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.
Brain and Behaviour
Last week I was aboard a cruise liner in the Caribbean. I had a lot of fun but was primarily there to participate in a kinda conference organised by low-carb advocate Jimmy Moore. I was privileged to share the stage with some very lovely and inspiration speakers, among them the US cardiologist Dr William (Bill) […]
Healthy Eating
The need for regular meals are a regularly-occurring feature in healthy eating and weight loss advice. I used to believe this myself. But in the last year or two I’ve had to reconsider my thinking on this on this on the basis of my own personal experience as well as people I’ve worked with clinically. […]
Food and Medical Politics
Gary Taubes is a name probably familiar to you. If not, he’s a writer and author of Good Calories, Bad Calories (The Diet Delusion in the UK) and Why We Get Fat and What To Do About It. While we’re clearly not twins separated at birth, I have traditionally had a lot of time for […]
Uncategorized
One of my last posts pointed to the hazards associated with the use of sunscreens, including some propensity to increased skin cancer risk. Some people have commented that chemicals found in sunscreens might have a direct toxic and cancer-inducing effect in the body. I don’t disagree with this idea at all – it’s certainly plausible. […]
Low-Carbohydrate
I am away at the moment and have limited time and internet access. So this post, as well as anything else I write this week is going to be short and sweet. I saw this story today which is concerned with the weight gain that often comes after stopping smoking. In this particular study, 3 […]
Sleep
One could argue that our health is the product of factors that can be genetic (inherited) or environmental (including diet and activity). Body weight, for instance, will usually ultimately determined by these two major factors. There is no doubt that some people inherit more of a tendency to be heavier than others. Some people do […]
Cholesterol and Statins
Harlan Krumholz is a professor of medicine and cardiologist at the at Yale University School of Medicine. He recently co-authored an open letter which appeared in the journal circulation (pdf here). The letter was written to the Adult Treatment Panel – a group of ‘experts’ charged with setting cholesterol guidelines for the American public. The […]
Sunlight
Here in London, UK, the weather today has been quite summery. And it’s this time of year where we generally begin to see a rash of articles in the press warning us about the perils of sunlight and the need to slather on our sunscreen. People generally use sunscreen to prevent burning. But public health […]
Food and Medical Politics
The way doctors categorise illness and manage it is usually highly influenced by panels of doctors. One problem here, though, is that these doctors can have financial ties to companies that can gain from those doctors’ recommendations. These ties can come in a variety of forms but include consultancy fees, speaking fees and stock/shareholdings in […]
Uncategorized
Recently, the British Medical Journal published an article about the management of ‘overactive bladder syndrome’. Symptoms of this can include the sensation of needing to pass urine urgently, frequent urination and the need to get up at night to pass water. Men with these symptoms are often investigated for an enlarged prostate. Women don’t have […]