The Paper Database is an amazing resource for learning more about nutrition, weight management, metabolism, exercise science, psychology, and behavioral economics as it relates to human metabolism and obesity but we also want to be upfront about what The Paper Database does not contain. The Paper Database does not contain:
- Animal and Cell Research: animal and cell research are invaluable in understanding mechanistic biology. These models allow for the studies of metabolic pathways and the response of organ systems to interventions, allow for an extremely high level of control, and the study of time dependent changes in biology that just are not possible in humans. These foundational studies also pave the way for translational human studies. However, these findings must be tested in a human population before applying them to a human population and therefore are excluded from The Paper Database.
It is our opinion that animal and cell research should be left up to the basic scientists to interpret. We’ve heard far too many personal trainers and nutritionists try to explain human biology through cell and animal research findings. This “overinterpretation” can be prevented by leaving the interpretation of basic research to the basic research scientists and more fully understanding what is currently known in human research. - Outcomes Unrelated to Energy Expenditure or Weight Loss: there are thousands of studies on the effects of individual nutrients and/or exercise on metabolism but if these studies do not have a significant effect on energy expenditure, energy intake or weight loss they have been excluded from The Paper Database.
- Sports Nutrition & Performance: the focus of The Paper Database is to help individuals in the general population struggling with overweight and obesity. Strategies for improving sports performance through exercise and/or nutrition are largely excluded. With that being said, there are numerous metabolic studies performed in college-aged normal weight individuals that are informative on how metabolism works in a human population and may be the only information we have on a particular research question. Therefore some of these papers have been included.
- Pediatrics: pediatric obesity is a huge concern in the United States and appears to only be getting worse. We hope to be able to add a pediatrics category in the future but just do not have the resources to do so at this time. Our focus in currently on adult overweight and obesity.
- Bariatric Surgery and Weight Loss Medications: our current focus is to build out and maintain our database on the effects of diet, exercise, and behavioral economics on human metabolism and obesity. Weight loss surgery and medications are an area we hope to add sometime in 2021.
- Specific Disease Conditions: The Paper Database is focused primarily on metabolism (energy expenditure and intake) as it relates to weight loss but does not categorize other metabolic outcomes such as blood glucose control in diabetics or reducing cardiovascular disease risk in the general population. There is of course, overlap between weight management and disease conditions and risk but our primary focus is on weight management.
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