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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.

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Diabetes UK CEO urges diabetics to manage their cholesterol levels better, but is this advice based on good evidence? Cholesterol and Statins

Diabetes UK CEO urges diabetics to manage their cholesterol levels better, but is this advice based on good evidence?

Baroness Barbara Young is the chief executive of the charity Diabetes UK, the UK’s largest and most prominent diabetes charity, and an organisation which encourages diabetics to eat at every meal foods which are known to be disruptive to blood sugar levels and therefore be bad for diabetics (go figure). You can read more about […]

September 13, 2012· 4 min read· Dr Briffa
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Exercise found to bring benefits for frail older individuals Exercise and Activity

Exercise found to bring benefits for frail older individuals

I think it’s probably true to say that the older people get, the less they believe that making some supposedly healthy change to their lifestyle will make a significant difference to their health and wellbeing. If you’ve eaten a particular way for 80 years, I reckon it can be hard for some people to image […]

September 7, 2012· 2 min read· Dr Briffa
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Researcher claims more potent statins should be prescribed with greater caution Cholesterol and Statins

Researcher claims more potent statins should be prescribed with greater caution

Statins – the most commonly prescribed of cholesterol-modifying drugs – work by inhibiting an enzyme (known as HMG-coA reductase) responsible for the manufacture of cholesterol in the liver. However, that enzyme is also responsible for the production of something clled coenzyme Q10, which plays a role in energy production in the body. Some people have […]

September 7, 2012· 3 min read· Dr Briffa
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Dietary ‘excitotoxins’ linked with fibromyalgia and irritable bowel syndrome Healthy Eating

Dietary ‘excitotoxins’ linked with fibromyalgia and irritable bowel syndrome

A lot of conventional medicine is about symptom suppression. For example, with someone with ‘cramping’ in the gut we may give a drug to reduce the cramping. A better (I think) though more alternative approach would be to attempt to find out what’s causing the cramping and sort that out. As an aside, cramping in […]

August 31, 2012· 2 min read· Dr Briffa
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Statins for everyone over 50? Really?! Cholesterol and Statins

Statins for everyone over 50? Really?!

Here in the UK this week Professor Rory Collins has enjoyed a bit of a media blitz telling all who will listen that statins should really be considered for anyone over the age of 50, irrespective of their risk of cardiovascular disease and state of health. Here and here you can see how his ideas […]

August 31, 2012· 5 min read· Dr Briffa
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How often should we eat? Healthy Eating

How often should we eat?

There has been some recent interest, even in the mainstream media, in the practice of ‘intermittent fasting’. Essentially, this means going for extended periods of time without food. It comes in many different guises. Skipping of significantly delaying breakfast is one approach. Contracting the ‘window’ available for eating each day to, say, 6 or 8 […]

August 31, 2012· 5 min read· Dr Briffa
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Regular weighing may help weight loss and its maintenance, but there’s a few things that need bearing in mind Brain and Behaviour

Regular weighing may help weight loss and its maintenance, but there’s a few things that need bearing in mind

When people are in the process of actively losing weight, many of them will monitor their progress by weighing themselves (of course). One potential issue with this is that our weight is made up of things other than fat including muscle, glycogen (a storage fuel similar to starch) and water. So, changes in weight may […]

August 24, 2012· 5 min read· Dr Briffa
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Academic takes a well-aimed swipe at cholesterol drug ezetimibe Cholesterol and Statins

Academic takes a well-aimed swipe at cholesterol drug ezetimibe

I am not particularly enthusiastic about cholesterol management. I don’t believe that the role cholesterol has in cardiovascular disease is as is popularly stated. But more importantly, when we use drugs to manage cholesterol the results are, by and large, disappointing. For example, treatment with statins does not save lives in people without a prior […]

August 24, 2012· 4 min read· Dr Briffa
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Review finds low-carb eating benefits wide range of health markers Healthy Eating

Review finds low-carb eating benefits wide range of health markers

I’m a long-time advocate of diets that are generally lower in carbohydrate than those encouraged by most Governments, health agencies and health professionals. I’m not very prescriptive about it, and prefer not in my talks or writings to give specific carbohydrate ‘targets’ e.g. no more than 50 g of carbohydrate a day. I do, however, […]

August 22, 2012· 6 min read· Dr Briffa
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