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
If you’ve ever had blood drawn for testing, most of your results will come with a ‘reference range’ attached. The reference range allows doctors (usually) to compare your result with what is accepted as ‘normal’. Normal, as far as references ranges are concerned, usually encompass around 95 per cent of people. In other words, in […]
Cholesterol and Statins
‘Healthy’ sterols can damage the heart, raised overall blood sugar levels linked with increased risk of death, British Medical Journal reminds of the importance of setting health policy based on all the evidence.
Food and Medical Politics
Much of medical science exists to tell us if a treatment (e.g. a drug or dietary approach) has benefits, and what the risks of this treatment might be. Often in studies, a drug being tested is pitted against a placebo (inactive) treatment. Results of these experiments help discern if the drug in question has any […]
Brain and Behaviour
A round-up of all this week’s blog posts (including exercise and the brain, iodine deficiency and thyroid function and the hazards of modern medicine, as well as an answer to a listener’s question regarding how to treat iron deficiency in pregnancy.
Food and Medical Politics
Although I have a particular interest in nutrition and other self-help approaches to health, I’m not of the mind that all of conventional medicine is useless. I do, for instance, have a healthy respect for many aspects of surgery which can often seem to do things that no amount of healthy living can. I’m also […]
Food and Medical Politics
Fibrates are a class of drug used to treated ‘dyslipidaemia’ – abnormalities in blood fat levels. They can help to reduce levels of supposedly unhealthy low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. They also have the capacity to raise levels of ‘healthy’ high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol as well as reduce levels of unhealthy blood fats known as triglycerides. […]
Cholesterol and Statins
Generally speaking, doctors have almost unbridled enthusiasm for cholesterol-reducing drugs including statins. We doctors have generally been educated to believe that cholesterol at essentially normal levels causes heart disease, and bringing levels down is of paramount importance to health. Here in the UK, doctors are even remunerated by the Government to get their patients’ cholesterol […]
Food and Medical Politics
Putting fluoride in the municipal water supply is said to prevent dental decay. However, it also causes dental problems in the form of ‘dental fluorosis’, and may well pose hazards deeper within the body too. I recently wrote a blog post about this, and included 50 reasons for opposing fluoridation from the advocacy group Fluoride […]
Food and Medical Politics
The week before last I was talking over breakfast with a delegate on a wellness programme I was delivering with some colleagues. Somehow (I don’t remember quite how) we ended up talking about the evolution versus creationism debate. I am a believer in evolution. The delegate (let’s call him Greg) believes in creationism. Many scientists […]
Food and Medical Politics
Too much sunlight can cause sunburn, and sunburn is a risk factor for skin cancer. So, if sunscreens help prevent sunburn, they should reduce the risk of skin cancer too, right? It turns out, according to a piece appearing last month in the journal Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, that the evidence that sunscreens protect against […]