Dr Briffa's Blog - A Good Look at Good Health
A health-focused blog that makes sense of science, and offers accurate, trustworthy and practical advice about all aspects of healthy living.
In a World where time seems to be in ever-shorter supply, many of us can be tempted to skimp on our sleep. Yet, while sleep is often viewed as a dispensable commodity, the reality is that it anything but. It is when we are asleep that the brain and body recoup energies expended during the [...]
Most of us will have a pretty good idea of what constitutes a healthy diet. Despite the protestations of the sugar industry, it appears we’ve sussed onto the fact that sugar-charged treats such as chocolate, biscuits and coffee bar patisseries do little for our waistline or well-being. Yet, while we may be sold on sense [...]
The spell of half-decent weather we’ve had of late is a sure sign that spring is well into its stride and summer is just around the corner. Personally, I greet this time of year with relish. For as long as I can remember, sunshine has had a strong allure for me, and I generally take [...]
It never ceases to amaze me how often doctors use needlessly complex and unintelligible language, when plain English would do just as well. A good example of such medicalese is the term ‘essential hypertension’. Hypertension is just doctors’ parlance for high blood pressure. However, the word ‘essential’ in this context it refers to high blood [...]
Of the dozens of vitamins and minerals that are essential to life, only a few have managed to gain widespread renown and acceptance. When a nutrient makes the transition from chemical obscurity to trusted remedy, it usually does so on the basis of some specific action or effect. Vitamin A, for instance, is famous for [...]
Antibiotics are widely regarded as one of the great success stories of the last century. And rightly so: since their introduction into medical practice just a few decades ago, they have revolutionised the treatment of conditions such as pneumonia and meningitis, and countless lives have been saved. Despite their undoubted place in modern medicine, there [...]
Dietetic dogma tells us that we should eat three meals a day, but resist the urge to feed our faces with anything else in between. Like doner kebabs and deep-fried Mars bars, snacking is something that the nutritional fraternity tends to frown upon. Despite its sullied reputation, recent evidence suggests that eating between meals mightn’t [...]
Whilst I am an ardent advocate of nutritional medicine, my career in the area was almost snuffed out before it began. Just as my interest in the subject was burgeoning, I found myself aghast at what seemed to be the excessive quantities of nutrients recommended by many natural health experts. Compared to the gold standard [...]
I was never very interested in food as a child, but I do remember being encouraged to eat plenty of carrots to help me see in the dark. Not all nutritional folklore is supported by sound science, but this one is: carrots are loaded with the nutrient beta-carotene, and the vitamin A this may convert [...]
For me, eating healthily doesn’t necessarily mean giving up all our little treats. My personal dietary vice is coffee, and I indulge myself with a cafetière of organic Guatemalan brew most mornings. From a purist’s point of view, drinking coffee is nutritional heresy: there’s a stack of research linking caffeine consumption with all manner of [...]
