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
Previously, like here, here and here, I have highlighted the way that the pharmaceutical industry appears to use its financial muscle to ensure its products end up in a favourable result. Earlier this month, the British Medical Journal published another study on this theme. The particular focus of this review were studies known as ‘meta-analyses’ […]
Exercise and Activity
Regular readers of this site will know that I’m a relative fan of activity, and in particular relatively ‘doable’ and sustainable forms of activity such as walking. Just last week, for instance, I reported on a study which found that regular walking was associated with a significantly reduced risk of cardiovascular disease in diabetics. Walking […]
Nutrients and Supplements
When I was at medical school and subsequently once I started working as a junior doctor, I encountered a number of patients who complained of ‘hurting all over’. These individuals were almost always of Indian subcontinent heritage, and were usually female. On examination, these patients generally claimed to feel pain wherever you touched them. In […]
Food and Medical Politics
Earlier this month I blogged about some research which suggests that being overweight is not the dire threat to our health and longevity it is so often assumed to be. One reason why the risk of being overweight may be somewhat overstated has to do with the fact there’s a lot of money in persuading […]
Exercise and Activity
While exercise is pretty much universally recommended as positive factor in health and disease-preventer, there’s a surprising dearth of studies which support this notion. Most of the recommendations regarding exercise have come from ‘epidemiological’ studies which may find associations between, say, activity and better health, but do not prove that it’s the activity is causing […]
Brain and Behaviour
On Monday I reported on a couple of recently published studies which support the notion that fish fats are good for the brain. In particular, these studies assessed the potential impact fish-eating and higher levels of so-called omega-3 fats have on the ageing brain. And hot on the heals of this research has come a […]
Brain and Behaviour
Previously on this site, for example here, I have written about the evidence which supports the idea that fish is what might be regarded as ‘brain food’. The study highlighted in that particular blog showed that high levels of DHA (docosahexaenoic acid – a so-called omega-3 fat found in certain species of fish) were associated […]
Food and Medical Politics
Recently, a report published by the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) and the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) made a number of recommendations designed to ward off cancer, the most trumpeted of which is the need to maintain a ‘healthy’ weight. Specifically, we are encouraged to keep our body mass index (BMI) between 21-23 […]
Food and Medical Politics
My blog last Friday questioned the wisdom of recent advice dished out to us on how to prevent cancer. The crux of this issue is that such recommendations are based on so-called ‘epidemiological’ studies which may show associations between things (e.g. obesity and cancer) but cannot be used to prove that one is causing the […]
Food and Medical Politics
Back in September I blogged about some research which found that poor bedside manner is associated with an increased likelihood of a doctor having a complaint made against them [1]. To me, this research highlights the very personal and human nature of medicine. I do believe that having a good grasp of the science-based and […]