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.
Healthy Eating
I’m currently in Portugal, and practically all of my main meals have come in the form of meat or fish plus salad. The salads have come dressed with olive oil, and I’ve noticed here this is used quite sparingly. Part of the reason for that is that there is a common perception here that olive […]
Brain and Behaviour
Aspartame is an artificial sweetener which, once consumed, breaks down into three components ” aspartic acid, phenylalanine and methanol. Aspartame has been passed as fit to consume by more than 100 countries around the World, but there is evidence that each of aspartame’s chemical components can have toxic effects on health. See here and here […]
Healthy Eating
Cardiovascular conditions such as heart disease and stroke are a major cause of disability and death. For years we’ve been led to believe that fat is the major dietary offender here, but in reality the science shows that naturally occurring fats are not the issue. In fact, some fats (principally so-called omega-3 fats) actually help […]
Diabetes/Metabolic Syndrome
I’m an advocate of diets relatively rich in protein and low in carbohydrate. Not uncommonly when I addressing an audience regarding this, someone will ask me about the Atkins’ diet and my opinion of it. Digging a bit it usually turns out that the individual is thinking that I’m advocating an Atkins-like diet, and we […]
Brain and Behaviour
On Monday my blog focused on the just one of the hazards associated with eating a high-carbohydrate diet, namely changes in markers of cardiovascular disease risk that would signal an increase in the likelihood of developing this condition. Other evidence exists which links diets of high glycaemic index (GI) and glycaemic load (GL) and an […]
Healthy Eating
For about 30 years we’ve had our Governments, health agencies, doctors and dieticians urging us to eat less fat and more carbohydrate. Yet, we now know that many of the fats in the diet, including saturated fat, appear harmless as worst. Some, including the omega-3 fats found in oily fish, look positively beneficial. And on […]
Healthy Eating
Previously on this site (for example see here) I have written about the role that certain carbohydrate foods appear to have in the development of breast cancer. Foods that are disruptive to blood sugar (high glycaemic index) foods have been implicated here. Also when high GI foods are eaten in quantity, they tend to have […]
Diabetes/Metabolic Syndrome
On Monday, my blog looked at why nuts were generally such a good food for diabetics. And part of their attraction is that they are a food rich in protein and fat and low in carbohydrate. These nutritional qualities mean that nuts will liberate sugar in a tempered fashion into the blood stream (they have […]
Healthy Eating
I saw this morning reports on a study which has found links between vegetarianism and a reduced risk of certain cancers. The study, which assess nutritional habits and cancer risk in more than 61,000 men and women in the UK found that compared to meat-eaters, vegetarians had a 53, 45 and 74 per cent reduced […]
Diabetes/Metabolic Syndrome
Conventional wisdom and advice regarding the dietary control of diabetes is that meals should contain a good amount of starchy carbohydrate. I am vigorously opposed to this notion of two main counts. Firstly, science shows that reducing carbohydrate intake is generally highly beneficial in the management of diabetes (see here for some more detail on […]