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 […]
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 […]
Confessions of the great statinator: how Sir Rory Collins told all about his commercial funding
August 7, 2014 by 15 Comments
The post I put up last week – “Statin critics cleared: top statin advocate knuckles’ rapped” – got over 5000 views (huge for this site) which suggests there is considerable in interest in the backstage activity behind the remarkable drive to get the entire nation on statins. (If you are new to this site do […]
Statin wars: an outbreak of medical transparency
June 13, 2014 by 10 Comments
Something remarkable happened earlier this week. Open warfare broke out between senior doctors over the benefits of a major government health policy. To prescribe or not to prescribe yet more statins to healthy people? That was the question. Details of the open letter to the head of NICE (the health value-for-money body) challenging its proposal […]
Prescription drugs: ineffective and possibly dangerous
January 13, 2014 by 22 Comments
Apologies for the hysterical headline but it’s just the kind of irresponsible, ill-informed screamer that regularly heads stories about some new study that “proves” that vitamins are ineffective generators of expensive urine and may well be dangerous. If you want to know why such studies are all too often based on poor science and frequently […]
Silver Bullet Award for dangerous drug promotion
January 17, 2013 by 21 Comments
When I saw recently that Simon Singh, energetic “quack buster “ and scourge of homoeopaths, chiropractors and their ilk, had established an award called the Golden Duck to be presented to the person who had “supported or practised pseudoscience in the most dangerous or irresponsible manner” , my first thought was: How unfair! What […]
Alzheimer’s pill put profit before patients
January 8, 2013 by 2 Comments
Here’s a particularly shocking example of the kind of irresponsible and evidence-free, so-called health journalism found in sensational tabloids like the Daily Mail. It’s a story claiming that coconut oil can cure Alzheimer’s. This is the worst sort of quack claim giving false hope to vulnerable people. Oh whoops I am the journalist who wrote […]
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 […]
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 […]
Body of Evidence 
Recent Comments