Issue #63 (January 2020)

• Can lavender take the edge off anxiety? Open Access
  Lavender seems to reduce non-clinical anxiety a bit according to this meta-analysis, but the evidence isn't all that strong.
• Does the menstrual cycle affect caffeine’s performance-enhancing properties?
  There's reason to suspect that caffeine's aerobic-boosting effects could vary depending on menstrual cycle phase. This is the first trial to directly explore the issue by comparing caffeine's effects during three different menstrual cycle phases.
• Interview: Eric Russell Helms and Gary John Slater Open Access
  In this info-packed interview, we pick the brain of two fitness researchers who recently wrote a comprehensive review examining the optimal energy surplus needed for hypertrophy.
• Evaluating the safety and efficacy of very low calorie ketogenic diets
  Very low calorie keto diets have a theoretical leg up on non-keto diets because they’re supposed to suppress appetite more. But whether they actually lead to more weight loss than non-keto very low calorie diets is far from clear.
• Women and men appear to benefit equally from the ergogenic effects of coffee
  There are some reasons to suspect that your sex can influence coffee's ergogenic effects. But whether this pans out in actual performance isn’t clear.
• Mini: What’s soy good for?
  Soy’s been examined for a lot of health outcomes. But what outcomes does the evidence best support?
• Does some cinnamon each day keep the cardiologist away?
  A bit of this spice can keep blood pressure nice… but not as nice as exercise or pharmaceuticals can.
• B vitamins on the brain: Do they improve mental health? Open Access
  This meta-analysis found a small impact on stress in people without clinical mental health issues, but it also may have asked too broad of a question.

Researchers

Antonis Damianou, MSc; Brad Dieter, PhD; Dylan T. Dahlquist, MSc, CSCS; Lucas Roldos Saibene, BSc, MSc(c); Zad Rafi, BA; Wyatt Brown, Lucas Tafur, PhD

Editors

Gregory Lopez, MA, Pharm.D.

Reviewers

Stephan Guyenet, PhD & Adel Moussa, PhD

Copy Editor

Dmitri Barvinok

Infographics

Antonius Khengdro & Calla Lee