drive blood sugar levels even higher. Insulin drives sugar into cells, and it also drives the building blocks of protein (amino acids) into cells.

Farrah Fawcett: The Price of Beauty

Farrah Fawcett: The Price of Beauty

It may not be so good to be one of the most beautiful women in the world, a famous actress who was a four-time Emmy Award nominee and six-time Golden Globe Award nominee and who was ranked by TV Guide as “One of the 50 Greatest TV stars of All-Time”. Beautiful, famous women often attract handsome promiscuous men who share their acquired and often incurable infections.

Healthy Aging and Senescent Cells

Healthy Aging and Senescent Cells

Extensive evidence shows that aging is associated with, and partially caused by, the accumulation of “senescent cells” in your body. Recent animal studies have shown that it is possible to extend the lives of animals by reducing the numbers of senescent cells, even if treatment is started late in life.

Farrah Fawcett: The Price of Beauty

The Scandalous Life and Death of President Harding

Warren G. Harding was the 29th president of the United States and has been voted America’s worst president ever in many polls including one by Harvard’s Arthur Schlesinger. In the summer of 1923, near the end of the second year of his presidency, rumors started to spread of his affairs and the criminal actions of many of his appointees.

Artificial Sweeteners Alter Gut Bacteria

Long Total Fasts May Be Harmful

A study from Brazil found that having rats fast for 24 hours on alternate days increased their belly fat and interfered with the ability of insulin to control blood sugar levels. One of the most effective ways to lose weight is “intermittent fasting”, but this study suggests that doctors need to be careful about the type of “fasting” they recommend to their patients.

Farrah Fawcett: The Price of Beauty

Dwight Eisenhower: The History of Bed Rest

From 1900 to 1940, doctors routinely put people to bed for at least two months after a heart attack. In the 1950s the first studies came out to show that men who were put to bed after a heart attack were more likely to die than those who were active. Doctors responded by shortening bed rest from two months to two weeks.

Healthy Aging and Senescent Cells

Junk Food Raises Cancer Risk

Results from the huge EPIC study (European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition) confirm that eating a lot of junk food increases risk for many cancers. Researchers in Paris followed 471,495 adults in 10 European countries for an average of 15.3 years, and the participants developed 49,794 cancers. The participants’ diets were scored using the British Food Standards Agency’s Nutrient Profiling System (FSAm-NPS), which ranks foods according to their healthful and harmful components. Those who ate more of the harmful and less of the healthful food components were at significantly greater risk for developing cancers, particularly cancers of the breast, prostate, colon-rectum, mouth, throat, esophagus, stomach, lung and liver.

Artificial Sweeteners Alter Gut Bacteria

Low-Carbohydrate Diets Can Harm

Several recent papers show that diets that restrict all carbohydrate-containing foods can cause diseases and shorten your life. People who eat the most vegetables, fruits, beans and whole grains, which are full of carbohydrates, have the lowest rates of heart attacks and heart disease.