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
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
Very few of us will not have noticed that the last couple of decades have seen a concerted effort from health agencies and health professionals to persuade us that we should be driving our cholesterol levels to lower and lower levels. When I was at medical school the upper limit of cholesterol was 6.5 mmol/l […]
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 […]
Food and Medical Politics
Aspartame is a commonly used artificial sweetener. It’s also, arguably, the most controversial foodstuff in the human diet. Originally passed as ‘fit to consume’ by the FDA in the USA in 1981, its history as a food ingredient has been the subject of scientific and political intrigue. The companies that make it and ‘expert panels’ […]
Diabetes/Metabolic Syndrome
Many of you will be familiar with the concept of the ‘diabetes timebomb’ ” an explosion of diabetes we are seeing as a result of our supposedly increasingly unhealthy lifestyle habits. Health professionals often advise us, if we want to reduce our risk of diabetes, to moderate our weight with a low-fat diet. However, this […]
Sleep
I’m a fan of sleep. Such a fan that I protect my own as much as possible, and even delivered a lecture about the benefits of sleep and how to ensure we get enough of it just yesterday. Some of my enthusiasm for sleep comes from it’s ability to restore our energy, and therefore maintain […]
Herbal Medicine
Recently, a press release alerted me to a study which found that one in four men aged 30-79 suffers from low testosterone levels [1]. While male menopause (sometimes to referred to ‘andropause’) has not received nearly as much attention as female menopause, the fact is that dwindling testosterone levels can lead to problems with mood […]
Healthy Eating
Garlic is an herb that has gained a reputation for enhancing the health of the heart and circulation (see below). However, perhaps what is less well known is that garlic has been implicated as a cancer-preventive agent too. Within the body, garlic is metabolised into a variety of sulphur-containing compounds that may have anti-cancer properties. […]
Diabetes/Metabolic Syndrome
Recently, in an effort to clarify what healthy eating is all about, the UK’s Food Standards Agency (FSA) have launched its ‘eatwell plate’, which the FSA describes as ‘ a visual tool that illustrates the types and proportions of foods that make up a balanced diet’. You can see the eatwell plate here. When I […]