October 24, 2026 · Sports, Health & Nutrition Daily Digest
A digest of sports, fitness, health, and nutrition developments compiled for October 24, 2026, with summaries, links, and commentary.
I. Nutrition and Diet
1. BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health: in a secondary analysis of 62 adults with overweight, the low-fat vegan phases cut animal protein by 47.7 g/day and raised plant protein by 14.4 g/day, and the authors do not attribute weight change to protein source (Nutrition)
Summary:
Haley Brennan, Hana Kahleova, and colleagues published a secondary analysis of a 36-week randomized crossover trial online on October 20 in BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health. Sixty-two adults with overweight followed a low-fat vegan diet and a Mediterranean diet for 16 weeks each, with a washout; the registration is NCT03698955. Total protein fell by 33.3 g/day on the vegan phases (95% CI −39.4 to −27.2) and did not change on the Mediterranean phases (between-diet effect −33.8 g/day); animal protein fell by 47.7 g/day (between-diet effect −45.5 g) and plant protein rose by 14.4 g/day (between-diet effect +11.7 g). Weight change correlated positively with total protein (r = +0.34) and animal protein (r = +0.40) and negatively with plant protein (r = −0.37); those three associations remained after a Bonferroni threshold of P < 0.017, and changes in isoleucine, lysine, methionine, and tyrosine also tracked weight change. The authors state that fat, energy density, and carbohydrate moved at the same time, so the correlations do not show that protein source itself drove body weight. This is a different secondary analysis of the same crossover from the processing analysis reported on October 22.
Links:
Commentary:
The drop in animal protein and the rise in plant protein moved with weight on the low-fat vegan phases, while fat and energy density moved too, so fewer grams of animal protein are not a weight-loss switch that can be pulled apart from the rest of the plate.
2. American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology: 206 pregnant women took 9,000 mg/day of phosphatidylcholine from 16 weeks, and age-4 IQ was 7.78 points higher while the attention primary outcome did not improve (Nutrition)
Summary:
Robert Freedman and colleagues at the University of Colorado Anschutz randomized 206 pregnant women to 9,000 mg/day of phosphatidylcholine or placebo from 16 weeks' gestation through delivery; the campus released its account on October 20 and the trial is published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology. Everyone was encouraged to keep standard prenatal vitamins and choline-containing foods. Parents completed the Child Behavior Checklist for 142 children from 18 months to 4 years; the two primary outcomes were withdrawn behavior and attention problems, and full-scale IQ was secondary. Elevated withdrawal was 4% in the supplement group and 24% with placebo. The IQ difference was 7.78 points (95% CI 1.88 to 13.7, P = 0.010), and attention problems did not fall significantly. In an exploratory analysis, autism-spectrum T-scores in the clinical referral range plus typical language deficits were 1/71 versus 10/71 (risk ratio 10.0, 1.31 to 76.1). The paper's cross-trial dose comparison is 6,300 mg phosphatidylcholine or 900 mg choline, while the campus interview said 7,200 mg phosphatidylcholine or 900 mg choline. About one-third of participants did not complete assessments through age 4, parents rated social behavior, and the paper reports no significant supplement-related safety problems for mothers or children.
Links:
- American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology — Prenatal phosphatidylcholine, behavior, and cognition
- CU Anschutz — October 20 news release
Commentary:
Do not start 9,000 mg/day of phosphatidylcholine from this report: attention, a primary outcome, did not fall significantly, the IQ interval is wide, and the paper's 6,300 mg figure is not the 7,200 mg figure in the interview, so any dose belongs in a prenatal visit.
II. Exercise and Training Science
3. Critical Care: in 20 ICU survivors 3–6 months after discharge, one flywheel leg-extension session plus 24 g hydrolysed protein raised muscle protein synthesis to a level similar to controls, with a smaller increase (Training)
Summary:
Arabella Fischer-Hammerschmied, Martin Sundström Rehal, and colleagues at Karolinska Institutet published a mechanistic study in Critical Care on October 24. Twenty ICU survivors enrolled 3–6 months after discharge (age 60±12 years, 30% women) and 20 age- and sex-matched controls without critical illness performed flywheel leg extension with the dominant leg and ingested 24 g hydrolysed protein; mixed-muscle protein synthesis was measured with a stable isotope (NCT05261984). Survivors had lower quadriceps thickness and handgrip strength. From plasma precursor amino acids, baseline synthesis was 0.041%/hour versus 0.030%/hour (P = 0.009), the rise was 0.031 versus 0.040 percentage points per hour (P = 0.04), and post-intervention rates were 0.071%/hour versus 0.070%/hour (P = 0.70). Both groups increased anabolic signalling and decreased initiation of autophagy. This is a single-session biopsy study, not a multi-week rehabilitation trial.
