Children's Health
While not all dietary approaches are applicable or beneficial to everyone, there are some, I think, that generally hold true. Here’s one: if you want a long and healthy life, do what you can to ensure stability in blood sugar and insulin levels. What this means usually means in practice is the regular eating of […]
Brain and Behaviour
Earlier this month I wrote a blog highlighting the need for adequate sunlight exposure for maintaining mood and vitality in the winter months, even perhaps for people not suffering from ‘seasonal affective disorder’ (AKA winter blues). Quite how it is that sunlight that exerts a mood modulating effect is not known for sure, though there […]
Diabetes/Metabolic Syndrome
Previously, such as here, here and here, I have written about the potential health benefits of coffee, and specifically its relationship with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. I was therefore interested to read a recently published study that, once again, assessed the relationship between coffee and health. The focus of this study […]
Brain and Behaviour
Last week I wrote about the importance of sunlight in maintaining mood and generally wellbeing, and this is especially important during the darker winter months. Those lacking exposure to sunlight can run the risk of suffering from seasonal affective disorder SAD), sometimes referred to as the ‘winter blues’, and exposure to sunlight and/or light from […]
Healthy Eating
Overeating is something that many of us will have experienced at one time or another. This phenomenon can, of course, be down to plentiful supply of appetising food, but it can also have a physiological and/or biochemical root too. One cause of overeating is ‘hypoglycaemic’ or low blood sugar. When blood sugar levels drop to […]
Healthy Eating
For a long time I’ve been an advocate of tree nuts (e.g. cashews, hazelnuts, walnuts, pecans, brazil nuts, almonds) and peanuts in the diet. One reason for this is that they are a highly nutritious food, and their consumption has been consistently linked in the scientific literature with a reduced risk of heart disease and […]
Brain and Behaviour
I had a press release the other day from the PR people of a department store here in the UK telling me that sales of sunlight simulating lamps are up 80 per cent on last year. The proposed explanation but this surge in sales has been the dismal, largely sunless summer we’ve had in the […]
Diabetes/Metabolic Syndrome
One basic nutritional tenet I subscribe to is the idea that the diet should be based on foods that give relatively slow sustained release of sugar into the blood stream. Some of the reason for this thinking comes from the fact that fast sugar-releasing (high glycaemic index) foods will tend to cause surges in the […]
Nutrients and Supplements
Sitting in medical practice brings me in contact with people with a wide variety of symptoms and condition, though some things are commoner than others. One of the most common conditions I see is irritable bowel syndrome. This gut condition, characterised by one or more symptoms such as abdominal discomfort, bloating, wind, constipation and/or diarrhoea, […]
Cholesterol and Statins
Over recent weeks there has been a flurry of research that has challenged the notion that lower levels of cholesterol are always better. In particular, there is evidence linking lower cholesterol levels with an increased risk of cancer (see here, here and here for more on this). In the light of this, it seems reasonable […]