Motorway Food

Evidence map

Driving nutrition: what the evidence base looks like

16 publications, 5 of them trials and 7 syntheses. This page describes the shape of that literature rather than summarising its conclusions.

Updated 4 min read 16 citations

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What the evidence on driving nutrition is made of Of 16 publications on this topic, the breakdown by study type: 7 meta-analysis, 5 randomised trial, 1 review, 3 other. 7513meta-analysis (7)randomised trial (5)review (1)other (3)
16 publications, by study type. Volume is not strength — the same count can be a settled question or a pile of commentary, and which one it is depends almost entirely on this breakdown. Harvested from PubMed and Crossref; publication type as recorded by the source.

What this literature is made of

This is a well-developed evidence base: multiple syntheses sitting on a substantial body of trials. Questions here are usually about applicability rather than about whether an effect exists.

The distinction that matters most is between synthesis and primary research. A meta-analysis pools trials and is the closest thing to a settled answer a field produces. A narrative review is one group's reading of the same material and can be selective without being dishonest. Counting them together, which most citation counts do, obscures exactly the thing you want to know.

When the driving nutrition literature was published Publication years for the 16 papers on this topic, grouped into bands from before 2015 through to 2023 onwards. 2023 onwards9 papers2020-20223 papers2015-20193 papersBefore 20151 papers
Still active. The most recent paper here is from 2025, so this is a field where an answer written today may not hold for long. Publication years as recorded by PubMed and Crossref.

How this page is built

Everything above is computed from the citations this site harvested from PubMed and Crossref, not written by hand. When the weekly harvest finds a new paper on this topic, these counts change and the characterisation changes with them. That is the point: a hand-written claim about how strong an evidence base is starts decaying the day it is written.

Publication type is taken as the source records it. That is imperfect — journals label inconsistently, and a paper indexed as a "review" may be a systematic one — so treat the bands as approximate. They are accurate enough to distinguish a trial literature from a commentary literature, which is the distinction that matters.

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Zephyris · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

The strongest work on this topic

Ordered by study design first, then recency. The full set is listed in the references below.

  1. Continuous glucose monitoring in type 2 diabetes: a systematic review of barriers and opportunities for care improvement — Barchiesi MA, Calabrese A, Costa R et al., 2025, systematic review
  2. Comparative efficacy of incretin drugs on glycemic control, body weight, and blood pressure in adults with overweight or obesity and with/without type 2 diabetes: a systematic review and network meta-analysis — Liu S, Hu J, Zhao C et al., 2025, meta-analysis
  3. The Role of Smartwatch Technology in the Provision of Care for Type 1 or 2 Diabetes Mellitus or Gestational Diabetes: Systematic Review — Diez Alvarez S, Fellas A, Wynne K et al., 2024, systematic review
  4. Endogenous Ghrelin Levels and Perception of Hunger: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis — Anderson KC, Hasan F, Grammer EE et al., 2023, meta-analysis
  5. Universal School Meals and Associations with Student Participation, Attendance, Academic Performance, Diet Quality, Food Security, and Body Mass Index: A Systematic Review — Cohen JFW, Hecht AA, McLoughlin GM et al., 2021, systematic review
  6. Methamphetamine use and cognitive function: A systematic review of neuroimaging research — Sabrini S, Wang GY, Lin JC et al., 2019, systematic review
  7. Dairy products, satiety and food intake: A meta-analysis of clinical trials — Onvani S, Haghighatdoost F, Surkan PJ et al., 2017, meta-analysis
  8. Frailty, Multimorbidity, and Polypharmacy: Exploratory Analyses of the Effects of Empagliflozin from the EMPA-KIDNEY Trial — Mayne KJ, Sardell RJ, Staplin N et al., 2024, randomised controlled trial
  9. Effects of aquatic exercise on appetitive responses in adolescents with obesity: An exploratory study — Miguet M, Pereira B, Beaulieu K et al., 2023, randomised controlled trial
  10. Varying roles of glucoregulatory function measures in postprandial cognition following milk consumption — Anderson JR, Maki KC, Palacios OM et al., 2021, randomised controlled trial
How much research is there on driving nutrition?
16 publications are indexed here, of which 5 are trials and 7 are syntheses.
Does more research mean a stronger conclusion?
No. Composition matters more than volume — five randomised trials support a claim far better than fifty commentaries, and citation counts do not distinguish between them.
How current is this?
The most recent paper indexed here is from 2025. The set is refreshed weekly from PubMed and Crossref.
Why does this page not tell me the answer?
Because summarising a literature into a conclusion requires reading it, and doing that automatically is how confident nonsense gets published. This page tells you how much weight a conclusion could bear; the articles on this site do the interpreting.

