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.
Whilst I endeavour to eat a broadly healthy diet, the hedonist in me sometimes surfaces and urges me to eat something I know is somewhat suspect from a nutritional standpoint. From time to time, for instance, I like to indulge in some fish and chips. As it happens, my local chippy does offer salmon and [...]
Whilst most would-be mums will be cognisant of folic acid’s role in the prevention of birth defects such as spina bifida, they may be less familiar with other dietary factors that can influence the development of their unborn child. For instance, evidence suggests that certain nutritional elements found in fish can contribute to the healthy [...]
The prospect of stripping off and revealing our true selves on the beach or by the pool this summer will inevitably have some of us taking steps to shed some excess weight. I notice that one tabloid newspaper is spearheading a resurgence of the Atkins diet in the form of a plan specifically targeting those [...]
If the adverts at the back of mens’ magazines are anything to go by, we male folk are quite commonly concerned about the reduced turgidity of our erections and a fall in the amount of hair on our heads. While women are spared the former issue, they are not entirely immune to the latter: I [...]
In my practice I see significant numbers of women who find that the presence of cellulite on their buttocks and thighs really gets under their skin. While it may not be their primary concern, many women are keen to do what they can to rid themselves of the puckered, orange-peely dermal distortion that is characteristic [...]
The food conglomerate Nestlé has for some time attracted some criticism for its marketing of baby milk formulas in the third world, where the diarrhoeal diseases caused by the making up of such feeds with contaminated water are believed to be a significant cause of infant mortality. Recent news reports have suggested that it is [...]
The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) here in the UK recently published a report which stressed the role of psychological therapies in the treatment of eating disorders such as bulimia and anorexia nervosa. However, while conventional wisdom has been that these conditions are essentially mental disorders for which a head-first approach should prevail, mounting [...]
According to official statistics, 1 in 3 women and 1 in 12 men are set to feel the ageing process in their bones as a result of the skeleton-thinning condition known as osteoporosis. The bone-weakening effect of osteoporosis is estimated to responsible for 200,000 fractures in the UK each year, and is a cause of [...]
Even in my relatively brief time as a doctor I have witnessed the rise to prominence of previously rare conditions including hyperactivity, autism and chronic fatigue syndrome. Another contemporary condition, and one which I seem to be seeing in increasing numbers in my practice, is the exclusively female affliction known as polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). [...]
Despite soothing reassurances from the medical fraternity, I have had a recent rush of enquiries from women who are more that a little disconcerted to learn that taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT) can double the risk of breast cancer. Shocking though it may be, this recent research is just part of a pile of evidence [...]
