Dietitian & Nutritionist Manuel Attard

08/06/2025

🥊Fighters often push their bodies to the limit to make weight...but is it worth the risk?
📰Yesterday’s local boxing event caused a buzz after reports that a fighter gained 8kg between weigh-in and fight time, within just 24 hours.

❗Before writing my comments as a sports dietitian, I want to be clear that I have no information on the specific methods that this particular athlete used; however I can explain how this kind of rapid weight fluctuation can happen in combat sports, and why large weight fluctuations can be dangerous.

⚖Fighters often use rapid weight-cutting strategies before weigh-in, such as:
• Dehydration through sauna, hot baths, or fluid restriction
• Carb and sodium depletion to reduce water weight
• In some cases, diuretics- which are banned unless medically justified

🍞After weigh-in, aggressive rehydration with fluids, electrolytes, carbohydrates, and sometimes intravenous fluids (drip) is carried out, resulting in rapid weight regain.

☠The risks of excessive cuts are real:
• Dehydration increases concussion risk and impairs brain function
• Electrolyte imbalances can cause heart problems
• Kidney damage, cramping, fatigue, and digestive issues
• Slower reactions and poorer performance
• And in tragic cases, death

Real examples:
❌ Yang Jian Bing (ONE Championship, 2015): died from heart failure during weight cut
❌ Jessica Lindsay (Australia, 2017): collapsed while making weight
❌ Leandro Souza (Brazilian MMA, 2013): died while using diuretics

👍Why rehydration clauses matter
Some sports contracts include rehydration clauses that limit how much weight a fighter can regain after weigh-in, designed to protect health and ensure fair competition.

📏 What’s a safe weight cut?
• Rapid cuts just before weigh-in should ideally be limited to 3–5% of body weight
• Cutting more than 5% rapidly greatly increases risks of dehydration, impaired performance, and health complications

✅I’m not speculating about yesterday’s fight. But weight cutting beyond 5% of body weight is high risk. Respecting rehydration clauses, following safe protocols, and working with a qualified sports dietitian is critical, not just for performance, but to protect fighters’ lives.

09/10/2024

Proud to be the official dietitian for this endurance event, a 24-hour walk raising funds for the children living in Fondazzjoni Sebħ residences. The challenge will take place on the weekend of the 19th and 20th of October. The goal is to raise enough funds to make the children’s dream of their first holiday abroad come true. Goddo Debattista

28/04/2024

My article in today's Sunday Times, discussing the reversal of type 2 diabetes through lifestyle changes.

Predominantly caused by excessive food intake, leading to fat accumulation, speci­fi­cally in the liver and pan­creas

10/12/2023

23/10/2023

My article on the Sunday Times, about this worrying new trend. TV should NOT be on during school lunch breaks

24/11/2022

🍅Tomatoes (technically a fruit), are packed with nutrients including vitamin C, potassium, and several anti-oxidants including lycopene. Lycopene has been shown to protect against prostate cancer; in fact a study by Zu et al. in the Feb 2014 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute found that the higher the intake of lycopene, the lower the risk of this type of cancer. There was also an indication that in those with prostate cancer, lycopene could slow down growth.

❤According to Schoeneck et al in the Jan 2021 issue of ‘Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases’, approx. 300g of tomatoes per day (equal to about 2 large tomatoes) can reduce LDL-cholesterol. This type of cholesterol is associated with a higher risk of heart disease and stroke.

❗However, some persons may need to be careful with their intake of tomatoes. This includes persons with kidney disease who are susceptible to high blood potassium levels and those with gastroesophageal reflux disease.

26/10/2022

❤If you have high blood pressure, reducing salt intake is important; however, it is only one of the dietary changes that are recommended. The DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet recommends that apart from reducing salt, we also reduce our intake of saturated fat (found for example in processed foods, red meat, and fatty dairy products such as hard cheese and full fat milk).

🥗On the other hand, increasing the intake of potassium helps to reduce blood pressure as potassium is important to allow the walls of the arteries to ‘relax’ and it also stimulates the kidneys to excrete more sodium into the urine (e.g. Queiroz et al., in the Aug 2017 issue of the journal ‘Nutrients’). Examples of foods rich in potassium would be fruits, vegetables, and legumes.

🥛Increasing the intake of calcium is also important in order to reduce blood pressure, as calcium is essential in blood vessel constriction and dilation (narrowing and widening of the arteries) and several studies have observed that low intakes of calcium are associated with high blood pressure (e.g. Villa-Etchegoyen et al, in the May 2019 issue of the journal ‘Nutrients’). Good sources of calcium would include low-fat dairy products, fortified plant milks, nuts and seeds.

❗️Please note that this is general advice that may not be suitable for everyone; indeed persons with certain medical conditions (such as kidney disease) may need to be careful with how much potassium and calcium they consume. Always consult a registered dietitian for personalized diets.