References

Every citation below links to the original peer-reviewed record on PubMed or via DOI. Nothing here is a substitute for medical advice.

  1. Continuous glucose monitoring in type 2 diabetes: a systematic review of barriers and opportunities for care improvement Barchiesi MA, Calabrese A, Costa R, et al. · International journal for quality in health care : journal of the International Society for Quality in Health Care · 2025 · Systematic review DOIPubMed 40338639Full text
  2. Comparative efficacy of incretin drugs on glycemic control, body weight, and blood pressure in adults with overweight or obesity and with/without type 2 diabetes: a systematic review and network meta-analysis Liu S, Hu J, Zhao C, et al. · Frontiers in endocrinology · 2025 · Meta-analysis DOIPubMed 39968298Full text
  3. The Role of Smartwatch Technology in the Provision of Care for Type 1 or 2 Diabetes Mellitus or Gestational Diabetes: Systematic Review Diez Alvarez S, Fellas A, Wynne K, et al. · JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2024 · Systematic review DOIPubMed 39625868Full text
  4. Endogenous Ghrelin Levels and Perception of Hunger: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Anderson KC, Hasan F, Grammer EE, et al. · Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2023 · Meta-analysis DOIPubMed 37536563Full text
  5. Universal School Meals and Associations with Student Participation, Attendance, Academic Performance, Diet Quality, Food Security, and Body Mass Index: A Systematic Review Cohen JFW, Hecht AA, McLoughlin GM, et al. · Nutrients · 2021 · Systematic review DOIPubMed 33799780Full text
  6. Methamphetamine use and cognitive function: A systematic review of neuroimaging research Sabrini S, Wang GY, Lin JC, et al. · Drug and alcohol dependence · 2019 · Systematic review DOIPubMed 30414539
  7. Dairy products, satiety and food intake: A meta-analysis of clinical trials Onvani S, Haghighatdoost F, Surkan PJ, et al. · Clinical nutrition (Edinburgh, Scotland) · 2017 · Meta-analysis DOIPubMed 26923518
  8. Frailty, Multimorbidity, and Polypharmacy: Exploratory Analyses of the Effects of Empagliflozin from the EMPA-KIDNEY Trial Mayne KJ, Sardell RJ, Staplin N, et al. · Clinical journal of the American Society of Nephrology : CJASN · 2024 · Randomised controlled trial DOIPubMed 40179340Full text
  9. Effects of aquatic exercise on appetitive responses in adolescents with obesity: An exploratory study Miguet M, Pereira B, Beaulieu K, et al. · Appetite · 2023 · Randomised controlled trial DOIPubMed 36933834
  10. Varying roles of glucoregulatory function measures in postprandial cognition following milk consumption Anderson JR, Maki KC, Palacios OM, et al. · European journal of nutrition · 2021 · Randomised controlled trial DOIPubMed 32737613
  11. Breakfast Omission Reduces Subsequent Resistance Exercise Performance Bin Naharudin MN, Yusof A, Shaw H, et al. · Journal of strength and conditioning research · 2019 · Randomised controlled trial DOIPubMed 30707135
  12. Eating-related behaviors and appetite during energy imbalance in obese-prone and obese-resistant individuals Thomas EA, Bechtell JL, Vestal BE, et al. · Appetite · 2013 · Randomised controlled trial DOIPubMed 23402714Full text
  13. Clinical research framework proposal for ketogenic metabolic therapy in glioblastoma Duraj T, Kalamian M, Zuccoli G, et al. · BMC medicine · 2024 · Review DOIPubMed 39639257Full text
  14. The relationship between C-reactive protein-triglyceride-glucose index and cardiovascular disease: insights from the China health and retirement longitudinal study (CHARLS) Zhang L, Li S, Liu D, et al. · Cardiovascular diabetology · 2025 · Journal article DOIPubMed 41152893Full text
  15. Triglyceride-glucose index, renal function and cardiovascular disease: a national cohort study Cui C, Liu L, Zhang T, et al. · Cardiovascular diabetology · 2023 · Journal article DOIPubMed 38017519Full text
  16. AKR1C3-dependent lipid droplet formation confers hepatocellular carcinoma cell adaptability to targeted therapy Wu C, Dai C, Li X, et al. · Theranostics · 2022 · Journal article DOIPubMed 36451864Full text