Hello and welcome to Zoey Shorts, the Bite Size Podcast where we discuss one topic around science and nutrition.

I'm Jonathan Wolf and this week we have a new expert joining me.

Javier González is a professor of nutrition and metabolism at the Centre for Nutrition,

exercise and metabolism at the University of Bath in the United Kingdom.

Javier is also one of our more recent members of the Zoey Scientific Advisory Board.

Javier researchers how our bodies use the energy that we get from food

and what happens to this energy when we exercise or if we don't use it all.

And since today's subject is exercising on an empty stomach,

it seems like you're the perfect person to talk about this Javier.

Well thanks for having me on the show Jonathan. I'm really excited to talk about this topic.

We all know the benefits that exercise can have in our body

and many of us are trying to incorporate some form of movement into our daily routine.

But it's often quite difficult to find time for that exercise.

These moments are precious and therefore it's important that we maximize the health improvements

of every second that we spend jogging, swimming or lifting at the gym.

And we're usually thinking about what we eat around exercise but less so about when we eat it.

So I'm really looking forward to talking about this and I really want to know

should we exercise before or after a meal and does this timing really affect our health?

Well we have some research that looks at both sides of this

and the results are really interesting and it might even change the way you exercise forever.

Well in that case we better get started.

So Jonathan, I'd love to start telling you about a study that I ran with some colleagues a few years ago.

...