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.
Cholesterol and Statins
From a purely physiological perspective, the heart is essentially a bag of muscle that pumps blood around the body. In certain circumstances, the heart’s pumping action can weaken, ultimately resulting in what is usually termed ‘heart failure’. Symptoms of this can include fatigue, breathlessness and fluid retention. I was interested in a study recently published […]
Food and Medical Politics
Last night a BBC documentary aired called ‘Sugar v Fat’. If you’re in the UK, you can watch it here. The show charted the experiences of identical twin doctors in their (I think) mid-30s, who were put on very different diets for a period of 30 days. One ate a very fat-rich diet, while the […]
Food and Medical Politics
I was giving a talk today, and at the end, someone asked me about an application he has on his phone that monitors sleep (it’s called Sleep Cycle). It reminded me that there is ever-growing potential for individuals to be able to gather data on themselves and, if they want’ use that data to improve […]
Uncategorized
Margarine has traditionally been touted as a healthy alternative to butter. After all, we’ve been told that butter is rich in saturated fat which raises cholesterol levels and, along with that the risk of cardiovascular issues such as heart disease and stroke. Spreads lower in saturated fat and rich in ‘heart-healthy’ vegetables oils, we are […]
Healthy Eating
I am a regular coffee drinker. In fact, I honestly cannot remember the last time I went a day without coffee. I have loved the taste of coffee since childhood, and I expect I do get something from the caffeine too. I appreciate that coffee-drinking does not have a particularly healthy reputation, though there is […]
Exercise and Activity
Regular readers of this blog will know that I’m not particularly one for endorsement, though I do sometimes recommend specific products that I believe have particular merit, including books. Recently, I became aware of a book which I think is a valuable contribution to the area of nutrition and weight control. Entitled The Calorie Myth, […]
Cholesterol and Statins
A recent from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has found that rates of statin prescription in the UK are the highest in Europe, and second only to Australia on a world-wide basis. Some have criticised the widespread prescribing of statins, and a common criticism here is that it fails to deal with the […]
Healthy Eating
On twitter, someone recently drew my attention to this article on the UK’s NHS (National Health Service) Choices website regarding dietary carbohydrate. Entitled ‘The Truth About Carbs’ it starts: “Carbs” has become a dirty word in recent times, especially in the weight loss world, due in no small part to the popularity of low-carb diets […]
Cholesterol and Statins
One of the more positive developments around statins of late, I think, has been the increasing awareness of the sorts of health issues they can induce. It is now becoming much more recognised, for instance, that these drugs can impact on mental functioning, including memory. Back in 2012, the FDA in the US issued a […]
Food and Medical Politics
I read an interesting article this week in the British Medical Journal [1]. Penned by GP (family physician) Des Spence, it laments the over-reliance of doctors on sophisticated technological testing. There was a day, not so long ago, when the tests at a doctor’s disposal were relatively limited. This essentially forced doctors to rely more […]