Type 2 diabetes rates are on the up, and there is real concern within the medical community that we are seeing something of a ‘diabesity’ epidemic that has considerable personal and social consequences. The usual focus regarding the prevention of type 2 diabetes is ‘diet and exercise’. But, other less well-recognised factors appear to influence […]
About Dr John Briffa
Author Archive | Dr John Briffa
Can we assume the reductions in cholesterol translate into benefits for health?
The aorta is the major blood vessels that carries blood from the heart to other parts of the body (except the lungs). Sometimes, individuals can be born with a narrowing of this vessel – a condition known as ‘coarctation of the aorta’. This defect can be repaired surgically. Those with this condition have been noted […]
Review highlights to potential for statins to negate the benefits of exercise
Those keen to optimise their cardiovascular health and reduce their risk of heart attack and stroke may well, in addition to ‘eating right’, take steps to ‘take exercise’ and be physically fit. Usually, the prescribed exercise here come in the form of ‘cardiovascular’ or ‘aerobic’ forms such as walking, jogging, cycling or rowing. Such activities […]
Magnesium supplementation found to improve physical function in older women
Elderly people tend to be less physically able than younger ones. Walking speed, for instance, and the speed with which they rise from a chair, tend to decline in later life. There can be many reasons for this, including loss of muscle mass (sarcopenia). But the strength of functionality of muscles (irrespective of their size) […]
French food agency sceptical about the benefits of cholesterol-reducing foods
Many readers will be familiar with cholesterol reducing ‘functional foods’ such as margarines and yoghurt drinks. These foods and ‘enriched’ with ‘stanols’ or ‘sterols’: substances that have a similar chemical structure to cholesterol, and help inhibit its absorption from the digestive tract into the bloodstream, These substances do indeed have some capacity to reduce cholesterol […]
How do statin proponents deal with debate? They stifle it.
Last month, one of my blog posts featured a letter written by a group of doctors, expressing their concerns about the mooted expansion of statin therapy. The letter detailed six major objections to the plan, including the mass-medicalization of millions of healthy individuals, the unreliability of the evidence regarding the adverse effects of statins, and […]
Review finds that ‘filling up on fruit and veg’ to promote weight loss does not work
At the tail end of 2012, I wrote a blog post about the impact of emphasising fruit and vegetables in the diet. ‘Filling up of fruit and veg’ is often recommended as a weight loss tactic. But, as I explained in the blog post, I’m not sure this is good advice at all. I argued […]
More evidence points to statins as a potential cause of heart failure
The debate about the safety of statins continues to rage, with some researchers claiming that they are essentially no more harmful that placebo. In reality, though, the evidence on which these claims are based is flawed for several reasons. Here are just some of those reasons: 1. Commercial sponsors of clinical trials may not be […]
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