Fitness News

January 7, 2026

Top Headlines

A Global Cancer Surge Is Underway and the World Is Not Ready

Jan. 7, 2026 Global cancer cases have surged dramatically, doubling since 1990 and reaching 18.5 million new diagnoses in 2023. Deaths have also climbed to over 10 million a year, with the steepest increases hitting low- and middle-income countries. Without ...

Scientists Tested Intermittent Fasting Without Eating Less and Found No Metabolic Benefit

Jan. 3, 2026 Time-restricted eating has been widely promoted as a simple way to boost metabolic health, but new research paints a more complicated picture. When calorie intake stayed the same, an eight-hour ...

Myth Busted: Your Body Isn’t Canceling Out Your Workout

Jan. 1, 2026 Being active boosts your daily calorie burn more than previously thought. Researchers found that increased physical activity raises total energy use without triggering the body to conserve energy elsewhere. Basic functions keep running at full ...

Nearly 70% of U.S. Adults Could Now Be Classified as Obese

Dec. 31, 2025 A major update to how obesity is defined could push U.S. obesity rates to nearly 70%, according to a large new study. The change comes from adding waist and body fat measurements to BMI, capturing people who were previously considered healthy. Many ...

Study Links Full-fat Cheese to Lower Dementia Risk

Dec. 21, 2025 Eating full-fat cheese and cream may be associated with a lower risk of dementia, according to a large study that tracked people for more than 25 years. Those who consumed higher amounts of these foods developed dementia less often than those who ...

AI Detects Cancer but It’s Also Reading Who You Are

Dec. 17, 2025 AI tools designed to diagnose cancer from tissue samples are quietly learning more than just disease patterns. New research shows these systems can infer patient demographics from pathology slides, leading to biased results for certain groups. The ...

Harvard Gut Discovery Could Change How We Treat Obesity and Diabetes

Dec. 14, 2025 Scientists found that certain molecules made by gut bacteria travel to the liver and help control how the body uses energy. These molecules change depending on diet, genetics, and shifts in the microbiome. Some even improved insulin response in ...

Tea May Strengthen Bones in Older Women While Heavy Coffee Weakens Them

Dec. 13, 2025 A decade-long study of older women found that tea drinkers had slightly stronger bones, while moderate coffee drinking caused no harm. Heavy coffee intake—over five cups a day—was linked to lower bone density, especially in women who consumed ...

New Discovery Offers Real Hope for Rare Genetic Disease

Dec. 12, 2025 Scientists discovered that certain gene changes allow cells to function even when frataxin, the protein lost in Friedreich’s ataxia, is missing. Experiments in worms, human cells, and mice revealed that lowering a gene called FDX2 helps restore ...

Blood Tests Reveal Obesity Rapidly Accelerates Alzheimer’s Progression

Dec. 10, 2025 Obesity accelerates the rise of Alzheimer’s-related blood biomarkers far more rapidly than previously recognized. Long-term imaging and plasma data show that obese individuals experience much faster increases in proteins linked to ...

Why Ultra-processed Foods Make Teens Eat More When They Aren’t Hungry

Dec. 10, 2025 A Virginia Tech study shows that ultra-processed foods may influence adolescents differently from slightly older young adults. Participants aged 18 to 21 ate more at a buffet and snacked even when not hungry after two weeks on an ultra-processed ...

Her Food Cravings Vanished on Mounjaro Then Roared Back

Dec. 8, 2025 Deep-brain recordings showed that Mounjaro and Zepbound briefly shut down the craving circuits linked to food noise in a patient with severe obesity. Her obsessive thoughts about food disappeared as the medication quieted the nucleus accumbens, the ...

Latest Headlines

updated 8:07am EST

Breakthrough Obesity Drugs Are Here but Not for Everyone

Jan. 4, 2026 UK experts are warning that access to new weight-loss drugs could depend more on wealth than medical need. Strict NHS criteria mean only a limited number of patients will receive Mounjaro, while many ...

Menopause Symptoms Are Common Even in Elite Endurance Athletes

Jan. 2, 2026 Menopause symptoms are common among female endurance athletes and often interfere with training and performance. A survey of women aged 40–60 who train regularly found high rates of sleep problems, ...

New Fat-Burning Diabetes Pill Protects Muscle and Appetite

Dec. 7, 2025 Researchers have developed a new oral drug that boosts metabolic activity in muscle rather than altering appetite like GLP-1 drugs. Early trials suggest it improves blood sugar control and fat ...

Natural Hormone Unlocks a Hidden Fat Burning Switch

Dec. 6, 2025 FGF19 triggers the brain to burn more energy and activate fat-burning cells, offering a potential new path for obesity treatments. The hormone enhances thermogenesis and reduces inflammation, but ...

Scientists Find a Hidden Obesity Trigger in Soybean Oil

Nov. 30, 2025 Researchers at UC Riverside have uncovered why soybean oil, one of America's most widely consumed ingredients, drives significant weight gain—at least in mice. The findings point not to the oil ...

Millions Are About to Choose the Wrong Medicare Plan

Nov. 29, 2025 Millions face Medicare decisions each year, but many don’t take advantage of tools that can save them money and stress. Insurance marketing often overshadows unbiased options like SHIP, leaving ...

This Simple Warm-Up Trick Instantly Boosts Speed and Power

Nov. 27, 2025 Warming up significantly improves muscle performance, particularly speed and power, by increasing muscle temperature. Both passive heat methods and light exercise warm-ups work, but mimicking the ...

Your Body May Already Have a Molecule That Helps Fight Alzheimer’s

Nov. 27, 2025 Spermine, a small but powerful molecule in the body, helps neutralize harmful protein accumulations linked to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. It encourages these misfolded proteins to gather into ...

