What long-lasting lymphocyte loss after COVID-19 tells us about exhaustion, not weakness Most people think recovery from infection is a simple timeline: You get sick → you heal → your body returns to normal. But a large new study published in the I nternational Journal of Infectious Diseases  suggests that for many people, the immune system never fully makes it back to baseline—even nearly two years later . And the most important clue is not inflammation. It’s missing immune

How Astrocytes and Mitochondria Shape Cognitive Health A fascinating new review published in Reviews in Neuroscience  by Coronado-Monroy & Massieu (2025) shines a spotlight on an often-overlooked truth: the brain’s ability to think, remember, and adapt is governed not just by neurons, but by the energy factories that power them and the glial cells that support them. The review, titled “T he versatile and multifacetic role of astrocytes in response to ketogenic interventions ,

How “ Allostatic Triage ” Helps Explain Mental Health, Stress, and Chronic Illness For decades, mental health conditions like depression, anxiety, burnout, and stress-related cognitive decline have been framed as problems of chemistry , personality , or coping skills . Neurotransmitters were blamed. Willpower was prescribed. Rest was often an afterthought. A recent scientific review proposes something more fundamental — and far more compassionate. The Brain Under Stress: An

How LDL-C Focus Misled Us—and Why Carbs Matter More For 50 years, we have been taught a simple story: Eating saturated fat raises your LDL cholesterol, and high LDL causes heart disease. Therefore—so the logic goes—foods like eggs, red meat, butter, and full-fat dairy must be harmful. This idea shaped dietary guidelines, food policy, and public fear. But today, the science tells a very different story—one that’s more interesting, more hopeful, and far more accurate. The Real

What New Research Suggests About the Ketogenic Diet and Schizophrenia For more than a century, schizophrenia has been explained through the lens of neurotransmitters—especially dopamine. But an emerging wave of research is painting a different, and surprisingly empowering, picture: the brain’s energy supply may be one of the most important forces shaping mental health. A new review published in the Journal of Inflammation Research  (Hung et al., 2025) explores this idea thro

Insights from the RRS16/RRS24 Models For decades, we were taught one simple story about heart disease: “LDL cholesterol is the cause. Lower it and you’re safe.” But a growing body of research—and many patients’ real experiences—tell a more complex story. Heart attacks occur in people with “normal” LDL. Others lower their LDL dramatically yet still face cardiovascular events. A powerful new study published in JACC: Advances  (2025) brings this point home with striking clarity

Why New Research Is Rewriting the Story of Depression and Brain Health For decades, most explanations of depression centered on neurotransmitters —serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine. You ’ve probably heard the analogy: “Depression is like having low serotonin, just like diabetes is low insulin.” But today, some of the most exciting neuroscience research is telling a very different story: The root problem may not be the chemicals that carry messages between brain cells…bu

What New Science Reveals About Energy Shortage, Stress, and the ERM Framework A new scientific review published in Mitochondrion  takes us deep inside the cell—right to the entry gates of the mitochondria, the tiny “power stations” that keep us alive. What the authors discovered maps beautifully onto a concept we use often at Healing Passion: Exposure-Related Malnutrition (ERM) . The message is powerful: When your cells don’t have enough energy, they start losing the ability

Why do some cells lose their strength but bounce back—while others shut down forever? A groundbreaking Nature   study published in 2025 has just shed new light on this mystery—and it may reshape how we understand immune aging, cancer therapy, chronic disease, and even the biology of resilience. The research maps out what happens inside immune cells when they become “ exhausted, ” a common problem in chronic infections and cancer. What the scientists discovered is profound: Ex

A New Study Offers Clues — and Raises a Bigger Question A new analysis from the SURMOUNT-4  clinical trial has just been published in JAMA Internal Medicine . It follows people with obesity who lost weight on tirzepatide  (a GIP/GLP-1 agonist) for 36 weeks, and then had the medication withdrawn for one year. The results were striking: 82.5%  regained at least 25%  of the weight they had lost About half  regained 50% or more One in four  regained most or all  of the lost weigh

