Last Friday my blog focused on a study which found that fat intake (total fat, as well as levels of, saturated, unsaturated and polyunsaturated fat) appeared to have no impact on change in body weight over a period of several years. Partly in an attempt to explain how this can be so, I outlined the [...]

In a recent post I highlighted a study which has found that higher vitamin D levels are associated with a reduced risk of death. This evidence actually comes on the back of other studies showing the same thing, and while therefore strengthens the association between vitamin D and death risk, cannot be used to claim [...]

Last month, one of my blogs focused on a paper from the American Heart Association which warned of the hazards of eating sugar on cardiovascular health. It put at least some focus on the sugar fructose, which makes up half of table sugar (sucrose), as well as being found in fruit and vegetables, honey and [...]

When carbohydrate is eaten, blood sugar (glucose) levels usually rise. The speed and extent to which blood sugar releases into the bloodstream has important implications for health. For example, the greater the level of blood sugar disruption, the more insulin will tend to be secreted by a functioning pancreas in response. High levels of this [...]

The obvious answer to this question is ‘yes’, seeing as many wheat-based foods are very disruptive to blood sugar (they have high glycaemic index), particularly when eaten in quantity (meaning they have high glycaemic load too). As a result, the pancreas will generally need to pump out plenty of insulin. This, in time, can lead [...]

Last month one of my blogs focused on the evidence which shows that exercise is, generally speaking, really quite ineffective for the purposes of weight loss. That is not to say that there’s nothing to be said for exercise. It is, for example, linked with a reduced risk of chronic and potentially fatal conditions such [...]

I’ve said before that while I don’t believe any one diet is ideal for everyone, I favour diets lower in carb and higher in protein (and also fat) than the diets traditionally recommended as ‘healthy’. Such diets generally give better results for weight loss than, say, low fat diets. They also tend to be extremely [...]

I recently mentioned in a blog that I’d tidied up my diet a bit (in conjunction with some mindful eating). Part of the ‘tidying up a bit’ meant taking out ALL foods with added sugar from my diet. I don’t consume much added sugar habitually, but I am generally no angel either. So, I won’t [...]

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 [...]

On Monday, my blog looked at why nuts were generally such a good food for diabetics. And part of their attraction is that they are a food rich in protein and fat and low in carbohydrate. These nutritional qualities mean that nuts will liberate sugar in a tempered fashion into the blood stream (they have [...]

Conventional wisdom and advice regarding the dietary control of diabetes is that meals should contain a good amount of starchy carbohydrate. I am vigorously opposed to this notion of two main counts. Firstly, science shows that reducing carbohydrate intake is generally highly beneficial in the management of diabetes (see here for some more detail on [...]

Gestational diabetes is diabetes that occurs during pregnancy in women who were not previously diabetic. If left uncontrolled, it can have adverse effects on the developing foetus. Its treatment depends on the severity of the condition, with diet, oral medication and insulin being the three mainstay options. Insulin therapy is generally seen as the last [...]

While diabetics are often advised to eat a diet rich in carbohydrate, common sense dictates that this is not likely to be the best dietary approach for managing their condition (seeing as diabetes is primarily a problem with carbohydrate regulation, specifically a tendency to raised blood sugar levels). In type 2 diabetes, the underlying issue [...]

Vitamin D used to be a nutrient that was believed to be important for bone health and little else. But in recent years, it has grown to be associated with an increasing number of conditions including cardiovascular disease, cancer, multiple sclerosis, improved mood and enhanced immunity. New research suggests that another condition that might be [...]

Our experience of health and disease will always be the result of an interplay between our genes and ‘environmental’ factors such as diet, exercise and exposure to potential toxins or health hazards. We hear a lot about the role of specific genes in specific conditions such as diabetes and heart disease. However, as Professor Steve [...]