Articles
Labs and biomarkers 11 min
The American College of Gastroenterology puts the true healthy upper limit for ALT at 29 to 33 IU/L for men and 19 to 25 IU/L for women, below what many laboratories flag. The most common cause of a mildly high result is fat in the liver, and the question that actually matters is not the enzyme, it is whether the liver has scarred.
Heart health 9 min
Pooling 73 randomized trials and 5,060 participants, a Cochrane review found walking reduced systolic blood pressure by 4.11 mmHg, on moderate-certainty evidence. Diastolic fell less, on weaker evidence, and the effect was similar whether participants started with normal or high blood pressure.
Heart health 8 min
The 2025 AHA and ACC guideline kept the four categories introduced in 2017 and changed what happens inside them. Stage 1 hypertension now triggers medication for anyone with cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, diabetes, or a PREVENT 10-year risk of 7.5 percent or more, and the overarching treatment goal is below 130 over 80 for all adults.
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Strength, mobility and aging 10 min
The exercise that builds bone and the exercise that stops you falling on it are not the same exercise. Cochrane rates the fall-prevention evidence high certainty for balance and functional work, and says the effect of resistance training alone, and of walking, on falls is uncertain. Bone density answers differ by skeletal site.
Labs and biomarkers 5 min
The standard adult TSH interval is 0.45 to 4.12 mIU/L. But the 97.5th centile rises from 3.56 in your twenties to 7.49 after 80, and 70 percent of older people flagged with a TSH above 4.5 are inside their own age group's range.
Heart health 6 min
Lp(a) is set by your genes, barely moves in a lifetime, and the European Atherosclerosis Society says to measure it at least once in adulthood. There is still no approved drug that lowers it, though the first large outcome trial reached its primary completion date in July 2026.
Heart health 5 min
Low HDL is a genuine risk marker, and every drug trial that raised HDL on purpose failed to help. One raised it by 72 percent and increased deaths. Here are the real categories, and why HDL is read rather than treated.
Labs and biomarkers 4 min
WHO puts iron deficiency in healthy adults below 15 µg/L, and below 70 µg/L if you have infection or inflammation, because ferritin rises when you are unwell. That is why a result inside your lab's printed range can still be deficient.
Preventive care and screenings 9 min
No body publishes a normal PSA by age. The decade-by-decade cutoffs you have seen are in the AUA guideline's background text, citing a 1993 paper, not in any numbered recommendation. Here is what age does decide, with the grades attached.
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Labs and biomarkers 6 min
The National Kidney Foundation publishes an average eGFR for every age band, and it falls from 116 in your 20s to 75 after 70. The threshold that defines kidney disease does not move with it. Both facts are true, and the gap between them is an open argument in nephrology.
Heart health 11 min
No guideline publishes cholesterol targets by decade of age. Your calculated risk sets your LDL goal: the 2026 ACC/AHA guideline sets goals of under 100, 70 or 55 mg/dL by risk group and, in the material we could read, names one category, 190 mg/dL or higher. Here is where age enters (30 to 79 for its risk calculation, 40 to 75 for the USPSTF), the retired 2001 bands still seen online, and where these sources split by sex (HDL).
Strength, mobility and aging 13 min
The RDA is 0.8 g/kg/day and the 2026 Dietary Guidelines say 1.2 to 1.6. Nitrogen-balance work re-run in 2025 found no age effect. Protein without resistance training did nothing in a controlled-feeding trial. Even meal distribution failed in the one conflict-free trial in older adults.
Supplements 15 min
Magnesium has high-certainty null evidence for leg cramps, no current guideline grade for migraine, the lowest possible grade for depression, and an explicit ADA recommendation against it for glycemic benefit. The clearest effect is as an osmotic laxative at about 2.6 times the upper limit.
Weight and metabolism 15 min
In a controlled-feeding trial where both groups ate identical calories, time-restricted eating produced a 0.3 kg difference. Cochrane's 2026 review found no meaningful advantage over standard advice. The lean mass concern is real but overstated, and no randomized trial has ever measured a hard outcome.