What Vagus Nerves, Fasting, and Exercise Teach Us About the Rhythm of Recovery Two fascinating scientific papers—one in Nature  and one in Nature Reviews Endocrinology —have reshaped how we understand the relationship between the brain, the immune system, and metabolism. Together, they reveal a powerful truth: Biology is rhythmic. Health depends on cycles. And anything that strengthens only one  side of the cycle—whether fasting, caloric restriction, exercise, or vagus nerve

What New Research Says About Blood Sugar, insulin Resistance, and Carbohydrate Intake Managing Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is about much more than taking insulin. Two recent scientific papers highlight a bigger story — one that may reshape how we think about long-term metabolic health, insulin resistance, and the role of dietary carbohydrates. 1. Why Insulin Resistance Happens Even in Type 1 Diabetes A new scientific review shows that insulin resistance is surprisingly common in T

A major new review in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology  offers a fresh perspective on incretin biology. It highlights how hormones like GLP-1 and GIP do far more than regulate insulin—they help the body coordinate digestion, circulation, metabolism, and even aspects of brain function  immediately after a meal. According to the authors, incretins act as a finely tuned “post-meal adaptation system,” increasing blood flow to the gut, supporting nutrient absorption, and mainta

For decades, we’ve been taught a simple rule: lower LDL cholesterol is always better . LDL has been framed as the “bad” cholesterol that clogs arteries, while high LDL is seen as a direct path to heart disease. But a new large, real-world, six-year study published in Cardiovascular Diabetology  surprisingly challenges that story. The research—following 13,674 adults free of diabetes and heart disease—found something unexpected: People with the lowest LDL levels had the highe

Most people know that exercise is “good for you,” but few understand why  it is so powerful. The secret lies in hormesis  — the biological principle that small, controlled doses of stress trigger the body to adapt, rebuild, and grow stronger. Exercise is the ultimate hormetic stressor. It raises your heart rate, burns energy, challenges your mitochondria, pushes your muscles, and even temporarily increases inflammation and free radicals. But after the workout, your body respo

We’re excited to announce the publication of our new commentary in Diabetology International , titled “Glucagon suppression under GLP-1RA therapy: hidden trade-offs for muscle and resilience.” GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) such as semaglutide and tirzepatide have transformed diabetes and obesity care. Their ability to lower glucose, reduce appetite, shed body weight, and cut near-term cardiovascular risk  is nothing short of remarkable. They deserve credit for that. But

How a Bioenergetic Perspective Could Transform the Way We Understand—and Treat—Aging We’re pleased to share the publication of our latest Perspective article in Biogerontology : “Aging as the Wound That Fails to Heal: A Bioenergetic Continuum of Resolution Failure.” This work builds on the Exposure-Related Malnutrition (ERM) framework. It offers a new way to understand aging—not as passive wear-and-tear, but as a chronic failure of resolution . In this state, the body remain

What a New Nature Aging Commentary Reveals About the Hidden Risks of “ Anti-Aging ” Interventions — and How ERM Helps Us See the Full Picture A new commentary in Nature Aging  — “Balancing the Promise and Risks of Geroscience Interventions”  — has sparked an important conversation in the longevity world. The authors warn that while anti-aging science is advancing faster than ever, our enthusiasm may be outrunning our understanding. One figure from the paper captures the pr

For decades, doctors have noticed something intriguing: women in their reproductive years are metabolically protected. They gain less visceral fat, maintain healthier cholesterol patterns, and have far lower rates of heart disease compared with men — and even compared with other stages of their own life. A major new review published in Atherosclerosis   (van Oortmerssen et al., 2025) helps clarify why . The answer centers on estrogen  — and especially how estrogen shapes wher

Why do so many people today struggle with brain fog, poor focus, memory lapses, slow thinking, irritability, emotional sensitivity, or difficulty switching between tasks? Two important scientific pieces—Picard’s chapter on brain energy vulnerability  and Jamadar et al.’s 2025 review on the metabolic costs of cognition —provide the clearest explanation yet: 👉 Cognitive dysfunction is, at its core, an energy problem. 👉 When the brain cannot produce or access enough usable ene