The long running spat between senior statin advocate Professor Sir Rory Collins and the British Medical Journal has come to a very satisfactory conclusion. His demand – that two papers challenging his claims about the safety and effectiveness of statins – be withdrawn, has been rejected by a committee specially set up to consider it. […]
Diet wars: what is the best way to reverse diabetes?
March 12, 2014 by 3 Comments
Arguments over diet all boil down to single question: what’s the best way to eat if you want to stay a healthy weight and lower your risk of various chronic disorders? That’s what is fueling the long running diet war between an embattled low-fat establishment – see latest attack on low fat dogma by top […]
Cardiologist: time to stop demonising saturated fat
October 23, 2013 by Leave a Comment
At first sight geology and nutrition have little in common but a major shift in thinking about the surface of earth is a handy way of highlighting a major change in ideas about how to cut the risk of heart disease with diet. Back in the 1920’s a meteorologist called Alfred Wegener came up with […]
Why randomised controlled trials don’t tell you what you want to know
April 28, 2013 by 11 Comments
Earlier this week the Daily Mail published my feature on side-effects and how patients aren’t properly warned about them. Antidepressants, for instance, can cause compulsive heavy drinking but you wouldn’t know it from the drug information leaflet. The article is about campaigning psychiatrist Dr David Healy, who believes patients need a more truthful account of […]
Treating disease with diet – new possibilities
March 19, 2013 by 3 Comments
There were several reasons I got interested in the low-calorie liquid diet I’ve written about in today’s Daily Mail – mainly the fact that evidence is mounting that it can reverse diabetes and other conditions such as arthritic knees. But also because together with the alternate day diet I think it holds out possibility of […]
The link between hurricane Sandy and junk food
November 12, 2012 by 2 Comments
The bitterness of US the election and the damage wrought by hurricane Sandy don’t have an obvious connection. But in the Guardian last week author and activist Naomi Klein argued that one thread linking them was the ability of large corporations to avoid paying for their mistakes. It’s an analysis that also provides a useful […]
Put patients on drug company boards
November 1, 2012 by Leave a Comment
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 […]
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 […]
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