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.
Specific conditions
The way many of us are encouraged to get vaccinated against flu, we might imagine this practice is a failsafe way to avoid the condition. But we’d be wrong. As I wrote about recently here, flu vaccination is a lot less effective than we have generally been led to believe. Plus, it’s perhaps worth bearing […]
Food and Medical Politics
Water does not prevent dehydration (according to the EU), why a diet that does not cause weight gain is not necessarily healthy, mammography very unlikely to save a woman’s life. For RSS feeds, click on http://www.podcastmachine.com/podcasts/8966 and then the ‘RSS feeds’ button to the right. For help regarding the playing, downloading and subscribing of the […]
Food and Medical Politics
I came across this story this morning. In short, it tells us that EU bureaucrats have forbidden companies that sell bottled water from claiming that water can prevent dehydration. I’ve not read the ruling, just the report I link to. But it seems, on the surface, to be a decision which has taken considerable time […]
Healthy Eating
Because many of us are very weight-conscious, it’s natural to judge the impact of our diet almost entirely on how it registers on the scales. This commonly manifests as someone who eats a not-so-good diet (and knowing that is the case) believing that they are ‘getting away with it’ as long as they are not […]
Food and Medical Politics
Many years ago (more than I care to remember), I was giving a lecture about health, and more in passing that anything else, mentioned just how ineffective many conventional medical approaches are, including cancer screening. After the lecture I was approached by a woman who took at least some exception to my claim that cancer […]
Children's Health
Statins appear to do about as much harm as good, more exercise unlikely to help tackle childhood obesity, flu vaccines and Tamiflu still not very effective (despite what some doctors may think). For RSS feeds, click on http://www.podcastmachine.com/podcasts/8966 and then the ‘RSS feeds’ button to the right. For help regarding the playing, downloading and subscribing […]
Children's Health
I can across this report today. It’s based on a study which finds that British children are generally most active between 5.00 and 8.00 pm. Between late March to late October, here in the UK we run on British Summer Time (Greenwich Mean Time minus 1 hour). From late October to late March we revert […]
Cholesterol and Statins
When I was at medical school I remember being lectured on the wonders of hormone replacement therapy (HRT). I was distinctly taught, and without reservation, that women taking HRT had a lower risk of heart disease compared to women ‘going without’. This ‘fact’ turned out to be complete rubbish. Subsequent evidence revealed that HRT actually […]
Food and Medical Politics
I saw this story yesterday on the BBC’s website. It concerns a consultant chest physician, Dr Peter Hockey, who gives himself a slap on the wrist for not getting a flu jab. He ended up being hospitalised and couldn’t work for five months. He’s kicking himself for contracting a condition which he describes in the […]
Brain and Behaviour
Omega-3 fats for Alzheimer’s, calorie labelling a bad idea, medicine regulatory agencies seem to act in the interests of the industry rather than the people. For RSS feeds, click on http://www.podcastmachine.com/podcasts/8966 and then the ‘RSS feeds’ button to the right. For help regarding the playing, downloading and subscribing of the podcasts, click here.