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.
Food and Medical Politics
Earlier this month I wrote a post that focused on a trial involving the cholesterol-reducing drug ezetimibe. Ezetimibe works in a different way to statins (the most commonly prescribed cholesterol-reducing medication). While statins block cholesterol’s production in the liver, ezetimibe block its absorption from the gut. When you add ezetimibe to a statin (there’s a […]
Food and Medical Politics
Reuters recently reported here that the US Government has added the chemical formaldehyde to its official list of cancer-causing agents. You’ll learn from the Reuters piece that formaldehyde is found in things like some plastics and embalming fluid. But what you won’t learn from the piece is that it can be derived from our diet […]
Cholesterol and Statins
Cholesterol drug ezetimibe appears to do more harm than good, screening for ovarian cancer doesn’t work, and vitamin D linked with reduced risk of infection. 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.
Cholesterol and Statins
Cholesterol is said to cause heart disease (I’m not so sure, myself), and a mainstay of treatment here is a class of drugs known as ‘statins’ that reduce the rate at which cholesterol is manufactured in the liver. Statins have been used in medicine for over 20 years, but more recently has seen the development […]
Food and Medical Politics
For many, cancer screening has obvious appeal. Detecting the disease through screening will generally mean an earlier diagnosis, and earlier treatment should, by rights, lead to better outcomes. Well, that the theory anyway. In practice, though, we know that screening is most certainly not as effective as we might imagine. For example, mammography has been […]
Diabetes/Metabolic Syndrome
I came across this interesting story the other day. It concerns an American, Bob Krause, who has just turned 90. Nothing to extraordinary about that, perhaps, in these days of enhanced longevity. What makes the story interesting is that when he was 5 years old, Bob was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. This is condition […]
Brain and Behaviour
Red meat and colon cancer, melanoma doctor urges us to get out in the sun, could hunger and low blood sugar have something to do with disharmony in the home? 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 […]
Food and Medical Politics
I almost fell of office chair yesterday when I read this article in the UK’s Daily Mail by oncologist (cancer specialist) Professor Angus Dalgleish. Professor Dalgleish has a particular interest in malignant melanoma. In the piece, he draws our attention to the links between vitamin D and cancer, including the link between low vitamin D […]
Food and Medical Politics
Vitamin D boosts wellbeing in the elderly, the nonsense of ‘normal’ ranges, and why the ‘broadening of disease’ can be good business for drug companies but leave ordinary people worse off. 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 […]
Food and Medical Politics
Last September one of my blogs reported on a piece in the British Medical Journal in which journalist, authors and patient advocate Ray Moynihan alerted us to the potentially unhealthy links between the pharmaceutical industry and doctors who set health policy. Specifically, Mr Moynihan’s concern was the definition of disease is being widened, and this […]