It’s an increasingly popular idea: “boosting” testosterone with diet tweaks – increasing foods rich in zinc and magnesium – hoping to build muscle faster. But the reality is more nuanced.

Testosterone is an androgen hormone that plays a key role in development, particularly in boys during puberty. Its effect on muscle isn’t simply about how much of it you have, but how your body responds to it.

“There are two key factors,” says Prof Leigh Breen, a muscle physiology specialist from the University of Leicester. “The amount of testosterone in your system, and the number of androgen receptors in your muscles.” These act like docking sites, allowing the hormone to exert its effects on muscle mass. The number you have is largely determined by genetics, but how well they work can be influenced by lifestyle factors such as exercise.

For most people, natural variations in testosterone don’t make much difference to muscle mass. “For most of our adult life, natural fluctuations, or changes we see with exercise and diet, are subtle,” Breen says.

Testosterone does have a clear impact at the extremes. The most obvious example is anabolic steroid use. These drugs flood the body with testosterone at levels far beyond what would occur naturally. “The effect on muscle mass is significant,” says Breen. “People have been reported to gain muscle even without training.”

At the other end of the spectrum are medical conditions that drastically reduce testosterone, such as hypogonadism in older men. Severely low levels are associated with muscle loss and weakness, which is why some people are prescribed testosterone replacement therapy (TRT).

But, for most of us, testosterone operates within a relatively narrow range. Building muscle still comes down to the fundamentals: consistent training, adequate nutrition and time.

The Guardian

In the world of magazines, when someone announces they’re leaving a job, their colleagues will traditionally present them with their own personalised mock-up of the magazine’s front cover. Perhaps their face is superimposed on the body of a previous celebrity cover star. There are probably some witty cover lines referencing memorable office moments or their favourite snacks. It’s a rite of passage – and this week, Anna Wintour was bestowed with her very own cover. But instead of a jokey imitation bidding her adieu, it was the real, glossy deal, coming to a newsstand near you on 28 April.

In a somewhat surprising effort to promote the forthcoming The Devil Wears Prada 2, Vogue’s May issue sees Wintour share the cover with Meryl Streep, whose steely Miranda Priestly, editor-in-chief of the fictional title Runway, is said to have been inspired by Wintour. “Seeing Double. When Miranda met Anna” reads the cover line. While Wintour has fronted various industry titles, including Interview in 1993 and Ad Week in 2017, it’s the first time an editor has placed themselves as the subject. In another fun twist, both Wintour and Streep are wearing Prada.

First teased via Vogue’s Instagram on Tuesday, within seconds the image had gone viral, amassing, at the time of writing, more than 1.2m likes. “Maaj” commented the model Gigi Hadid. “Just so good” added the actor Mindy Kaling, while the 10k-plus other comments from the general public span everything from “Actually groundbreaking”, in reference to Priestly’s immortal florals line from the original film, to “Getting this framed”.

Rather than just plugging the highly anticipated sequel, though, Wintour’s newsstand appearance serves as something more significant (of course it does, this is Wintour we’re talking about): it’s her own personal power move, and a klaxon for the next phase of Anna Wintour. The cover comes just 10 months after she announced she was “stepping back” as editor-in-chief of Vogue and six months after she promoted Chloe Malle to head of editorial content. What better way to affirm that she is still very much in control of the magazine she has helmed for close to four decades than by appearing on its cover?

When Wintour first revealed she was relinquishing her editor-in-chief title, many misconstrued it as a step down. Her cover appearance now hammers home that it was no such thing. Her current role as chief content officer for Condé Nast and global editorial director for the magazine allows her to retain the ultimate authority while leaving the day-to-day running to Malle.

Mark Borkowski, a press consultant and author, describes Wintour’s appearance on the cover as “a hell of a smart move”. “This is very much about Wintour not letting go of her power,” he says. “A lot of people in these types of jobs recognise they are sitting in a chair that has power. Wintour doesn’t believe that. She believes she is the power. She’s not a personality that’s going to fade away into the background.”

Even the ideation of the cover hints at the authority Wintour still wields. Writing in her editor’s letter, Malle outlines how it came about. She was in the backseat of Wintour’s personal town car (a nice power play by Wintour, and reminiscent of the first film) running ideas for the next batch of covers past her (a tacit hint that all the big decisions still need to be approved by Wintour) when Malle first suggested the idea. Wintour initially shot it down, saying: “That’s very flattering, Chloe, but it’s not really my style.” It then, so the story goes, fell to Streep to persuade her. Wintour called the Hollywood star directly (another not-so-subtle power move).

