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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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New study adds to the growing evidence that cholesterol reduction has dubious benefits for health Cholesterol and Statins

New study adds to the growing evidence that cholesterol reduction has dubious benefits for health

Statins reduce cholesterol-levels and have the ability to reduce heart disease risk. However, some researchers have asked if the primary mode of action of statins is cholesterol reduction. After all, statins have several effects in the body which might reduce the risk of heart disease in ways that have essentially nothing to do with cholesterol. […]

January 28, 2011· 5 min read· Dr Briffa
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Antioxidant supplementation found to boost fertility in ‘subfertile’ men Men's Health

Antioxidant supplementation found to boost fertility in ‘subfertile’ men

Infertility is not an insignificant problem, and sperm-related issues play a part in about half of all cases. Low levels or sperm numbers, malformed sperms and sperms that are not mobile enough all can contribute to ‘subfertility’ in men. One factor that is thought can lead to sperm issues is ‘oxidative stress’ – essentially damage […]

January 25, 2011· 3 min read· Dr Briffa
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Study identifies previously unrecognised cause of persistent coughing Healthy Eating

Study identifies previously unrecognised cause of persistent coughing

Generally in practice we’re able to make significant headway with all sorts of people with all sorts of health issues be they a 57 year-old man with type 2 diabetes or a 23 year-old woman with irritable bowel syndrome. And yet, I do inevitably come across patients I don’t seem to be able to help […]

January 21, 2011· 4 min read· Dr Briffa
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Researchers urge caution in prescribing statins to healthy people Cholesterol and Statins

Researchers urge caution in prescribing statins to healthy people

My blog on Monday focused on a piece published in the American Journal of Public Health which detailed some of the tactics drug companies use to persuade doctors to prescribe their wares. The conclusion? The more aggressively a drug is marketed to doctors, the more suspicious of it we should be, basically. I ended the […]

January 20, 2011· 6 min read· Dr Briffa
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The more aggressively a drug is marketed, the more suspicious we should be of it, it seems Food and Medical Politics

The more aggressively a drug is marketed, the more suspicious we should be of it, it seems

When a pharmaceutical company develops a new drug, they naturally want doctors to know about it. Drug companies spend a lot of money marketing drugs to doctors, with the hope that these doctors will ultimately prescribe them to their patients. Naturally, drug companies like to present their wares in as positive a light as possible. […]

January 17, 2011· 3 min read· Dr Briffa
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Why it’s important to turn the lights down low in the evening Sleep

Why it’s important to turn the lights down low in the evening

Adequate length and depth of sleep appears to be important for optimal wellbeing and general health. The factors that affect sleep are many and varied, but centre stage here is the hormone melatonin, which is secreted by a structure called the pineal gland in the brain and essentially puts us to sleep at night (and […]

January 14, 2011· 3 min read· Dr Briffa
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Fluoridation appears to do much more harm than good Uncategorized

Fluoridation appears to do much more harm than good

I came across this story yesterday. It concerns the practice of water fluoridation. This is something that is generally presented to the people by regulatory agencies and health professionals as a bit of a no-brainer (i.e. we’d be mad not to have fluoride added into our water supply for the sake of our teeth). But […]

January 11, 2011· 21 min read· Dr Briffa
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A Brief Fat Loss Guide for Men (or Women) Healthy Eating

A Brief Fat Loss Guide for Men (or Women)

Yesterday, the Weekend magazine of The Times newspaper here in the UK were kind enough to run a piece I wrote for them about weight loss. It went into a special feature they’d put together on matters male. The piece is, essentially, a precis of my book Waist Disposal – the Ultimate Fat Loss Manual […]

January 9, 2011· 11 min read· Dr Briffa
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Question marks raised over the vegetarian diet Healthy Eating

Question marks raised over the vegetarian diet

Last week I wrote a piece which attempted to highlight the nutritional attributes of meat (and there are many). I appreciate that not everyone want to eat meat. Some don’t like to eat it, and some will not eat it on moral, ethical, animal welfare or religious grounds. Let me state here that I have […]

January 7, 2011· 4 min read· Dr Briffa
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