Even the most determined couch potato no longer has an excuse. It is possible to get the recommended amount of exercise you need to fend off chronic diseases simply by walking around the sofa during the ad breaks. This remarkable tip for improving the nation’s health comes from the August 25th edition of the New […]
Fantasy accounting boosts drug company profits
August 15, 2012 by Leave a Comment
What do you want from the drugs you’re prescribed by your GP? A reasonable, top-of-the-head list might include: that they’d been properly tested to show they were safe and effective, that new ones were better than what was already available and maybe, in austerity UK, that you the tax-payer weren’t paying a wildly inflated price. […]
Can fasting for two days each week stop dementia?
August 10, 2012 by 1 Comment
This is an article I wrote about fasting in the Daily Mail back in February. It features top American fasting researcher Dr Mark Mattson who was just about to publish a review of the evidence that, in animals at least, cutting right back on calories a couple of days a week can protect brain cells. […]
Easier ways to stay slim and healthy
August 9, 2012 by Leave a Comment
The Horizon program I blogged about yesterday explored some cutting edge ideas about what really makes us fat – the big surprise was that a major player is one of the genes that controls insulin. It also tested a radical new idea that fasting could be an effective way of turning off that gene. Both […]
How to get slim and healthy and stay that way
August 8, 2012 by Leave a Comment
OK the title is a bit of a come-on but this week’s BBC2 investigation into the benefits of fasting by the Horizon team, actually entitled “Eat, fast and live longer “, did become very enthusiastic towards the end. Understandably. It wouldn’t be over-egging it too much to say that if you were looking for a single thing that […]
Antibiotics make you fat
August 7, 2012 by Leave a Comment
The eye-catching title of my article for the Daily Mail today on why frequent courses of antibiotics may not be such a good idea, highlights a new and emerging set of problem with these drugs. It’s not just weight gain that becomes more likely. There’s an increase in the risk of auto-immune disorders as well […]
Acid suppressing PPI drugs: not so safe (updated)
July 25, 2012 by 7 Comments
If you take these drugs which cut your stomach acid by around 90%, you might want to look at the piece wrote earlier in the week for the Daily Mail about the serious side effects they can cause. In the short-term they do of course bring almost instant and blessed relief from the really nasty pain of […]
You can’t even trust Lucozade and that matters
July 25, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Did you register the huge 3 billion dollar fine recently slapped on GlaxoSmithKline, Britain’s biggest drug company and manufacturer of Lucozade ? And if so, did you briefly wonder whether it was enough? After all, hiding data that your product can kill people and making unsupported claims about safety would normally be enough to put […]
Evidence based medicine. Blind but not in a good way
July 9, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Imagine you had bought a new house but after a few months the flow of water from the taps began to slow and within a few weeks it was down to a trickle. So you call the builders and they say, no worries, Evidence Based Plumbing Services will be with you within the hour. A […]
Why I feel sorry for Bob Diamond
July 6, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Bob Diamond’s air of injured innocence when his bank was found with, not just both hands in the till but feet, nose and a giant hoover as well, has been greeted with a mix of incredulity and fury. But it seems to me that he certainly has the right to be feeling “it’s not fair”. […]
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