LampHill Letter: April 2026

This month's articles cluster around a recurring problem: popular conclusions that outrun their evidence. Blue zones may be demographic artifacts, creatine's brain benefits rest partly on a counting error, and the microbiome industry has sprinted well past the underlying biology. The cardiovascular and biomarker pieces add some useful counterweights.

This month's reading

Longevity. The five blue zone regions are famous for extreme longevity, but the data behind that claim has a more complicated story. Do blue zones exist, longevity hotspots vs data artifacts

Cardiovascular. Endurance exercise protects your heart, yet cardiologists keep noticing something unsettling in long-term athletes. Exercise-plaque paradox

Brain. The most-cited statistic on creatine and memory traces back to one 2023 meta-analysis with a significant methodological problem. Creatine memory, meta-analysis double-counting

Muscle. Knowing exactly how the phosphocreatine system works is what separates creatine's solid evidence from the speculation layered on top. Phosphocreatine system

Nutrition. The biology of the gut microbiome is important; the supplement and testing industry built on it is a different matter. Gut microbiome

Supplements. Berberine earned the nickname natural statin for its cholesterol effects, but the label deserves closer scrutiny. Berberine

Biomarkers. ApoB wraps every atherogenic lipoprotein in your blood, which is precisely why it may outperform standard cholesterol panels as a risk marker. ApoB

Every claim in these guides links to its source. The full standard is on our about page.