Wintour was dismissive of the first film when it came out in 2006. Although she did attend the premiere – wearing Prada, no less – she was cagey about her reaction. In 2024, at the opening of the musical version in London, she told the BBC that it was “for the audience and for the people I work with to decide if there are any similarities between me and Miranda Priestly”.

However, more recently she has seemed happier to engage, suggesting that Priestly is very much “a caricature” and a highly enjoyable and very fun one at that. The various social media videos that accompany the shoot drive this idea home. Streep stays in character, while Wintour plays herself. We see her fumble her lines and get the giggles. She is warm and witty, a sharp contrast to the icy Priestly.

We first saw her toy with the idea at the Oscars in March, where she jokingly referred to Anne Hathaway as “Emily”, a nod to Emily Blunt’s character in the film. Meanwhile, the next read in the Vogue Book Club is the novel by Lauren Weisberger that inspired the film. Borkowski suggests these stunts hint that Wintour is beginning to separate herself from brand Vogue. “Her life has been defined by Vogue,” he says. “Back in the day she was recognisable by a very distinctive haircut and a pair of dark glasses. She was a cypher. But now it’s all about the narrative of the personal brand.” She is, he says, “getting involved in the film because she sees it as something that can establish Anna Wintour, the brand”.

The Guardian

Diabetes drugs could prevent anxiety and depression from worsening, according to research.

Type 2 diabetes affects more than 800 million people globally and research shows that those with the condition are about twice as likely to have depression as the wider population.

GLP-1 receptor agonists such as semaglutide are commonly prescribed for diabetes and obesity. While studies have found other health benefits beyond weight loss and better blood sugar levels, the medications’ effects on mental health have been unclear.

International researchers examined Swedish health records of almost 95,000 people with a diagnosis of depression or anxiety who were also taking various diabetes medications between 2009 and 2022.

The study compared periods when patients were taking GLP1s, or other second-line diabetes medications, with when they were not taking them. Worsening mental health was assessed through data on psychiatric hospital admissions, sick leave from work due to mental health reasons, hospitalisation owing to self-harm and death by suicide. Published in the Lancet Psychiatry, the research also examined data on new diagnoses of anxiety and depression.

The authors found that semaglutide, the active ingredient in the drugs Ozempic for diabetes and Wegovy for weight loss, as well as liraglutide (Saxenda) were associated with a lower risk of worsening mental illness in those with anxiety and depression.

Semaglutide had a 42% lower risk of worsening mental health, while liraglutide was linked to an 18% lower risk. Other GLP-1 drugs, including exenatide and dulaglutide, did not show the same benefit.

Semaglutide was associated with a 44% lower risk of worsening depression, a 38% lower risk of worsening anxiety and a 47% lower risk of worsening substance use disorder.

“For anxiety and depression that co-occur with diabetes and obesity, semaglutide and, to a lesser extent, liraglutide might be useful dually effective therapeutic options,” the authors concluded.

Dr Markku Lähteenvuo, a research director at the University of Eastern Finland, said: “It is possible that, in addition to factors such as reduced alcohol consumption, weight loss-related improvements in body image, or relief associated with better glycaemic control in diabetes, there may also be direct neurobiological mechanisms involved, for example, through changes in the functioning of the brain’s reward system.”

Responding to the findings, experts urged caution, including Prof David Nutt, who is the head of the neuropsychopharmacology unit at Imperial College London and chair of the independent scientific committee Drug Science.

He said: “It is well established that better mental health tends to follow from better physical health and since the 1880s we have known that diabetes is associated with depression, although I think it’s unlikely that using GLP-1R agonists alone as treatments for depression or anxiety will work.”

Prof Eduard Vieta, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Barcelona and editor in chief of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology journal, said: “From a clinical perspective, these findings are reassuring regarding the psychiatric safety of GLP-1 receptor agonists and suggest a potential role not only in preventing worsening but also, possibly, in improving mental health outcomes.

“However, they should not yet be interpreted as evidence of a direct therapeutic effect on depression or anxiety.”

The research came as a separate study found that women taking semaglutide for diabetes before they knew they were pregnant had a 84% higher relative risk of preterm birth, compared with those who did not take GLP-1 medication, while the risk was 70% higher with liraglutide.

Academics looked at Danish health registries for nearly 500,000 women, of whom 529 had been taking liraglutide or semaglutide when they became pregnant.

The study found that inadvertent exposure to GLP-1s in early pregnancy was associated with a higher risk of the baby being born before 37 weeks when the drugs were used for diabetes treatment, but not among those taking them for weight loss.

Taking semaglutide was associated with approximately a 11% higher absolute risk of preterm birth. Liraglutide showed a 9% increased risk.

The Guardian