27/09/2022

🍝When people are making adjustments to their diet, when it comes to pasta they tend to focus on the pasta itself. A 100g (dry weight) of pasta (larger than a starter portion but smaller than a typical Maltese main course) has around 350kcal, which isn’t a large amount for a main meal. However, the additions that we make to it will make a tremendous difference.

🍅 For example, polpa (red sauce) is typically just 30kcal per 100mL, while a light cooking cream clocks in at around 150kcal per 100mL. Pesto, which most people regard as ‘healthy’ (maybe it’s the green colour?) typically contains a whopping 500kcal per 100mL thus a small jar of 200mL will add 1000kcal to your 350kcal of pasta. Switching from pesto to polpa and keeping the portions the same will save you an instant 940kcal in just 1 meal!

23/08/2022

🧠 Omega 3 fatty acids can’t be produced by the body, meaning they need to be obtained from the diet. These fats have important roles as they are integral component of cell membranes and are found at particularly high levels in the retina (eyes) and brain. A high intake of omega 3 fats has been linked with lower rates of cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia; they have also been shown to have an anti-inflammatory effect on the body (e.g. P. Calder in the 2010 issue of 'Nutrients' journal.)

🐠 Foods that are rich in omega 3 include fatty fish (such as salmon, mackerel, and sardines) and fish oil, nuts and seeds (particularly flaxseeds, chia seeds, and walnuts) as well as flaxseed oil and canola oil.

14/07/2022

"Eat the Rainbow. Post 5 of 5.
🧄In the final part of ‘eat the rainbow’ posts, we’ll be looking at brown and white vegetables such as cauliflower, garlic, onions, and mushrooms. These have their own particular nutrients; for example, garlic and onions contain the compounds allicin and quercetin which may help reduce blood pressure and cholesterol, and prevent cancer according to Zhang Y et al in the 2020 issue of ‘Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy’. Zhang and colleagues also reported that in cell studies, garlic exhibit a cancer-killing effect and could therefore slow down cancer growth.

❤️Cauliflower contains a substance called ‘sulforaphane’, an anti-oxidant that may also have anti-cancer properties and can potentially protect against heart disease, according to Vanduchova A. et al. in the 2019 issue of the Journal of Medicinal Foods. Similarly, mushrooms contain compounds that have anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer effects, according to Yadav D. et al in the 2021 issue of ‘Food Research International’.

29/06/2022

"Eat the Rainbow." Post 4 of 5.
🍆We’ve now looked at the benefits of red, yellow, and green fruit and vegetables. Today, we’ll be looking at the benefits of purple and blue fruit and vegetables such as blueberries, blackberries, purple grapes, plums, prunes, raisins, red cabbage, and eggplant. These foods tend to be rich in phytochemicals called anthocyanins and resveratrol.

🍇In the 2020 issue of the journal ‘Molecules’, Mattioli and colleagues describe how anthocyanins can help prevent diseases associated with oxidative stress, such as cardiovascular (heart-related) disease and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s, Parkinson’s, and ALS. Mattioli details how anthocyanins have been found to decrease LDL cholesterol and blood triglycerides and improve HDL (the ‘good’ cholesterol). Anthocyanins may also help to reduce blood pressure and improve brain function in older adults.

🧠On the other hand resveratrol is sometimes known as the ‘anti-aging’ compound as it has been shown to extend lifespan in animal and cell studies (e.g. Hector KL at al. in the 2012 issue of ‘Biology Letters’). In humans, resveratrol may help protect against age-related diseases such as neurodegenerative disease, certain types of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and osteoporosis, according to Zhou D et al. in the 2021 issue of ‘Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity’.

15/06/2022

"Eat the Rainbow." Post 3 of 5.
🥦Last week we discussed the benefits of yellow and orange colored fruit and vegetables; today we’ll be looking at the benefits of green ones such as broccoli, kale, lettuce, asparagus, spinach, arugula, green beans, zucchini, peas, kiwi, green apples and green grapes. These foods tend to be rich in vitamin K, folate, and lutein.

🥬Vitamin K is important for normal blood clotting and healthy bones. On the other hand, folate is a B vitamin that is important for healthy blood and cell division. If your diet is low in folate, you can develop megaloblastic anemia which causes weakness, fatigue, poor concentration, irritability, heart palpitations, and shortness of breath. Folate deficiency can also cause open sores in the mouth and tongue. Getting enough folate is especially important in pregnant women to help prevent birth defects. A high intake of folate-rich foods has been associated with a lower risk of some types of cancer, according to a report by Pieroth et al. in the 2018 issue of ‘Current Nutrition Reports’.

🥗Lutein is a substance found in high quantities in green leafy vegetables (and also in carrots). In humans, lutein is concentrated in the retina (eye) and may play important roles in eye health. According to research including the AREDS2 study, lutein could protect against age-related macular degeneration (which causes impaired vision). According to A. Manayi et al. in the 2016 issue of ‘Criticial Reviews in Biotechnology’, lutein could also help protect against cataracts.