iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Joe Matthews @josephmatthews.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

Okay I’m officially done on X/Twitter. In dire need of a healthy science community with people posting interesting takes on research. Where are my nutrition and metabolism people…? 🍎

media.tenor.com

a man drinking from a can that says science on it

ALT: a man drinking from a can that says science on it

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Joe Matthews @josephmatthews.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

In my latest Substack, I cover the science of how biology fights back after weight loss: 🔘 Metabolic adaptation (or not…) 🔘 Hunger hormone shifts 🔘 Heightened reward sensitivity to food cues 🔘 A potential “memory” of obesity in fat cells 🔗 josephmatthewsphd.substack.com/p/the-bigges...

Joe Matthews @josephmatthews.bsky.social · 20/07/2025

We cover: 🔘 Protein quality metrics 🔘EAA composition 🔘 Processing and cooking effects 🔘 EAA bioavailability 🔘 Protein synthesis and turnover 🔘 Special considerations for aging 🔘 Protein quality in whole diets 🔘 EAA density 🔘 Beyond current metrics

Joe Matthews @josephmatthews.bsky.social · 20/07/2025

What is dietary protein quality? New paper in the Journal of Nutrition. My first, first-author paper since joining UAMS. Dietary protein quality is the ability of a protein source to provide bioavailable essential amino acids (EAAs). But what affects this…?👇🏽 🔗 shorturl.at/elQLE

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Joe Matthews @josephmatthews.bsky.social · 04/07/2025

One year in Little Rock, Arkansas! 🇺🇸 It's hard to believe a year has passed already. Looking forward to spending more time in The Natural State!

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Reposted by Joe Matthews

Michele Zanini @mzaniniphysiology.bsky.social · 02/03/2025

🚨 New study 🚨 The biggest project of my PhD is out in MSSE journal. 🔑 findings: Strength training improves running economy durability & high-intensity performance following prolonged running. 🙏🏼 R. Blagrove and J. Folland for the SUPERvision on this. 🔗 journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/ab... 🧵 1/10

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Joe Matthews @josephmatthews.bsky.social · 02/03/2025

❓ It is possible that BA may be beneficial in more severe metabolic conditions (although other nutrition interventions will likely be more beneficial). 🏋🏽‍♂️ Keep supplementing BA for exercise performance!

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Joe Matthews @josephmatthews.bsky.social · 02/03/2025

What does this mean? 🤔 There is *some* mechanistic evidence that carnosine can improve metabolic health by increasing glucose uptake and reducing insulin resistance. But human clinical trials do not currently provide high-quality evidence to support this.

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Joe Matthews @josephmatthews.bsky.social · 02/03/2025

🫀 We reassessed biomarkers of cardiometabolic health and cardiovascular function. However, for the dose and duration studied, there was no *clear* benefit for adults with overweight or obesity. Paper 🔗 t.co/rT5Mj6bIXM

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/oby.24204

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Joe Matthews @josephmatthews.bsky.social · 02/03/2025

💊 Finally, we performed a well-controlled human clinical trial in 30 people with overweight or obesity (two-thirds had prediabetes). For 3-months, people received either 6.4 grams per day of BA or a matched placebo, then...

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Joe Matthews @josephmatthews.bsky.social · 02/03/2025

🧫 Next, we investigated possible mechanisms using isolated muscle cells from healthy and T2D donors. Treating the T2D muscle cells with carnosine improved their glucose uptake - important for T2D and metabolic health. Paper 🔗 t.co/LMPEXscC4Q

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00726-022-03230-9

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Joe Matthews @josephmatthews.bsky.social · 02/03/2025

📊 Analyzing data from 172 people and 291 rodents showed that supplementation reduced fasting glucose and HbA1c - although the overall quality of the evidence was poor. Analysis 🔗 t.co/YMXF0Es3Ey

https://advances.nutrition.org/article/S2161-8313(22)00501-4/fulltext

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Joe Matthews @josephmatthews.bsky.social · 02/03/2025

❓ Because of this, it is possible that carnosine can help with metabolic health, particularly obesity and type-2 diabetes (T2D). 📈 To assess this, we performed a meta-analysis of all human and rodent data to see if supplementing with carnosine or BA improved glycaemic control.

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Joe Matthews @josephmatthews.bsky.social · 02/03/2025

But carnosine also: 🔘 Shuttles calcium ions (as a H-Ca exchanger) 🔘 Binds reactive species (as a detoxyfing agent) Review 🔗 t.co/OJQ6QHpxHD

https://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/fulltext/2019/10000/the_physiological_roles_of_carnosine_and___alanine.15.aspx

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Joe Matthews @josephmatthews.bsky.social · 02/03/2025

🏃🏽 Many athletes and nutritionists know that supplementing with beta-alanine increases carnosine concentrations in muscle. This improves the muscle's pH buffering capacity and subsequent short-duration, high-intensity performance (maximal efforts ~30s-5mins).

