Your risk of developing Alzheimer’s could be increased by having high levels of glucose and insulin in your blood – one of the results of a diet high in sugar and refined carbs that’s linked with insulin – see my feature in the Daily Mail on Tuesday. But how likely is that to be the subject of […]
Heroes and Villains. Fat and insulin swapping places
October 18, 2012 by 3 Comments
Like the movies, medicine has its roster of heroes and villains – fat for instance is a hard-core offender while insulin is a valued member of the community. But they could be swapping places. The campaign to rehabilitate fat has been gathering support for some years but putting insulin in the dock is a startling […]
The dream that has become a nightmare
October 10, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Millions of us have a problem sleeping; it’s one of the top reasons for GP visits. Unfortunately for insomniacs the way it is generally treated provides a vivid case history of why our current system of evidence based medicine needs a radical overhaul. The dream of improving medicine with system that would separate good […]
Ben Goldacre’s new book. Too late, too little
September 23, 2012 by 17 Comments
Drug companies exaggerate their successes, hide their failures and generally fail to abide by the rules of evidence based medicine. This ongoing fraud is the subject of the latest book from Guardian columnist Ben Goldacre, better known as merciless scourge of “woo” merchants cynically flogging worthless complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) treatments. An extract from […]
Positive acupuncture trial sets critics spinning
September 12, 2012 by 1 Comment
The headline to a Guardian story this morning reads: “Acupuncture useful but overall of little benefit – study shows”. Actually that is not what the study showed at all. I reported on this study in the Daily Mail yesterday and read the report carefully. Instead the study showed two positive things about acupuncture. Firstly that […]
Statins: why you should think twice
September 8, 2012 by 6 Comments
If you’re over 45 there’s a good chance that you are taking or have at least been offered a statin drug to lower your cholesterol and so cut your risk of heart disease but is it good idea? Your doctor obviously thinks it is, but there is another side to the statin story. The link […]
Drugs: just say no. The hidden dangers
September 4, 2012 by 2 Comments
Blowing you own trumpet is briefly satisfying, like another solitary activity, but not very cool. However I’ve decided to succumb to the urge as its now six months since “10 Secrets of Health Ageing” was published and in a couple of weeks (Sunday 16th of November I’m going to be talking about it at the […]
Yet more reasons to get sweaty
September 2, 2012 by Leave a Comment
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. […]
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