There are reports of a study doing the round in the UK press this week that warn us that eating a protein-rich diet is ‘as bad for us a smoking’. See here and here for examples of stories appearing in the ‘respected’ broadsheets the Telegraph and Guardian respectively. Reading the headlines of these pieces gives […]
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Article highlights the importance of ‘shared decision making’ when statins are being considered
On both sides of the Atlantic moves are afoot which will mean that many more individuals will be considered as good candidates for statin therapy. This will inevitably mean that more individuals are going to have the prospect of statin therapy raised by their doctors. In this situation, doctors can talk about ‘guidelines’ and ‘protocols’, […]
I complain to NHS Choices website about its stance on carbs. 2 months later and still no response…
Back in December, I wrote a blog post about this article on the NHS Choices website. In short, I felt the ‘article’ put a very biased, unbalanced and potentially misleading case for carbohydrate in the diet. The day after writing the blog post, I decided I would make a formal complaint about the article to […]
Does mammography save lives? Not according to the latest study.
The common perception of mammography is that, by detecting breast cancer earlier than it would otherwise be, it saves women’s lives. However, there is quite some evidence to suggest that many women need to be screen for one life to be saved, and on top of this we have adverse effects such as over-diagnosis (the […]
My take on the Horizon documentary ‘Sugar v Fat’
Last night a BBC documentary aired called ‘Sugar v Fat’. If you’re in the UK, you can watch it here. The show charted the experiences of identical twin doctors in their (I think) mid-30s, who were put on very different diets for a period of 30 days. One ate a very fat-rich diet, while the […]
Electronic health records may impede good doctor-patient relationships
I was giving a talk today, and at the end, someone asked me about an application he has on his phone that monitors sleep (it’s called Sleep Cycle). It reminded me that there is ever-growing potential for individuals to be able to gather data on themselves and, if they want’ use that data to improve […]
British Heart Foundation’s medical director supports use of statins with data that doesn’t support the use of statins
A recent from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has found that rates of statin prescription in the UK are the highest in Europe, and second only to Australia on a world-wide basis. Some have criticised the widespread prescribing of statins, and a common criticism here is that it fails to deal with the […]
Is technology eroding doctors’ clinical skills?
I read an interesting article this week in the British Medical Journal [1]. Penned by GP (family physician) Des Spence, it laments the over-reliance of doctors on sophisticated technological testing. There was a day, not so long ago, when the tests at a doctor’s disposal were relatively limited. This essentially forced doctors to rely more […]
What are the risks of ‘coming off statins’?
Once upon a time, the rhetoric around statins was relentlessly positive. More recently, though, I think there’s been increasing numbers of doctors and commentators expressing concern about the limited effectiveness of statins, as well as their known but perhaps under-recognised risks. A few weeks back an Australian documentary aired that featured several quite-conventional doctors and […]
The FDA states it’s happy to sanction unproven drugs
Debate continues to swirl about the cholesterol management guidelines issued by the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology recently. The new recommendations shift the emphasis away from treating those on the basis of their cholesterol levels to based on overall risk of cardiovascular disease. How is risk determined? With ‘calculators’ that use […]
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