Links:
Commentary:
Months after ICU discharge, one leg-extension session plus 24 g of protein still brought muscle protein synthesis up to about the control rate, but the rise was smaller and was measured only once, so it does not replace progressive strength work set by a rehabilitation team.
4. BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation: in 23 men, three weeks of Tabata raised VO2max from 37.77 to 41.46 mL/kg/min in hyperoxia and from 38.30 to 39.80 in hypoxia, with no room-air arm (Training)
Summary:
Clément Leveque, Costantino Balestra, and colleagues published a randomized exploratory active-comparator study on October 24 in BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation. Twenty-three physically active men completed three weeks of supramaximal Tabata (8×20 seconds, 10 seconds recovery, three sessions a week) in hyperoxia (inspired oxygen fraction 0.60, n = 13) or hypoxia (0.16, n = 10), with intensity first set from maximal aerobic power and then regulated by heart rate. VO2max rose from 37.77±8.67 to 41.46±8.41 mL/kg/min in hyperoxia and from 38.30±9.91 to 39.80±9.80 in hypoxia, and the abstract reports a larger baseline-adjusted gain in hyperoxia. The first ventilatory threshold rose from 175.0 to 213.5 W in hyperoxia and from 160.0 to 170.0 W in hypoxia. Peak lactate fell from 9.58 to 8.81 mmol/L in hyperoxia and rose from 8.93 to 9.25 in hypoxia. There was no normoxic arm, the sample is small, session-level external load and heart-rate records are limited, and the trial was registered retrospectively on April 5, 2026, as NCT07551869.
Links:
Commentary:
This is not a reason to buy an oxygen mask for intervals: 23 men, three weeks, no room-air group, and the two arms were matched on heart rate rather than on the same external power, so ordinary intervals still belong in room air.
5. npj Exercise Medicine and Health: among 720 adults with exercise testing, sporadic and bouted moderate-to-vigorous activity both tracked peak oxygen uptake in women, while men were driven mainly by bouts of at least 10 minutes (Training)
Summary:
Andrea Bito, Susanne Ring-Dimitriou, and colleagues published a cross-sectional analysis of the Paracelsus 10,000 study on October 22 in npj Exercise Medicine and Health. Of 720 adults with valid cardiopulmonary exercise tests and accelerometry, 338 were women. Men accumulated 542±296 minutes/week of moderate-to-vigorous activity and women 350±204. From low to high cardiorespiratory fitness, the share of sporadic activity fell and the shares of bouts lasting at least 10 minutes and of self-reported cycling rose. Bouted activity was associated with relative VO2peak (adjusted R² 0.30 in women and 0.35 in men). After self-reported cycling was added, all three patterns explained variance in women (adjusted R² 0.34), whereas men were explained mainly by bouted activity and self-reported cycling (0.47). Body mass index, age, and smoking were additional predictors. The authors call the design hypothesis-generating.
Links:
Commentary:
For cardiorespiratory fitness in this cross-section, short bouts of moderate-to-vigorous activity also lined up with fitness in women, while men lined up mainly with bouts of at least 10 minutes; it does not rewrite the separate 150-minute cardiovascular-event evidence and it is not a personal prescription.
6. Scientific Reports: across 139 player-weeks in 24 elite male outfield footballers, all 12 load-to-next-day force associations had confidence intervals that crossed zero (Training)
Summary:
Norbert Banoocy, Daniel López-López, Rafael Oliveira, and Hadi Nobari published a longitudinal observation on October 23 in Scientific Reports. Routine monitoring produced 139 player-weeks from 24 outfield players at one professional club across 15 non-consecutive microcycles. GPS training load and match load were reduced with separate principal-component analyses. Nordic eccentric hamstring force, prone isometric hamstring force, and hip adductor and abductor force were measured 12–18 hours after matches. Nineteen players contributed force data; 18.0%–30.9% of outcomes were missing and were handled with 50 two-level predictive-mean-matching imputations. The estimate for match-load component 1 and Nordic force was −9.39 N per standard deviation (model-based 95% CI −19.44 to 0.66, P = 0.067); the player-cluster-robust interval was −25.31 to 6.53 N (P = 0.211). All 12 retained load-force associations had confidence intervals spanning zero under both approaches. The authors state that the data do not establish individual fatigue or injury-risk thresholds.
Links:
Commentary:
A higher GPS match-load score was not shown here to mean lower next-day hamstring force, so one principal component from a single club should not be used as a personal cutoff for who may train.
