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
The side-effects of statin drugs are well-recognised, and include muscle pain, fatigue, mental symptoms, kidney damage or liver damage. Some doctors and researchers have decided to change the nomenclature on these side-effects by referring to people who have them as ‘statin intolerant’. I may be wrong, but this seems to me to be a way […]
Food and Medical Politics
Last month, I wrote a blog post about how there was no evidence that cholesterol-lowering ‘stanols’ and ‘sterols’ (found in some margarines and other ‘functional foods’) have benefits for health. In fact, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence explicitly states that they should not be used. Yet, the British Heart Foundation (BHF) recommends […]
Exercise and Activity
‘Mild cognitive impairment’ describes a reduction in brain function that is not advanced enough to be described as ‘dementia’. It’s usually described via psychological testing. As yet, there is no recognised medical treatment for it. That doesn’t mean, of course, that nothing can be done about it, and in fact some recent evidence suggests that […]
Food and Medical Politics
Health checks are a common feature of conventional medical care. Here, individuals who don’t necessarily have any specific health issues are subjected to several medical tests such as blood pressure and cholesterol measurement, height and weight and standard blood tests. The idea is that ‘problems’ will be spotted earlier than they would be ordinarily, and […]
Diabetes/Metabolic Syndrome
Last week I wrote about the Unilever-funded Fat Information Service and the claim on its website that “The evidence shows clearly that the risk of developing heart disease is reduced when saturated fats are replaced with unsaturated fats.” The claim was made by dietician Dr Carrie Ruxton, and to support her claim she referenced a […]
Cholesterol and Statins
I had a press release recently alerting me to the presence of the Fat Information Service. On the face of it, this ‘service’ seeks to provide us with balanced and accurate information and advice about the sorts of fat we should be eating in our diets. It claims, among other things, to provide “Access [to] […]
Cholesterol and Statins
I caught a television advert in the last week for a drink which, purportedly, has the ability to reduce cholesterol levels in the bloodstream. The advert also told us that two-thirds of UK adults have raised cholesterol. The underlying message is clear: regular imbibing of this drink will help lots of people stave off heart […]
Food and Medical Politics
I was interested to read this week a news piece in the British Medical Journal concerning the senior paediatric consultant Dr Hilary Cass [1]. Dr Cass used to work at Great Ormond Street children’s hospital in London. In 2007, she objected to planned cuts in the number of junior doctors at the hospital. She subsequently […]
Diabetes/Metabolic Syndrome
Type 2 diabetes is a condition characterised by generally raised levels of sugar (glucose) in the bloodstream. One of the issues here is the ability of glucose to bind to and damage proteins in the body (glycation), which can increase the risk of a range of complications including nerve damage, eye damage, kidney disease and […]
Food and Medical Politics
Medical research is a huge industry churning out scientific papers at quite a rate. How are doctors supposed to keep up and know what is deemed the ‘appropriate’ treatment for a condition? A supposed helping hand comes for doctors in the form of ‘clinical guidelines’ which can come from a variety of sources including one […]