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Joe Matthews @josephmatthews.bsky.social · 02/03/2025

Do carnosine and beta-alanine (BA) offer benefits beyond enhancing exercise performance? Yes and no 🤔 📰 Thread with summary of research and links to open-access papers 👇🏽

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Reposted by Joe Matthews

The Journal of Physiology @jphysiol.bsky.social · 17/01/2025

Christopher W. Sundberg et al. investigated the cumulative effects of H+ and Pi on #force and #power of skeletal muscle fibres from young and older adults 💥🔋 📜 Read the #Research here: buff.ly/40BBX02

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Joe Matthews @josephmatthews.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

The latest publication from our lab at UAMS 👇🏼

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Joe Matthews @josephmatthews.bsky.social · 04/01/2025

That's a wrap! Comment with any 2024 protein papers that I've missed 📚

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Joe Matthews @josephmatthews.bsky.social · 04/01/2025

We fed middle-age and older adults three different protein intakes (0.8, 1.1, and 1.5 g/kg/day) in a two-meal dietary pattern. Only the highest protein intake group had a positive whole-body protein balance--importance for reduced meal eating patterns: tinyurl.com/ms7ekm4a

Effect of Three Different Daily Protein Intakes in a Two-Meal Eating Pattern on Protein Turnover in Middle Age and Older Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Reduced meal frequency patterns have become popular for weight loss, maintenance, and improving cardiometabolic health. The extended fasting windows w…

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Joe Matthews @josephmatthews.bsky.social · 04/01/2025

Whey, pea, or pea-rice (blend) protein drinks led to similar postprandial appetite, gut hormone responses, and ad libitum energy intake (in a buffet-style test meal). Whey protein had the greatest EAA bioavailability, but did not = better appetite control: tinyurl.com/mu6u8539

The effects of whey, pea, and collagen protein supplementation beyond the recommended dietary allowance on integrated myofibrillar protein synthetic rates in older males: a randomized controlled trial

Skeletal muscle mass is determined predominantly by feeding-induced and activity-induced fluctuations in muscle protein synthesis (MPS). Older individ…

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Joe Matthews @josephmatthews.bsky.social · 04/01/2025

Lean, healthy older men maintained anabolic sensitivity (a robust MPS response to protein intake) similar to younger men. Age-related anabolic resistance is not inevitable—maintain physical activity, exercise, and high-quality protein for muscle health: tinyurl.com/38j9nc3a

Anabolic Sensitivity in Healthy, Lean, Older Men Is Associated With Higher Expression of Amino Acid Sensors and mTORC1 Activators Compared to Young

Background Sarcopenia is thought to be underlined by age-associated anabolic resistance and dysregulation of intracellular signalling pathways. However, it is unclear whether these phenomena are dri...

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Joe Matthews @josephmatthews.bsky.social · 04/01/2025

We published similar findings at UAMS. A 4oz beef patty stimulated MPS more than 4oz or 8oz of Impossible Burger (a soy-based meat alternative; SBMA). It is worth noting that whole-body protein balance was higher in the SBMA group: tinyurl.com/mrywurx4

The anabolic response to a ground beef patty and soy-based meat alternative: a randomized controlled trial

Soy-based meat alternatives (SBMA) are becoming increasingly popular, but it is unclear if they have the same anabolic effect on skeletal muscle as an…

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Joe Matthews @josephmatthews.bsky.social · 04/01/2025

Older adults consuming an omnivorous meal (beef) had 47% higher MPS rates compared with a calorie and protein-matched vegan meal (quinoa, chickpeas, edamame). Potentially due to a higher intake of EAAs or better protein digestibility: tinyurl.com/ynxstfvv

Higher Muscle Protein Synthesis Rates Following Ingestion of an Omnivorous Meal Compared with an Isocaloric and Isonitrogenous Vegan Meal in Healthy, Older Adults

Plant-derived proteins are considered to have fewer anabolic properties when compared with animal-derived proteins. The anabolic properties of isolate…

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Joe Matthews @josephmatthews.bsky.social · 04/01/2025

2024 Protein Nutrition Review! What's new in dietary protein? 🥩🫘 A brief overview of SEVEN insightful muscle protein synthesis (MPS) studies (references and links included) 👇🏽

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Joe Matthews @josephmatthews.bsky.social · 27/12/2024

New study suggests a higher plant-to-animal protein ratio is associated with lower risks of CVD and CAD. I find these studies challenging to interpret given the underlying data used in the analyses: "A food frequency questionnaire was administered every 4 years to determine dietary intake"

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Joe Matthews @josephmatthews.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

Gotcha! I can’t keep up with using multiple apps for organising literature, but I did start using Obsidian for note taking and organising ideas.

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Joe Matthews @josephmatthews.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

Yeah, I highly recommend all three of his books. The other two are “The Gene” and “The Emporer of All Maladies” which covers the history and biology of cancer. My favourite writer by far!

Joe Matthews @josephmatthews.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

“Cellular engineering has already allowed us to rebuild parts of humans with re-engineered cells. As our understanding of this arena grows, new medical and ethical conundrums will arise, intensifying and challenging the basic definition of who we are, and how much we wish to change ourselves.”

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Joe Matthews @josephmatthews.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

Finally finished this masterpiece from @DrSidMukherjee - a beautiful story on the past, present, and future of cell biology and its role in health and disease 🦠🧬🧫

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Joe Matthews @josephmatthews.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

It’s a great read and includes a few tear-jerking moments towards the end - enjoy!

Joe Matthews @josephmatthews.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends in the US! 🦃

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Joe Matthews @josephmatthews.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

Biomedical researchers share their priorities for the U.S. ahead of incoming administration: ⚪ Support education and reproductive care ⚪ Embrance medical AI ⚪ Protect patients ⚪ Prepare for the next pandemic ⚪ Be smarter with antibiotics www.nature.com/articles/d41...

nature.com

Hopes, fears and uncertainty: life scientists react to Trump’s election victory

Leading biomedical researchers outline their priorities for the incoming administration.

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Joe Matthews @josephmatthews.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

Hugely relatable scene in the new film Joy on Netflix

Joe Matthews @josephmatthews.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

@paultmorgan.bsky.social paste some of your previous writing into the Consensus app via Chat GPT and prompt it to review the work and give strengths and weaknesses.