Dr John Briffa's blog, A Good Look at Good Health — writing on food, cholesterol, weight, energy and the science behind everyday health, from the drbriffa.com archive. Filter by topic, browse by category, or search the library.
Cholesterol and Statins
It’s easy to believe that statins have dramatic life-saving properties. The reality is, however, that for the majority of people who take them, they don’t. In the biggest and best review published to date, statins were not found to reduce overall risk of death in individuals with no previous history of cardiovascular disease [1]. What […]
Food and Medical Politics
Dairy products may help weight loss, aspartame may cause fibromyalgia, and the curious case of the Flora pro.activ advertorial rumbles on and on. For RSS feeds, click on http://www.podcastmachine.com/podcasts/8966 and then the ‘RSS feeds’ button to the right. For help regarding the playing, downloading and subscribing of the podcasts, click here.
Food and Medical Politics
10 days ago I wrote a blog post focusing on an advertorial which appeared in the Daily Telegraph for Flora pro.activ drinks. The advertorial, recounted the experiences of ‘Telegraph journalist’ Chris Jones, and how the consumption of Flora pro.activ drinks had, along with other ‘healthy’ lifestyle changes, led to a lowering in Ms Jones’ cholesterol […]
Cholesterol and Statins
Have you heard the adage ‘don’t believe what you read’? In the area of health I believe this is generally good advice. Trawling through newspapers has convinced me that much of what is written about how best to manage our health is based more on science fiction rather than fact. I believe this applies as […]
Food and Medical Politics
The National Obesity Forum is a charity dedicated, it claims, to raising awareness about the hazards of obesity and produce guidelines regarding its management. When one hears the name ‘National Obesity Forum’ and learns it was started by health professionals, it’s natural to imagine that this organisation is an independent body with genuine concerns about […]
Food and Medical Politics
We doctors like to think (or at least claim) that the treatments we recommend and give to our patients are ‘evidence-based’. I’ve lost count of the number of doctors I’ve spoken to who have bandied around this term as a justification for how they treat their patients. That’s all fine, but of course just saying […]
Food and Medical Politics
If you have any interest in health at all, you’ll be familiar with the concept of altering fat intake to reduce risk of disease and premature death. One central theme here is that certain types of fat (e.g. saturated fat) increases risk of ‘cardiovascular’ diseases such as heart disease and stroke, while others (e.g. polyunsaturated […]
Brain and Behaviour
Dehydration messes up brain function, high cholesterol associated with reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease, and what Britain’s number 1 tennis player has to learn about nutrition from the World’s number 1. For RSS feeds, click on http://www.podcastmachine.com/podcasts/8966 and then the ‘RSS feeds’ button to the right. For help regarding the playing, downloading and […]
Cholesterol and Statins
We’re constantly reminded that having a ‘raised’ cholesterol level puts us in mortal danger of cardiovascular diseases such as heart disease and stroke. Several times I have covered evidence which strongly suggests that cholesterol is not the killer it’s made out to be. One major line of evidence here is the fact that reducing cholesterol […]
Food and Medical Politics
Low-carb beats low fat for loss of toxic ‘visceral’ fat, ezetimibe trial that tells us nothing about ezetimibe, I made low-carb pizza (by mistake). For RSS feeds, click on http://www.podcastmachine.com/podcasts/8966 and then the ‘RSS feeds’ button to the right. For help regarding the playing, downloading and subscribing of the podcasts, click here.