Editorial reviews · Medically reviewed
Plain-language reviews of the clinical studies and guidelines that shape what we know about insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, PCOS, and metabolic disease. Each review is checked by a board-certified clinician and updated as the evidence changes.
What we do
We sit between the generalist medical encyclopedias and the advocacy-heavy corners of metabolic health. Every review reflects what the original paper argued, what later peer-reviewed work has confirmed, and where the evidence is still under real dispute.
Claims are anchored in PubMed-indexed journals, government health agencies, and established medical societies. We do not cite Substacks or advocacy sites as evidence.
Every review is checked by a board-certified clinician in a relevant specialty. Reviewers are named, their NPI numbers are visible, and their disclosures are on the page.
When a newer trial or meta-analysis contradicts an older finding, we say so on the page and refresh the review. The last-reviewed date is visible on every article.
Every research review ships with original figures: usually a timeline of the post-publication evidence, plus a side-by-side comparison of the original findings with what came after.
Start here
Plain-language guides written by credentialed medical writers. Start with what insulin resistance is, or clarify the boundary between insulin resistance, prediabetes, and type 2 diabetes.
Insulin resistance can improve. The strongest evidence supports weight loss where excess adiposity is a factor and physical activity, which works even without weight loss. Sleep, medications, and supplements have narrower or more limited evidence.
Read →GuideNo single eating pattern is established as the best diet for insulin resistance. Mediterranean, DASH, plant-based, and low-carbohydrate patterns overlap more than they differ, and overall food quality matters more than the label.
Read →GuideNo routine clinical test directly diagnoses insulin resistance. Clinicians use standardized glucose and A1C tests to diagnose prediabetes and diabetes. Surrogate indices like HOMA-IR, TyG, and TG/HDL-C depend on assay, formula, units, and population.
Read →GuideInsulin resistance has no single known cause. Several contributors can act together — body fat distribution, physical inactivity, sleep, certain medicines, hormonal conditions, age, and genetics — and the combination differs from person to person.
Read →GuideInsulin resistance usually causes no symptoms. The symptoms often attributed to it are usually signs of high blood sugar, which comes later. Two physical signs have real research behind them, but neither is diagnostic.
Read →GuideInsulin resistance, prediabetes, and type 2 diabetes are related but defined differently. One describes physiology; the other two are glycemic diagnoses. Here's how the three overlap and how they don't.
Read →Research reviews
2026 editorial reviews of clinical studies that shaped how we understand insulin resistance and metabolic disease. What has held up, what has not, and what has changed since publication.
A look back at the 2023 review arguing that low-salt diets worsen insulin resistance, what the broader cardiovascular and sodium-substitution evidence has shown, and how the specific mechanistic claim sits within the wider sodium-and-health debate.
Read the review →A look back at the 2022 protocol paper that proposed a 16-week randomised trial of a whole-food low-carbohydrate diet in patients with diabetic cardiomyopathy, what the 2023 executed pilot actually found, and how the therapeutic environment for heart failure with diabetes has shifted since publication.
Read the review →A look back at the 2022 narrative review on COVID-19 mRNA vaccine risk-benefit analysis, what subsequent peer-reviewed evidence and policy changes have validated, and what specific methodological claims remain contested.
Read the review →Editorial standards
Each page clears seven editorial checks plus a credentialed medical review before publication.
Every medical claim cites a current authoritative source: peer-reviewed journal, government agency, or established medical society.
When the underlying research has industry funding or author conflicts, we say so on the page rather than in a footer.
For claims about current clinical practice, most references are recent. Older citations appear only when they remain canonical.
Reference lists exclude Substacks, blogs, and anonymous sources. Peer-reviewed venues and official bodies only.
If a paper's headline claim has been contradicted by larger studies, the page names the contradiction directly.
Every research review includes original figures: typically a timeline of post-publication evidence and a comparison of key outcomes.
Every page passes an editorial pass for readability and an AI-writing-pattern check before it's published.