High carb diets are bad news for the blood vessels
Cardiovascular conditions such as heart disease and stroke are a major cause of disability and death. For years we’ve been led to believe that fat is the major dietary offender here, but in reality the science shows that naturally occurring fats are not the issue. In fact, some fats (principally so-called omega-3 fats) actually help [...]
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With blood pressure, is lower always better?
Raised blood pressure is believed to be a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases such as heart disease and stroke. Studies show that, in a population, the higher the blood pressure, the greater the risk of cardiovascular disease. This has led to some researchers suggesting that the lower the blood pressure is, the better. However, we [...]
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Just because someone doesn’t have coeliac disease, doesn’t mean they don’t have a problem with gluten
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), sometimes referred to a ‘functional bowl disorder’ (FBD) is characterised by symptoms such as abdominal bloating and discomfort, and constipation and/or diarrhoea. Its cause is often said to be unknown. However, in practice I find two approaches to be generally effective in combating the symptoms of IBS. These are: 1. Identification [...]
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Does the Atkins diet cause heart disease?
I’m an advocate of diets relatively rich in protein and low in carbohydrate. Not uncommonly when I addressing an audience regarding this, someone will ask me about the Atkins’ diet and my opinion of it. Digging a bit it usually turns out that the individual is thinking that I’m advocating an Atkins-like diet, and we [...]
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High glycaemic load diet associated with increased risk of depressive symptoms
On Monday my blog focused on the just one of the hazards associated with eating a high-carbohydrate diet, namely changes in markers of cardiovascular disease risk that would signal an increase in the likelihood of developing this condition. Other evidence exists which links diets of high glycaemic index (GI) and glycaemic load (GL) and an [...]
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Study demonstrates health hazards associated with a low-fat, high carbohydrate diet
For about 30 years we’ve had our Governments, health agencies, doctors and dieticians urging us to eat less fat and more carbohydrate. Yet, we now know that many of the fats in the diet, including saturated fat, appear harmless as worst. Some, including the omega-3 fats found in oily fish, look positively beneficial. And on [...]
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Indigestion drugs can cause the symptoms they are designed to treat
There’s an interesting editorial in the BMJ today about the treatment of chronic (long-term) heartburn/reflux (gastro-oesophageal reflux disease) [1]. The piece makes the point that surgery has some merit here, are starting with a relatively lukewarm appraisal of the usual medical management of this condition. The mainstay drugs here are the ‘proton pump inhibitors’ which [...]
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My vitamin D results are in…
Over the last couple of years or so I have developed quite an interest in vitamin D. It seems like a week doesn’t go by when some study or other has unearthed a potential new benefit for this substance, or some research turns up results that strengthen and support previous work. The evidence as it [...]
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High carb diets again linked to increased risk of breast cancer
Previously on this site (for example seehere) I have written about the role that certain carbohydrate foods appear to have in the development of breast cancer. Foods that are disruptive to blood sugar (high glycaemic index) foods have been implicated here. Also when high GI foods are eaten in quantity, they tend to have what [...]
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More evidence that the ‘overweight’ are at the lowest risk of death
The standard way of assessing weight as it relates to health 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 to be regarded as ‘healthy’, while BMIs of 25.0-29.9 are [...]
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