Making AI not only explainable but also robust — Introduction In many situations, machine learning models are preferred over traditional linear models because of their superior predictive performance and their ability to handle complex nonlinear data. However, a common criticism of machine learning models is their lack of interpretability. For example, ensemble methods such as XGBoost and Random Forest…

Food tracking (or logging) refers to the concept of monitoring your dietary intake with the goal of obtaining information about your diet. …

Making an animation to find the best balance between x and y coordinates on a curve — I was recently asked to help with a project that involved finding the x and y values on a curve that had the largest area underneath them. To accomplish this, decided to make this animation: Aside from looking pretty cool, such a task can have utility in research or industry…

Whenever starting a new data project, I found the process of checking for outliers a little tedious. I found many articles on the internet that explained how to detect outliers and how to deal with them, but I didn’t find any good functions that could automate the process of checking…

Quite often, the terms “protein powder” and “whey” appear to be used synonymously. Indeed, whey protein is by far the most common protein powder on the market, and for good reason, too; it is a great source of protein. However, whey protein also has some downsides. Firstly, it’s animal-based, which…

This week a study was released that has the potential to be quite revolutionary in the resistance training world. It was conducted by Menno Henselmans and co-authors and showed there that is no high-quality evidence that carbohydrates should be the preferred choice of fuel for resistance training performance [1]. This…

Practical Applications This is all nice to know, but what practical applications can we take away from this knowledge in order to improve our lives? The most obvious one is increasing your intake of polyphenol-rich foods. Polyphenols are found in many naturally derived foods such as fruits and vegetables. In…

Polyphenols and the Microbiota In Part 1 we discussed a bit about what polyphenols are, how they are classified, and then discussed their health effects and some of the mechanisms of these. Now, we delve deeper into one mechanism of action — that is, their effect on the microbiota. Enjoy! …

Although they do not have minimum intake requirements such as vitamins, minerals, and other dietary components, it is now clear that the consumption of polyphenols contributes to the maintenance of health and the prevention of disease. This motivated me to begin reading for and then writing this series of articles…