

Sigma Nutrition Radio
Danny Lennon
Discussions about the science of nutrition, dietetics and health. The podcast that educates through nuanced conversations, exploring evidence and cultivating critical thinking. Hosted by Danny Lennon.
Episodes
Mentioned books

May 21, 2019 • 46min
#283: Alun Williams, PhD - The Genetics & Science Behind the Historic Caster Semenya/IAAF Case
Dr. Williams is the Director of the Sports Genomics Laboratory and is a Reader in Sport and Exercise Genomics at Manchester Metropolitan University. Alun is also Honorary Senior Research Associate at University College London. He has a PhD from the University of Birmingham. He has published expert position statements about the ethics and practicality of applying genetic technologies in sport. And was recently involved in the historic IAAF vs. Caster Semenya case related to testosterone levels within athletes with differences of sexual development (DSD). SHOW NOTES: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode283/

May 14, 2019 • 57min
#282: Louise Burke, PhD - Project Supernova: The Science of Fuelling Elite Athletes
Professor Louise Burke has been one of the most highly respected and accomplished sports nutrition researchers over several decades. She has been the head of sports nutrition at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) for nearly 30 years, publishing a vast number of important, novel and high-quality papers in the sports nutrition field. Professor Bourke's research interests lie in nutritional intervention strategies for sporting performance. The goal of Louise's research is to find practical nutrition strategies that athletes and coaches can use to achieve optimum performance. Often this will involve examining metabolism during and after exercise to discover how complex systems work. SHOW NOTES: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode282/

May 6, 2019 • 1h 11min
#281: Jake Linardon, PhD – Eating Disorders, Binge Eating & Body Image
Click here to subscribe to Sigma Nutrition Premium Dr. Jake Linardon is a Lecturer in Psychology at Deakin University, Melbourne Australia. He started working at Deakin in 2018, shortly finishing his PhD at Australian Catholic University (2017). He continues to research into eating disorders, with a primary focus on testing and evaluating a broad range of treatment approaches for eating disorders. SHOW NOTES: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode281/ Click here to subscribe to Sigma Nutrition Premium

Apr 30, 2019 • 43min
#280: Kirsty Elliot-Sale, PhD – Energy Availability, Menstrual Disorders & RED-S
Dr Elliott-Sale is an associate professor in female physiology at Nottingham Trent University. There, she is also the Head of the Musculoskeletal Physiology Research Group. She is also responsible for teaching on the undergraduate and postgraduate Sport Science degree programmes. Dr Elliott-Sale teaches mainly in the areas of Exercise Physiology and particularly in Female Physiology, Performance, and Health. In This Episode We Discuss: --> Menstrual disorders: secondary amenorrhea (loss of 3 or more consectively) vs. oligomenorrhea (cycle longer than 45 days), vs.Functional --> Hypothalamic Amenorrhea (FHA) vs milder symptoms of some dysfunction --> What is happening on a hormonal level that ties in with menstrual issues? --> Understanding "energy availability" --> How do we quantify what is "low" energy availability? --> Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport VS. Female Athlete Triad --> Landmark papers that really advanced understanding of this concept Triad can lead to decreased estrogen. --> Implications for contraceptive pill users? --> Difference in risk between genders? --> Difference in expression of symptoms among genders? --> Reduced EA = increased illness/injury and thus more opportunities to train are lost. --> Recommendations for at risk athletes --> The screening and diagnosis of RED-S is challenging, as symptomatology can be subtle. --> Individuality: How great the energy deficiency needs to be for that individual to be symptomatic SHOW NOTES: https://sigmanutrition.com/episode280

Apr 23, 2019 • 1h 2min
#279: Avrum Bluming, MD & Carol Tavris, PhD – Estrogen, Menopause & Misconceptions About Hormone Replacement
Links: Click here for episode page Receive our free weekly email about nutrition/health content About This Episode: Avrum Bluming received his MD from the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons. He spent four years as a senior investigator for the National Cancer Institute and for two of those years was director of the Lymphoma Treatment Center in Kampala, Uganda. He organized the first study of lumpectomy for the treatment of breast cancer in Southern California in 1978, and for more than two decades he has been studying the benefits and risks of hormone replacement therapy administered to women with a history of breast cancer. Dr. Bluming has served as a clinical professor of medicine at USC and has been an invited speaker at the Royal College of Physicians in London and the Pasteur Institute in Paris. He was elected to mastership in the American College of Physicians, an honor accorded to only five hundred of the over one hundred thousand board-certified internists in this country. Carol Tavris received her PhD in social psychology from the University of Michigan. Her books include Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me), with Elliot Aronson; Anger: The Misunderstood Emotion, and The Mismeasure of Woman. She has written articles, op-eds, and book reviews on topics in psychological science for a wide array of publications — including the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times Book Review, the Wall Street Journal, and the TLS — and a column, "The Gadfly," for Skeptic magazine. She is a fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and has received numerous awards for her efforts to promote gender equality, science, and skepticism.

