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.
Children's Health
I’ve given up television viewing other than DVD’s and rugby, and my main way of keeping in touch of what’s going in the outside world is the radio. Yesterday, I was out taking a walk with the dog and, plugged into my radio, was listening to a news story about an eight-year-old boy here in […]
Healthy Eating
In my practice from time to time I m consulted by women who complain of excess hairiness. Many of them tell a story of finding hairs sprouting in places where they weren’t there before such as their chins and around their nipples. This condition ” the medical term for which is ‘hirsutism’ ” is often […]
Children's Health
In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the role that specific nutrients may play in helping ensure a healthy pregnancy. In addition to folic acid, another specific nutrient that has been the focus of attention are the so-called ‘omega-3’ fats found in oily fish such as salmon, mackerel and sardine. These fats appear […]
Healthy Eating
It’s Valentine’s day, and in honour of this my blog today is going to pay homage to a common-given gift on this day – chocolate. While this confectionery traditionally has a naughty-but-nice reputation, there is increasing evidence that some forms of chocolate might have some benefits for health. The essential ingredient in all types of […]
Healthy Eating
Insomnia can be a debilitating problem. Not only can it leave people feelings seriously low on physical and mental energy, but shortened sleep has also been linked with a range of long-term health issues including heart disease, diabetes and weight gain. For a variety of reasons, what we eat and drink may affect sleep, and […]
Brain and Behaviour
The so-called ‘omega-3’ fats found in oily fish (such as salmon, trout, mackerel, sardine and herring) have been extensively studied with regard to their apparent ability to ward against ‘cardiovascular’ conditions such as heart attacks and stroke. They also seem to offer considerable promise for the brain too, and have been linked with a reduced […]
Children's Health
While it is widely held in the medical and dietetic communities that eating fat is one sure way to become fat, there are for why this just ain’t so. Some of the key explanations for why fat is not necessarily fattening were covered in a previous blog [1]. Despite the dearth of evidence against fat […]
Food and Medical Politics
It’s a fundamental belief of mine that a ‘healthy’ diet is one made up of natural, unprocessed foods. Unfortunately, richer pickings for the food industry will generally be found in chemicalised, processed foods that have little or no place in the diet ” margarine springs readily to mind. After a half-century history of use, evidence […]
Healthy Eating
My blog on Wednesday focused on research into exercise ” a pastime that traditionally sees a bit of an upsurge at this time of year. Of course, another focus for the attention of those undergoing a bit of a New Year overhaul will be to cut back on what passes our lips. For many, this […]
Food and Medical Politics
Last Friday’s blog was about the UK’s Food Standard Agency’s (FSA) ‘traffic light’ food labelling scheme, or more specifically, the idiocy of it. One of the anomalies I mentioned was the fact that fruit manages to ring up a red light according to the FSA scheme, on account of its sugar content. That got me […]