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.
Diabetes/Metabolic Syndrome
Something interesting came in the post today, though I’m not sure who it has come from because the person who sent it marked it with their email address only. The item is a photocopy from what I think is a book, that seems to be called ‘Diabetes for Beginners’. The page (page 36) has a […]
Brain and Behaviour
Last month one of my posts was devoted to some research which found a link between weight accumulation around the mid-riff (abdominal obesity) and an increased risk of dementia. In this post, I also explored some of the mechanisms which might explain this association. At the heart of these suggested mechanisms is the hormone insulin. […]
Nutrients and Supplements
Here in the UK we are told that, generally speaking, women are electing to have children later and later in life. One obvious potential problem with this is that fertility generally falls off from about their mid 30s. So, by the time a woman decides she wants to have children, there is the risk that […]
Brain and Behaviour
The so-called omega-3 fats (found plentifully in ‘oily’ fish such as sardines, salmon and trout) have been said to have the potential to enhance health in a number of areas, including mental health. There is a fair body of evidence now that suggests that omega-3 fats are important in the functioning of the brain, including […]
Weight Loss
When I was studying medicine I was even more cynical than I am now and so, I think, were quite a few of my friends. We had all established firmly in our minds the notion that eating few calories than the body ‘burned’ would result in weight loss, so generally had little compassion for individuals […]
Brain and Behaviour
Back in October I wrote about the artificial sweetener aspartame. This food ingredient is perhaps the most controversial of all: its manufacturers and official bodies claim it’s safe, but a stack of anecdotal evidence and a fair degree of science says it’s not. Tellingly, whether a study finds for or against aspartame seems to be […]
Cholesterol and Statins
About a month ago, I reported on a study (known as the ENHANCE trial) which found that two cholesterol agents (simvastatin and ezetimibe) were no better than one (simvastatin) in terms of reducing the narrowing of arteries in the body. This blog post was based on data that had to be, it seems, forced out […]
Brain and Behaviour
Previously on this site I have presented evidence that the traditional way of assessing body weight ” the body mass index (BMI) ” is pretty useless as a marker for health. Part of the explanation for this lies in the fact that the BMI tells us nothing about the composition of the body. Neither does […]
Diabetes/Metabolic Syndrome
When it comes to blood sugar control, it makes sense to avoiding eating too much in the way of foods that tend to disrupt blood sugar levels. This is particularly true for diabetics whose bodies tend not to handle sugar at all well. However, in addition to eating a ‘carbohydrate-controlled’ diet, it can also help […]
Children's Health
I am currently spending the Easter break staying with family in Malta. The night before last my girlfriend and I spent the evening with a relative and his wife at their home. His 6-year-old daughter fell asleep on the couch during the evening and began to snore quite loudly. Every few breaths she seemed to […]