Supplements 14 min
A 2025 meta-analysis separating trials by funding source found no effect of collagen on skin hydration, elasticity or wrinkles in non-industry-funded studies. Joint-pain effects are real but roughly a third of the clinically meaningful threshold. Fat-free mass with resistance training is the one moderate-certainty finding.
Supplements 13 min
NMN and NR reliably raise blood NAD+ and reliably fail to change muscle strength, gait speed or insulin sensitivity in randomized trials. The best meta-analysis says current evidence does not support them for preserving muscle. FDA reversed its position on NMN in September 2025.
Supplements 14 min
The USPSTF calls the evidence insufficient for multivitamins and recommends against beta-carotene and vitamin E. COSMOS and Physicians' Health Study II missed their primary cancer and cardiovascular endpoints. Almost no randomized evidence exists for adults aged 35 to 50.
Mental wellness 3 min
As of August 2026: BetterHelp runs $70 to $100 per week without insurance, or an average $23 per-session copay with eligible insurance, and includes weekly live sessions plus messaging. Sesame sells single telehealth visits from $34 with the cash price shown before booking. In-person private-pay therapy commonly costs more per session than either, and insurance network coverage is the deciding variable. Free help exists in crisis: call or text 988.
Supplements 3 min
The 2024 Endocrine Society guideline supports empiric vitamin D beyond the standard intake for adults 75 and older, during pregnancy, and in high-risk prediabetes, and suggests daily dosing over intermittent high doses. For healthy adults under 75, it recommends against supplementing above the standard intake (600 to 800 IU/day, NASEM) to prevent disease, and against routine 25(OH)D testing, because trials found no benefit and no optimal target level.
Preventive care and screenings 3 min
From the CDC's adult schedule (2025): every adult gets an annual flu vaccine and a Td/Tdap booster every 10 years. At 50, two doses of the shingles vaccine (Shingrix, 2 to 6 months apart) and pneumococcal vaccination switch on. RSV vaccination is routine at 75 and risk-based from 50 to 74, one dose. COVID-19 dosing follows the current season's notes. Risk conditions move several of these earlier; the schedule is rechecked yearly.
Strength, mobility and aging 3 min
EWGSOP2 (2019) defines probable sarcopenia by low strength alone: grip below 27 kg for men or 16 kg for women, or more than 15 seconds for five chair stands. Strength beats muscle mass at predicting bad outcomes, and it is trainable at every age. The US Physical Activity Guidelines set the floor: muscle-strengthening activity on 2 or more days a week, on top of 150 to 300 minutes of moderate aerobic work.
Hormones 3 min
The AUA guideline sets total testosterone below 300 ng/dL as the cutoff supporting a low-T diagnosis, requires two early-morning measurements on separate days, and only diagnoses testosterone deficiency when the low number comes with symptoms or signs. Fatigue, low libido, erectile changes and reduced muscle are the common complaints. Therapy needs monitoring, and fertility is a real tradeoff: testosterone therapy suppresses sperm production.
Sleep 3 min
The AASM and Sleep Research Society consensus is that adults should sleep 7 or more hours per night on a regular basis. Sleeping less is associated with weight gain and obesity, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and stroke, depression, impaired immunity and more accidents. More than 9 hours may suit young adults and people recovering from sleep debt or illness; for others the health effect is uncertain. Regularity and a fixed wake time do most of the repair work.
Sexual health 3 min
The AUA guideline counsels that ED is a risk marker for underlying cardiovascular disease and calls the diagnosis a pivotal opportunity to address heart risk. The workup covers blood pressure, glucose, lipids and morning testosterone. The guideline says to discuss every treatment that is not contraindicated as a potential first-line option; the pills among them are FDA-approved PDE5 inhibitors such as sildenafil and tadalafil, and lifestyle change (diet, activity) may improve erectile function in men with related conditions.
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