Tips for healthy shopping
On Monday I wrote about the nonsense of food labelling. Those entrusted to steer us to a healthier diet have contrived to propose and implement schemes which give, in my view, potentially distorted and misleading guidance regarding what is good and not-so-good to eat. Some of the comments that come after this blog post should [...]
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The nonsense of food labeling
I’ve always thought that the health claims made by food manufacturers are largely meaningless. For example, a food product can be advertised as ‘low in saturated fat’ or ‘cholesterol free’ but there is no good evidence that eating less of these particular foodstuffs has broad benefits for health. The ‘benefits’ of eating a food low [...]
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Sleep duration again linked with diabetes risk
I believe that lifestyle factors such as diet and exercise have potentially profound impact on health and wellbeing, and this is certainly reflected in the voluminous recommendations that come at us regarding what we should and shouldn’t be doing in these areas. However, I also take the view that another key lifestyle factor ” sleep [...]
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Staying upright during childbirth found to reduce labour time as well as the need for epidural analgesia
This week, I have had babies on the brain. I think this might have something to do with the fact that I spent a large part of the weekend with a very good friend who is heavily pregnant with her first child. We spent a little time talking about her plans for the birth. The [...]
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Letter from FDA insiders accuses it of corruption, wrongdoing and intimidation
Last week I had the radio on in the background and listened to an interview with Margaret Haywood, who was formerly a UK-based nurse, but has recently been ‘struck off’ as a result of apparent breaches of the nursing code of practice. Ms Haywood had participated in some undercover filming on behalf of the BBC [...]
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No evidence that saturated fat causes heart disease (it’s official)
Many individuals will be familiar with the almost-constant recommendations that come at us with regard to what we should be eating to reduce our risk of heart disease. A central theme in this advice, though not everyone would agree with it, is that the diet should be low in fat and high in carbohydrate. Sometimes, [...]
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Can diabetes be cured?
This week’s edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association contains a commentary entitled ‘Can Diabetes Be Cured’ [1]. It caught my eye, partly because I have some interest in diabetes as a condition, but also because the word ‘cure’ is not usually applied to a condition like diabetes. The conventional wisdom is that [...]
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Reduced sugar and increased fibre intake found to reduce risk factors for type 2 diabetes
I would generally advise anyone wishing to avoid developing diabetes to keep their diet relatively low in foods that tend to cause considerable disruption to blood sugar levels. These would include many starchy carbohydrates including most forms of bread, potato, rice, pasta and breakfast cereals. It would also include foods that contain added sugar. Eating [...]
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Court documents show how drug company attempted to ‘neutralise’ or ‘discredit’ dissenting doctors
The painkilling drug rofecoxib (Vioxx) was originally licensed in the USA in 1999. It proved quite a success for its manufacturer, the drug company Merck, until it emerged that the drug was associated with a significantly increased risk of cardiovascular events (heart attacks and strokes). Merck withdrew the drug in 2004, but not before there [...]
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Study suggests vitamin D deficiency can be the cause of muscle pain in statin-treated individuals
Statin drugs are the most commonly-used medications for reducing cholesterol levels. They do seem to help prevent cardiovascular disease, though whether they do this through their cholesterol reducing effects is a moot point. And despite them being billed as the wonder-drugs of the age, I think it’s worth bearing in mind that these drugs are [...]
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