Podcasts
Why we need more actuaries in medicine, another reason to be wary of stomach acid-suppressing medication, and exercise and mental function in later 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 podcasts, click here.
Brain and Behaviour
I’ve written before that my experience is that individuals believe their physical health and wellbeing is generally much more controllable than their mental function. Many believe, for example, that lifestyle modification can keep, say, heart disease or type 2 diabetes at bay, but that their risk of dementia is essentially in the lap of the […]
Specific conditions
Upper digestive symptoms such as indigestion, ‘acidity’ and heartburn are common. The mainstay of medical treatment for these symptoms is a class of drugs known as the ‘proton pump inhibitors’. These drugs, including omeprazole and lansoprazole, inhibit acid secretion in the stomach. They do help control symptoms in some people. However, as I revealed in […]
Cholesterol and Statins
Actuaries are individuals who use mathematics to assess, among other things, the financial impact of risk and uncertainty. Their critical analysis of data is an essential part of evaluating things like how much our we pay for our insurance premiums and what our pension contributions should be. I was recently made aware of a piece […]
Food and Medical Politics
Coffee and blood pressure, women being misled over mammograms, British doctor worries about sun protection policy for children. 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.
Sunlight
Des Spence is a general practitioner based in Glasgow, Scotland, UK, who writes a weekly column in the British Medical Journal. Although I’ve never met Des, I like him a lot. I like how he writes and what he writes, almost always. He’s never afraid, it seems, to buck the trend and express a view […]
Healthy Eating
I’m a coffee drinker, and believe this beverage has done little to deserve its quite unhealthy reputation. Much of the negativity concerning coffee comes from the fact that it’s generally rich in caffeine. One effect of caffeine is to raise blood pressure – and raised blood pressure has links with heart disease and stroke. Perhaps, […]
Food and Medical Politics
Mammography seeks to diagnose breast cancer earlier, with the hope that more timely initiation of treatment will lead to better outcomes. All this makes sense, but there are facts about mammography which do not make it the ‘no-brainer’ many doctors and researchers would have us believe it to be. Claims are often made that mammography […]
Exercise and Activity
Hydration is important during exercise, controversy around FDA’s plans to relax conflict of interest rules, study shows light exposure can improve energy and wellbeing in the winter. 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.
Sunlight
It’s an extremely grey (and rainy) day here in London as I write this, which reminds me that autumn and winter are not too far away. Some look to the colder, darker seasons with some trepidation, because they can find general vitality and mood take a dive at this time. At its worst, this phenomenon […]