Brain and Behaviour
This blog is about the safety of MMR and the science and politics surrounding this issue. I didn’t have any intention of writing about this until very recently. Let me say up front I have no special interest in this area, other than having met a significant number of people who believe their children have […]
Brain and Behaviour
Many of you will have noticed that nutritional information and advice can sometimes be widely contradictory and therefore very confusing. I usually mention this at the start of any talk I may give. One of examples I often cite is the general recommendation to eat a low-fat, high-carb diet, though on the other hand some […]
Brain and Behaviour
Back in September of last year I reported on a study which found that certain food additives (specific colourings and the food preservative sodium benzoate) had been found to have a statistically significant adverse effect on children’s behaviour and attention [1]. This study (sometimes referred to as the ‘Southampton study’) was actually performed in ‘normal’ […]
Food and Medical Politics
Earlier this week I was working from home in the morning. I had the radio on in the background. My normal choice of oral wallpaper is BBC Radio 4. It’s often on, but I’m rarely ‘listening’ to it. I rely on the ‘cocktail party effect’ to pick up on anything vaguely relevant. In other words, […]
Weight Loss
Some of you will be familiar with Gary Taubes’ book The Diet Delusion (entitled Good Calories, Bad Calories in the USA). In this book, I think Taubes does a good job of presenting obesity as not a problem to do with gluttony and lack of exercise, but a problem of fat storage. He argues, quite […]
Unhealthy Eating!
I am no fan of processed foods generally. And many processed foods, I think, masquerade as something quite healthy on the basis of being low or absent in something supposedly unhealthy. Not so long ago, I highlighted the not so nutritional aspects of the mold-organism-taken from-soil-and-fermented-with-sugar-based product that is Quorn. This food, in a dizzying […]
Uncategorized
Today’s blog is actually drbriffa.com’s 500th article. Right from the outset, my aim with drbriffa.com has been to use it as a portal for giving trustworthy and accurate advice about a broad range of topics that relate to health and wellbeing. In order to do this, I try and mix what can be learned from […]
Healthy Eating
Because for so long we have been encouraged to eat a diet based on carbohydrates, it’s natural to have warm feelings toward this ‘macronutrient’. Yet, many carbohydrates, particularly those that cause considerable fluctuation in blood sugar and insulin levels, I think should be handled with considerable caution. Not that long ago, I blogged about a […]
Unhealthy Eating!
I don’t think for a moment that I’ve got my whole life sussed, and see it as a ‘work in progress’. I’ve been putting energy into my personal development and health management for 20-odd years now, and to this day still strive to lead a better, healthier, happier more balanced life. One of the most […]
Healthy Eating
On Monday I started a blog about the artificial sweetener aspartame with a reference to my preference for a diet rich in natural, unprocessed foods. Such a diet might be described in various ways including a ‘hunter-gatherer’, ‘caveman’ or ‘paleolithic’ diet. However such a diet is described, the aim is the same: to feed the […]