Fitness Personality

From eNewsletter 7/23/2025

DID YOU KNOW that fitness trackers are failing those with overweight and obesity?

Fitness trackers have become indispensable tools for some, but for those living with overweight or obesity, who are known to exhibit differences in walking gait, speed, energy burned and more, these devices often inaccurately measure activity.

Researchers publishing in Scientific Reports found current activity-monitoring algorithms that fitness trackers use were built for people without obesity. For example, fitness trackers accurately track those performing standard pushups, but for those who cannot drop to the floor and do them, but are doing wall-pushups instead, trackers do not count them.

The authors are in the process of creating algorithms that do accommodate for the overweight and obese.

To read the rest of today's issue, please go to this page.

You Need This Blood Test

From eNewsletter 7/21/2025

DID YOU KNOW that there is a critical reason why we track your high-sensitivity C-reactive protein levels (hsCRP) year in and year out? It gives us a idea of your level of inflammation, specifically in the heart region. A new study from The Lancet eBiomedicine echos this.

After following almost 6,000 patients for over 20 years, those with the consistently highest serum hsCRP levels had the highest number of cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality, independent of any other form of testing.

There are two instances where hsCRP can be elevated but not necessarily tied to heart risk: acute exercise performed soon before your blood draw and acute infection. This is why it is important to continually get hsCRP at every blood test, so we can get a large sample size.

To read the rest of today's issue, please go to this page.

Gastro Optimization

From eNewsletter 7/16/2025

DID YOU KNOW that taking folate early in pregnancy was associated with better neuropsychological outcomes in the offspring at age 6 years, including improved verbal skills and behavior? The study, presented at American Academy of Neurology 2025 Annual Meeting, found no evidence of negative cognitive or behavioral outcomes, even with higher doses of folic acid.

In another study about folate from Medrxiv, patients homozygous for the MTHFR C677T gene were found to have higher incidence of experiencing severe COVID-19. NOTE: if this gene is not expressing itself negatively, it is not an issue. One way to prevent it expressing itself negatively is that if you have low folate levels, supplementing with the activated form is better for better absorption than folic acid. This should only be done under the guidance of a trusted health professional.

To read the rest of today's issue, please go to this page.