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.
Diabetes/Metabolic Syndrome
Back in December I reported on a study which found that supplementing men with an extract of green tea led to a significant reduction in their weight, waist size and ‘fat mass’. The extract in question, which goes by the name of epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), is believed to boost metabolism by stimulating the burning of fat […]
Children's Health
Over the years, I’ve spoken to or have been consulted by a fair few people who, by their own admission, don’t have the best eating habits. A quite common picture I see involves the skipping or breakfast, a sandwich-centric lunch, followed by general overeating in the evening. This will usually entail some snacking before supper […]
Exercise and Activity
I was in a meeting today, and the subject of weight loss came up. As some of you may know, I have previously written about how exercise tends not to be particularly effective for those wishing to shed pounds. I made the point that those wanting to lose weight would do better to, among other […]
Diabetes/Metabolic Syndrome
It’s difficult to avoid the doom-laden statistics concerning rates of overweight and obesity. And at the same time we’ll no doubt be aware of the standard advice for those wanting to lose weight: ‘eat less and exercise more.’ The problem is, the evidence suggests that neither of these approaches is particularly effective for the purposes […]
Brain and Behaviour
When it comes to healthy living, my tendency is to favour as natural a course as possible. The word ‘natural’ means different things to different people, but in the context of our diet I take it to mean food that is close as possible to the way it found in nature. This does not guarantee […]
Brain and Behaviour
News broke in the UK this week that prescriptions for obesity drugs topped 1 million in 2006 ” an eight-fold increase in just seven years. No doubt some of this increase has come about as a result of the increasing dire statistics about the burgeoning rates of obesity. However, as I revealed here and here, […]
Healthy Eating
You don’t have to wait too long before reading some statistic or other that tells us about how rates of obesity are soaring left, right and centre. As ever, though, the advice to ‘eat less and exercise more’ remains the same. That’s a shame, seeing as there is abundant evidence that neither of these approaches […]
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 […]
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 […]
Healthy Eating
Just yesterday I was being consulted by an individual keen to lose weight who was neither sedentary nor ate a rubbish diet. In fact, her diet was what I would call ‘restrained’. It’s easy to be cynical about individuals like this, and just assume that they are eating more than they think or simply not […]