A Common Nutrient Deficiency May Be Silently Harming Young Brains

Nov. 27, 2025 Scientists studying young adults with obesity discovered early indicators of brain stress that resemble patterns seen in cognitive impairment. The group showed higher inflammation, signs of liver ...

The Body Trait That Helps Keep Your Brain Young

Nov. 25, 2025 Scientists discovered that more muscle and less hidden abdominal fat are linked to a younger biological brain age. Deep visceral fat appeared to accelerate brain aging, while muscle mass offered a ...

Immune Cells Use a Surprising Trick to Heal Muscle Faster

Nov. 24, 2025 A research team has found that specific immune cells can connect with muscle fibers in a lightning-fast, neuron-like way to promote healing. These cells deliver quick pulses of calcium, triggering ...

Global Surge in Ultra-Processed Foods Sparks Urgent Health Warning

Nov. 24, 2025 Ultra-processed foods are rapidly becoming a global dietary staple, and new research links them to worsening health outcomes around the world. Scientists say only bold, coordinated policy action can ...

How to Keep Ozempic/Wegovy Weight Loss Without the Nausea

Nov. 18, 2025 Scientists are uncovering how GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy act on brain regions that control hunger, nausea, pleasure-based eating, and thirst. These discoveries may help create treatments ...

Running on Little Sleep? You’re Twice as Likely to Get Hurt

Nov. 11, 2025 Researchers found that runners who sleep poorly face nearly double the injury risk compared to those who rest well. The study highlights that sleep is not just recovery—it’s a key factor in ...

Ultra-Processed Foods Quietly Push Young Adults Toward Prediabetes

Nov. 17, 2025 Ultra-processed foods, already known for their links to health problems in adults, are now shown to harm young adults too, disrupting blood sugar regulation long before illness appears. A four-year ...

Doctors Found a Way to Stop a Deadly Metformin Reaction

Nov. 9, 2025 A hospital in Thailand created a quick-action dialysis protocol for patients with metformin-associated lactic acidosis, a dangerous reaction to a common diabetes drug. The program sharply reduced ...

Scientists Discover Metformin May Block Key Exercise Benefits

Nov. 18, 2025 Rutgers scientists found that metformin can blunt many of the metabolic and cardiovascular improvements normally produced by exercise. Participants who took the drug saw reduced gains in fitness, ...

Cocoa and Tea May Protect Your Heart from the Hidden Damage of Sitting

Nov. 25, 2025 Scientists found that high-flavanol foods can prevent the decline in blood vessel function that occurs after prolonged sitting. Even physically fit men weren’t protected unless they had consumed ...

This Easy Daily Habit Cuts Heart Risk by Two Thirds

Oct. 28, 2025 New research reveals that walking in longer, uninterrupted bouts of 10–15 minutes significantly lowers cardiovascular disease risk—by up to two-thirds compared to shorter strolls. Scientists from ...

New Obesity Discovery Rewrites Decades of Fat Metabolism Science

Nov. 24, 2025 Researchers have uncovered a surprising new role for the HSL protein: beyond breaking down fat, it also works inside the nucleus of fat cells to keep them functioning properly. When HSL is missing, ...

Running Fixes What Junk Food Breaks in the Brain

Oct. 21, 2025 New research reveals that exercise counteracts the mood-damaging effects of a Western-style diet through specific gut and hormonal mechanisms. Running restored metabolites tied to mental well-being ...

Scientists Uncover a Hidden Limit Inside Human Endurance

Nov. 13, 2025 Ultra-endurance athletes can push their bodies to extraordinary extremes, but even they run into a hard biological wall. Researchers tracked ultra-runners, cyclists, and triathletes over weeks and ...

You Might Look Healthy, but Hidden Fat Could Be Silently Damaging Your Heart

Oct. 23, 2025 McMaster researchers found that deep abdominal and liver fat can quietly damage arteries, even in people who appear fit. Their MRI-based study of over 33,000 adults shows these fats are closely ...

Scientists Reveal the Best Exercise to Ease Knee Arthritis Pain

Oct. 20, 2025 A sweeping review of over 200 studies finds that aerobic exercises like walking and cycling offer the best pain relief and mobility gains for knee osteoarthritis. Compared to other types of exercise, ...

How Cutting Lipids Could Starve Breast Cancer

Oct. 19, 2025 Researchers found that triple-negative breast cancer cells are “addicted” to lipids, a feature tied to obesity. By studying mice, they discovered that high lipid levels alone accelerate tumor ...

Bird Flu Hiding in Cheese? The Surprising New Discovery

Oct. 21, 2025 Researchers discovered that avian influenza (H5N1) can survive in raw milk cheese made from contaminated milk, even after the 60-day aging process required by the FDA. However, highly acidic cheeses ...

Exercise Might Be the Key to a Younger, Sharper Immune System

Oct. 14, 2025 Endurance exercise may train the immune system as much as the muscles. Older adults with decades of running or cycling had immune cells that functioned better and aged more slowly. Their inflammation ...

When Men Drink, Women and Children Pay the Price

Oct. 10, 2025 Men’s heavy drinking is fueling a hidden crisis affecting millions of women and children worldwide. The harms, from violence to financial instability, are especially severe where gender inequality ...

Why Gen X Women Can’t Stop Eating Ultra-Processed Foods

Sep. 29, 2025 Researchers found that middle-aged adults, especially women, are far more likely to be addicted to ultra-processed foods than older generations. Marketing of diet-focused processed foods in the 1980s ...

Wegovy in a Pill? Massive Weight Loss Results Revealed

Nov. 6, 2025 Novo Nordisk’s oral semaglutide 25 mg achieved up to 16.6% weight loss in a landmark study, rivaling injectable Wegovy. The pill also improved cardiovascular risk factors and physical activity ...