Food and Medical Politics
My blog of 6th December last year lamented the fact that much medical research focuses not on health itself, but supposed ‘markers’ for health such as blood pressure and cholesterol levels. The main point I was aiming to make here was that in assessing a medical treatment or drug, we all (doctors included) need to […]
Diabetes/Metabolic Syndrome
In recent years there has been increasing awareness regarding a condition known a ‘metabolic syndrome’. While its precise definition varies a bit, the main feature of metabolic syndrome is excess weight around the midriff (abdominal obesity), coupled with other unwanted findings such as raised levels of sugar and/or blood fats known as triglycerides, raised blood […]
Diabetes/Metabolic Syndrome
Previously in this blog I have drawn attention to the fact that the body mass index (obtained by dividing one’s weight in kg by the square of one’s height in metres) is practically useless as an indicator of health. It seems that far more useful measurements are the waist circumference or what is known as […]
Food and Medical Politics
I make no secret of the fact that I think a lot of health information and advice that comes at us is not just unsupported by the science, but also seems to have been contrived with profit in mind. For example, despite the fact that taking dietary steps to reduce cholesterol have not been shown […]
Weight Loss
The standard way of gauging body size is the body mass index (BMI) – calculated by dividing an individual’s weight in kilograms by the square of their height in metres. According to conventional wisdom, a BMI of 18.5 ” 24.9 is regarded as ‘healthy’, while BMIs of 25-29.9 are considered ‘overweight’ and those of 30 […]
Children's Health
Fruit juices generally have a healthy reputation, and a lot of people see them as a decent swap for whole fruit. However, for a variety of reasons, fruit juice actually bears only a passing relationship to the from whence it came. One reason for this relates to the fact that many nutritious elements in the […]
Food and Medical Politics
Despite my leanings towards natural medicine, I still read conventional medical journals each week, including the British Medical Journal. Over the last few weeks this journal has been running a series of articles about obesity that will be published next year as a book geared towards the education of medical professionals. This week’s article focuses […]
Food and Medical Politics
You may have heard that the Coca-Cola Company has just launched a new drink that goes by the name of Enviga that, it is claimed, actually helps us to burn calories. The drink contains both caffeine and an extract of green tea that, we are told, stimulate the metabolism. Apparently, drinking three cans of Enviga […]
Food and Medical Politics
In our first, introductory podcast, John talks to Carl Munson of the drbriffa.com team about how, as a young doctor, he accidentally discovered the power of natural health principles. They also discuss some of the medical myths surrounding a range of health issues as well as the cynical politics of food. In his unique, often […]
Exercise and Activity
The on-line version of the British Medical Journal recently published a study in which the effects of exercise on body weight was assessed in some 545 children with an average age of 4 [1] The children exercised for 30 minutes, three times a week. Basically, this additional exercise made no difference to their weight. The […]