III. Public Health and Disease Prevention
7. LSHTM and Imperial: models put heat-related excess deaths in 854 European cities in summer 2026 at 50,391, of which 29,330 were attributed to human-induced climate change (Public health)
Summary:
The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine released estimates on October 23 from Clair Barnes, Pierre Masselot, Garyfallos Konstantinoudis, and Imperial College London colleagues; The BMJ reported them the same day in the October 24 issue. Across 854 cities holding about 40% of the population of 30 countries, modelled heat-related excess deaths for June–August 2026 were 50,391 (95% empirical CI 46,026 to 53,878), above 29,480 in 2022 and 28,462 in 2003. Of those, 29,330 (23,495 to 34,420) were attributed to human-induced climate change. Nearly one-third fell between June 17 and July 1, when regional daily mean temperature was more than 5°C above the 1991–2020 average. The school puts about 4,500 deaths in 135 UK urban areas and about 6,000 of all estimated deaths under age 65. These are temperature–mortality models, not death-certificate counts of heatstroke, and they omit May and rural areas. A companion paper on 2000–2025, published in Nature Health on October 14, estimates 430,365 deaths and a rise in the anthropogenic share from 39% in 2000 to 68% in 2025. The school says the summer 2026 analysis is also in Nature Health; a separate nature.com link for that paper was not found in search.
Links:
- LSHTM — October 23 estimate of summer 2026 urban heat deaths
- The BMJ — October 23 report of the same estimate
- Nature Health — Companion paper on heat-related urban deaths, 2000–2025
Commentary:
During a heat alert, use local warnings, shade, fluids, and checks on older adults; the model also places about 6,000 of the deaths under 65, and 50,391 is a modelled urban excess, not a death-certificate tally and not a count that includes May or rural areas.
IV. Sleep and Mental Health
8. Nature Mental Health: across 19 randomized trials and 4,974 adults at baseline, cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia corresponded to a post-treatment ratio of means of 0.77 for suicidal-ideation severity, with an unclear difference at follow-up (Sleep)
Summary:
Cagdas Türkmen, Elisabeth Hertenstein, and colleagues published a systematic review and meta-analysis on October 23 in Nature Mental Health. Nineteen randomized trials in adults with insomnia, 4,974 participants at baseline, assessed cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) against suicidal-ideation severity, suicidal behavior, and suicide deaths. Compared with control conditions, the post-intervention ratio of means for ideation severity was 0.77 (95% CI 0.66 to 0.90), rated high certainty, about a 23% lower severity. The between-group difference at follow-up was unclear, with certainty from very low to moderate. Across nine trials, two CBT-I participants reported suicide attempts and none in the control conditions did; no suicide deaths occurred. The authors describe CBT-I as a possible adjunct to suicide-prevention strategies, not a replacement for crisis care.
Links:
Commentary:
When insomnia and suicidal thoughts occur together, CBT-I is a reasonable add-on that lowered ideation severity at the end of treatment, not suicide deaths; immediate danger still needs local emergency mental-health care, and the follow-up effect in this review is uncertain.
Today's Summary
- Diet: In another secondary analysis of the same 62-person crossover, vegan phases cut animal protein by 47.7 g/day and raised plant protein by 14.4 g/day, and the authors do not assign the weight change to protein source; 9,000 mg/day of prenatal phosphatidylcholine lined up with a 7.78-point higher IQ at age 4, while the attention outcome did not improve.
- Training: Months after ICU discharge, one leg-extension session plus 24 g of protein still raised muscle protein synthesis to about the control rate; three weeks of hyperoxic Tabata looked like a larger VO2max gain than hypoxia, without a room-air arm; sporadic moderate-to-vigorous activity also tracked fitness in women, and elite football GPS load did not track lower next-day force.
- Public health: Models for 854 European cities put summer 2026 heat-related excess deaths at 50,391, with 29,330 attributed to human-induced climate change and about 4,500 in the included UK urban areas.
- Sleep: Across 19 trials, CBT-I corresponded to a post-treatment ratio of means of 0.77 for suicidal-ideation severity, the follow-up difference was unclear, and the therapy does not replace emergency care.
Daily Framing:
October 24 in the sports, health, and nutrition cycle was a day when mechanisms were still visible and the prescription was not yet ready to copy: muscle after critical illness still responded to one session of strength work plus protein, hyperoxic intervals and prenatal choline still lack a room-air arm or a single stated dose, and the European urban heat toll is a model rather than a death-certificate count.
This digest is compiled from real-time search results and is for reference only.