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
For many of us, this time of year brings with it generally greater opportunity to eat more than is strictly necessary. While I do not particularly believe in sacrifice or deprivation, I do think it’s useful to be aware of strategies that can be used to prevent over-consumption of food and drink with ease and, […]
Healthy Eating
I was giving a presentation yesterday, during which the subject of mindless eating came up. The fact is, some of us can find ourselves eating food without thinking. Particularly when distracted, we can end up eating more than we need to, and we may not make the greatest choices either. I wrote about mindless eating […]
Brain and Behaviour
I am a fan of low-carbohydrate eating, and my position is based on the science (showing it to be usually effective for weight loss and improvements in disease markers) and my experience with it in practice. However, not everyone shares my enthusiasm for this way of eating. Many people like to paint carbohydrate restriction as […]
Children's Health
Yesterday I was having a conversation at dinner with a lady and the subject of milk-drinking came up. While women have generally been utterly persuaded that milk (and other dairy products) are somehow essential to bone health. Paleontological evidence suggests that we had no bone problems to speak of prior to the introduction of dairy […]
Brain and Behaviour
While, in my experience, many individuals believe they have quite a degree of control over their physical function as they age, I’m not sure the same can be said for our general attitude to the functioning of the brain. My sense is most individuals believe that how well they maintain their mental faculties as they […]
Children's Health
No sooner had I written about the fact that the science shows flu vaccination to be a largely pointless exercise, that I came across this on-line piece in the Los Angeles Times telling readers that flu vaccination “help[s] prevent babies from getting sick.” The article goes on to state that the flu vaccination “was effective […]
Healthy Eating
The big diet news of the week surely has to be the publication of a study in the New England Journal of Medicine comparing the effect of different types of diet on weight regain [1]. In this study, 938 ‘obese’ (average body mass index – 34) adults (average age – 41) were put on an […]
Food and Medical Politics
A couple of weeks ago I had my lovely elderly parents around for lunch. The subject of flu vaccination came up. My father is dead against this practice, and views flu as a largely self-limiting illness that rarely leads to significant complication (he’s right). My mother, on the other hand, has dutifully attended her doctor’s […]
Food and Medical Politics
Who decides what we should eat? Usually Government departments advised by scientists and researchers. Here in the UK, that job was entrusted to the Food Standards Agency until recently. And what a mess this body made of giving us science-based information and advice. See here, here, here and here for some examples of the sort […]
Diabetes/Metabolic Syndrome
Diabetes is a condition characterised by raised levels of sugar in the blood stream. It comes in two main forms: type 1 and type 2. Type 2 is by far the most common, and is generally related to ‘insulin resistance’ – a failure of the body to respond adequately to the blood sugar-lowering effects of […]