Yet another round of media stories last week picking up on an “expert’s” claim that vitamins are ineffective and dangerous. Such stories are the medical equivalent of blaming immigrants or single mothers for various social ills; scare stories that spin the data and draw totally unjustified conclusions. The Guardian version opened with this claim: ‘… over-the-counter […]
Strange case of the missing evidence for statin safety
February 20, 2015 by 5 Comments
There has been a new twist in the statin saga – the heated debate about whether these drugs are as safe and effective as the official view claims. Now it turns out that the senior academic who believes they have virtually no side effects has told a newspaper that he hasn’t actually done the analysis […]
What’s the key to cancer? Clue it’s not gene mutations.
January 22, 2015 by Leave a Comment
There is a major flaw in our current theory about cancer: This says it’s caused by random genetic changes in a cell that allow it to grow uncontrollably and the only solution is drugs and surgery. This ignores, says a University of California professor, the many ways our bodies can encourage a tumour or block […]
Junk science: the badly flawed research with lab rats that seems to support eating low fat.
January 6, 2015 by 4 Comments
Do you think it basically makes more sense to keep your carbohydrates pretty low, rather than going the familiar low fat route, to lose weight and stay healthy? If so you are in good company and the evidence is building up that it’s a better way to go. But there is one source of supposedly […]
The new son of statin drugs are more powerful. Are they better?
December 2, 2014 by 3 Comments
New and more powerful cholesterol-lowering drugs are on the way. But are they the life-saving breakthrough enthusiastic news stories have been suggesting? The latest post on HealthInsightUK.org tells how there is no evidence yet that they do anything other than lower cholesterol. But is that enough to keep you safe from heart disease? According to seasoned […]
Diabetes. Diet goes head to head with drug. Winner is….
November 15, 2014 by 20 Comments
Diabetes Day held last Friday had its priorities all wrong. Rather than calling for more innovative drug treatments its goal should have been to explore why diabetics continue to be treated by a system that ignores patients’ wishes and allows ineffective and dangerous treatments to proliferate, while safe and effective ones languish for lack of […]
Alzheimer’s reversed with intensive lifestyle program
October 27, 2014 by 7 Comments
A few years ago at the age of 67, Sarah (not her real name) was planning suicide because she was starting to have the same problems her mother suffered from as she developed Alzheimer’s. She couldn’t remember phone numbers or what she had just read and even finding her way around the familiar roads near her […]
Supplements: New Scientist doesn’t know its “A” from its Elbow
September 8, 2014 by 6 Comments
For years skeptics and mainstream dietitians have had just two things to say about taking vitamins and any other sort of supplement – there is no evidence they work and anyway you can get all the vitamins and minerals you need from a healthy balanced diet (HBD).Repeating this, whatever any new research finds, has proved […]
The bogus science behind the low fat diabetes diet
August 31, 2014 by 4 Comments
Anyone who knows anything about diet and nutrition will have sometimes wondered: why are people with diabetes, who have a problem with blood sugar, put on a high carbohydrate diet which raises blood sugar? Then you think ,there must be something I’ve missed. All those trained dieticians and diabetes experts, surely they can’t have overlooked […]
Tick box medicine that fails hypothyroid patients
August 26, 2014 by 65 Comments
There’s a story of mine in the Daily Mail today) about an illogical and arbitrary corner of medicine. It involves over 300,000 women who are unable to get an effective treatment for a nasty range of symptoms, linked to having low thyroid hormone, unless they can persuade a doctor to ignore the official guidelines drawn […]
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