Evidence-dense health optimization

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Metabolic Health

Glucose, iron, and fats — mechanisms with evidence grades, not diet wars.

Metabolic health is how your body handles energy, glucose, iron, and related pathways over years — not a single lab result or influencer protocol. This section covers insulin resistance and diabetes prevention, the contested seed-oil literature, hereditary iron overload, MTHFR gene–nutrient interactions, and where experimental tools like red light sit relative to standard of care. Lifestyle still anchors outcomes: progressive resistance training, sleep, and durable dietary patterns beat unmonitored extremes.

  1. Metabolic Health

    Linoleic Acid Metabolism and OXLAMs: Pathways, Biomarkers, Limits

    From LA to AA—and from LA to oxidized metabolites. Separate mechanism from population harm.

    MARCUS CHEN 4 MIN READ

  2. Metabolic Health

    Sydney and Minnesota Diet-Heart Reanalyses: What Ramsden Recovered

    Cholesterol fell. Hard outcomes did not cooperate. How to read two recovered RCTs without slogans.

    MARCUS CHEN 4 MIN READ

  3. Metabolic Health

    Seed Oils Evidence Guide: Linoleic Acid Without the Culture War

    Essential omega-6 biology, contested CVD trials, biomarker data, and the real frying-oil problem.

    MARCUS CHEN 8 MIN READ

  4. Metabolic Health

    Seed Oil Frying Oxidation: Aldehydes, Polar Compounds, and Reuse

    The chemistry of abused fryer oil is clearer than the culture war over cold salad oil.

    MARCUS CHEN 4 MIN READ

  5. Metabolic Health

    Paul Saladino LDL, ApoB, and LMHR Risk Framing

    TG down and HDL up do not cancel extreme ApoB. Measure; do not reassure by vibe.

    MARCUS CHEN 4 MIN READ

  6. Metabolic Health

    Iron Overload and Hemochromatosis: Labs, Genes, and Treatment

    TSAT gates, ferritin myths, C282Y penetrance, phlebotomy targets, and why diet cannot replace blood removal.

    MARCUS CHEN 8 MIN READ

  7. Metabolic Health

    Insulin Resistance, Diabetes, and Red Light: An Evidence Firewall

    ADA diagnostics, DPP effect sizes, and where photobiomodulation sits—experimental adjunct, not standard of care.

    MARCUS CHEN 8 MIN READ

  8. Metabolic Health

    HOMA-IR Explained: Formula, Cutoffs, and What It Is Not

    (Fasting insulin × fasting glucose) / 405 in mg/dL units. Useful IR surrogate—not an ADA diabetes diagnostic criterion.

    MARCUS CHEN 6 MIN READ

  9. Metabolic Health

    Hemochromatosis Labs: Ferritin, TSAT, and the Testing Algorithm

    AASLD-style path: TSAT ≥45% and/or high ferritin → HFE genotyping. Ferritin >1000 µg/L flags fibrosis risk; phlebotomy targets 50–100.

    MARCUS CHEN 6 MIN READ

Frequently asked

About Metabolic Health

What is the first-line path for insulin resistance?
Evidence still centers weight management when indicated, ≥150 minutes weekly of moderate activity plus resistance training, sleep adequacy, and indicated medications per ADA-class care. Experimental adjuncts such as photobiomodulation do not replace diagnosis or standard therapy.
Should everyone test MTHFR?
Major genetics guidance (ACMG) recommends against routine MTHFR SNP testing for thrombophilia or recurrent pregnancy loss. Common variants are frequent population diversity; folic acid remains the form with proven neural-tube-defect prevention evidence.
Is high ferritin always iron overload?
No. Inflammation, alcohol, and fatty liver commonly raise ferritin without iron overload. Transferrin saturation, clinical context, and sometimes genetics or MRI liver iron complete the workup.