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
Those of you familiar with my nutritional beliefs will know that I don’t have too many good things to say about the ‘low-fat’ paradigm that has pervaded nutritional advice for some 30 years. Not only do I believe that there is not much to be feared in naturally-occurring fats in the diet, but the fat-phobia […]
Children's Health
I think they’d be few people who will not have noticed that children’s diets have deteriorated significantly over the last few decades. More and more, it seems, children are eating less real food, and way more rubbish stuff such as processed foods high in refined sugar, processed fats and other unwanted additives including salt, colourings, […]
Healthy Eating
For many of us, this time of year will bring with it an increased risk of us consuming more than is strictly needed. A few additional pounds can quite easily find their way onto our frames and scales, which can lead us to feel in need of a serious overhaul come the New Year. I […]
Food and Medical Politics
Back in October, I wrote about some recently-published research which linked the eating of a high carbohydrate (actually, high glycaemic index and load diets) with an increased risk of breast cancer. One way that fast sugar-releasing foods may promote cancerous growth is through the activity of a compound known as insulin-like growth factor (IGF), which […]
Diabetes/Metabolic Syndrome
My dislike of many starchy carbs like bread, potato, rice, pasta and breakfast cereals is based on a body of evidence which suggests that the gluts of insulin their eating induces can speed our path to conditions such as obesity and type 2 diabetes. And, despite all this talk about their ‘nutritious’ nature, the fact […]
Food and Medical Politics
While there is a general move to have us lose some of our collective weight, regular readers may have noticed that I’m a less exercised regarding this than most health professionals. Just last week, one of my posts included several links to articles which appear to show that individuals in the ‘overweight’ category have health […]
Children's Health
Today in the UK, the news is awash with a story about how we appear to be sleep-walking into an obesity epidemic. The recently-completed largest ever study into the obesity in the UK, compiled by 250 experts in the field, has concluded that obesity is not rooted in individual gluttony and laziness, but in our […]
Food and Medical Politics
It’s a basic nutritional belief of mine that eating healthily means, at least in part, not eating too much in the way of foods that disrupt blood sugar and insulin levels. Gluts of insulin are known to have the capacity to cause fat accumulation in the body, and likely increase the risk of chronic conditions […]
Brain and Behaviour
One of the burgeoning fields in nutrition concerns the influence that maternal diet can have on the health and development of her unborn child. Every baby starts out as an egg and a sperm, and ends up, say, 6 or 7 pounds in weight. The vast majority of a baby is composed of what the […]
Children's Health
I’m not really one for anecdotes, but feel compelled to share one with you. In my practice on Monday I saw a small boy, whose parents were seeking nutritional advice. Less than three weeks ago their son had been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, which for him right now necessitates him having insulin injected 2-3 […]