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
This week’s hot nutrition news in the UK concerns a study which assessed the relationship between meat-eating and breast cancer. ‘Red meat ups breast cancer risk’ was, essentially, the way this study was headlined in the media. The brevity of such titles will usually not tell the full story, so I decided to take a […]
Sunlight
Here is the UK the weather has brightened a bit of late and, rather predictably, news stories are already starting to warn us that sunlight can boost skin cancer (specifically, malignant melanoma) risk [click here]. However, I do believe that when it comes to examining the relationship between a lifestyle factor and disease, we should […]
Brain and Behaviour
Previously on this site I have written about the relationship between the so-called ‘omega-3’ and their association with benefits for the brain including a reduced risk of depression and dementia. Recently, a study published in the journal Psychiatry Research examined the relationship between blood levels of omega-3 fats and certain measures of mood, personality and […]
Cholesterol and Statins
Back in December, I wrote a blog post which focused on the habit drug companies have of causing the medical profession and the public at large to forget what medicine is for [1]. The point I made is that much of medical research is not focused on health itself, but what are known as ‘surrogate’ […]
Food and Medical Politics
A major thrust in nutritional science over the past few years has been to dissect the chemicals contained in food to, supposedly, glean the likely health effects of that food. This approach works to a point. It might, for instance, be useful for say determining that one fruit or vegetable is more nutrient-dense than another. […]
Specific conditions
In recent years evidence has been amassing which has linked vitamin D with protection from a variety of ills including osteoporosis, multiple sclerosis, low mood and several forms of cancer. Recently, US-based researchers have produced research which suggests that this nutrient has the capacity to ward off high blood pressure (hypertension too). A part of […]
Diabetes/Metabolic Syndrome
This week I was out and about and couldn’t help noticing the headline on one of the national newspapers here in the UK proclaiming ‘Ready meals increase cancer risk in women’. My interest was piqued, so I took a look. The story reported on a study published this week in the journal Diabetes Care. This […]
Uncategorized
Allen Carr died on 29th November 2006 of lung cancer. Though I never met him, this man touched my life in a very special way. It was reading his book ‘The Easy Way to Stop Smoking’ that led me to kick the habit exactly 20 years ago to this day. I started smoking when I […]
Food and Medical Politics
I was interested recently to read the results of the study which assessed the ‘antioxidant’ potential of several types of fruit juices and fruit drinks [1]. Of the 13 types of fruit juice tested, red grape juice came out on top with regard to antioxidant action, which appears to be related to its rich content […]
Healthy Eating
On Wednesday my blog post focused on sugary soft drinks, and the link between their consumption with obesity and Type 2 diabetes. Part of the problem with such drinks is that, particularly when drunk quickly, they can lead to considerable surges in blood sugar. As a result the body is generally compelled to secrete considerable […]