Apr 16, 2019 • 1h 19min
#278: Jackson Peos, PhD – The ICECAP Trial, Intermittent Energy Restriction & the Science of Diet Breaks
Links: Go to episode page Receive Danny's free emails Subscribe to Sigma Nutrition Premium About This Episode: Jackson Peos, PhD was the lead researcher on the ICECAP trial (Intermittent versus Continuous Energy restriction Compared in an Athlete Population), looks at the effect of including a "diet break" week after every 3 weeks of dieting, compared to a continuous hypocaloric diet for the duration of the full dieting period. In This Episode We Discuss: - Theoretical reasons for including diet breaks and refeeds within dieting periods - Distinguishing between intermittent fasting protocols and intermittent moderate energy restriction (MOD-IER) - Lessons learned from the MATADOR trial - What might differ between obese and athletic populations - Design of Jackson's "ICECAP trial" - Determining the duration, frequency and magnitude of diet breaks, refeeds and energy restriction - Current best practices for implementing these strategies

Apr 9, 2019 • 1h 9min
#277: Eric Helms, PhD - Non-Quantitative Dieting, Personal Experiments & Optimal Weight Gain for Hypertrophy
Links: Go to episode page Receive Danny's free emails Subscribe to Sigma Nutrition Premium About This Episode: Eric is currently a Research Fellow at Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand. His work is focused on training and nutrition interventions that could have implications for bodybuilders, powerlifters and other strength athletes. Eric has many peer reviewed publications and currently has many ongoing research projects and collaborations. In This Episode We Discuss: Ongoing trial looking at effects of differnt sizes of caloric surplus for muscle gain Eric's unconventional appraoch to his current contest prep Non-quantitative tracking and assessment of progress Applying lessons from bodybuilding to other areas of life

Apr 2, 2019 • 1h 16min
#276: Nick Gant, PhD - Neurometabolism: Brain Function, Fatigue & Nutritient Interventions
Links: Go to episode page Receive Danny's free emails Subscribe to Sigma Nutrition Premium About This Episode: Nick Gant is Director of the Exercise Neurometabolism Laboratory at the University of Auckland. His group uses interdisciplinary approaches from the nutritional sciences and neurosciences to investigate the role of nutrition in brain health and performance. Nick is particularly interested in foods and supplements that prevent brain fatigue and improve physical and cognitive function. His research is currently funded by the Royal Society of New Zealand, the Health Research Council of New Zealand, and several industrial partnerships. He partners with clinicians and dieticians within the NZ Centre for Brain Research and provides scientific and educational support for elite athletes, government and military organisations In This Episode We Discuss: Understanding fatigue Hypoxia-induced decrements in cognitive performance Role of caffeine and stimulants in "rescuing" performance in high-fatigue/high-stress states Creatine for cognitive function and brain health Potential for creatine mitigating traumatic brain injury (TBI) Can ketones aid in mitigating traumatic brain injury? Thoughts on cognitive impact of nicotine CHO mouth rinsing: proposed mechanism of action

Mar 26, 2019 • 49min
#275: Kate Solovieva - Psychology, Empathy & Coping Strategies for Better Coaching
Links: Go to episode page Receive Danny's free emails Subscribe to Sigma Nutrition Premium About This Episode: Kate has both undergraduate and graduate degrees in Psychology and spent time as a psychology professor at a college and university level. She currently is a health & nutrition coach, working for Precision Nutrition, where she has coached over 1,000 people. Now she coaches fitness professionals on how to be better coaches. In This Episode We Discuss: --> Using an understanding of human psychology to improve coaching outcomes --> How we go about rationalizing our behaviour. --> How coaches can develop empathy --> Fitting the diet to your lifestyle: how much leeway/flexible does one give? --> The best skills a coach can teach themself --> Resilience --> Proactive and reactive coping strategies

Mar 12, 2019 • 54min
#273: Bryan Chung, MD, PhD – Dealing with Science Overwhelm & Improving Your Relationship with Research
Links: Go to episode page Receive Danny's free emails Subscribe to Sigma Nutrition Premium About This Episode: Bryan Chung is a plastic/hand surgeon and PhD research designer. He is a methodologist who improves people's relationship with science. In This Episode We Discuss: --> Bryan's advice column for people who have "relationship problems with Science" --> If things merely confirm what you are already doing, why you should filter it out --> How to determine what is practically meaningful from a study --> The importance of establishing what the research question is --> How to deal with the daunting nature of statistics in research --> Why you're already good enough to start engaging with research


