If you’re familiar with the low carbohydrate, Atkins-type diet – variously known as the paleo diet, the Zone diet, the South Beach diet or the ketogenic diet- you are probably also aware that it is pretty controversial. So is it a great way to lose weight and improve your metabolism or is it lacking in […]
Vampires get ill in the sun: we don’t
November 22, 2013 by 1 Comment
For years the official advice put out by Cancer Research UK for preventing skin cancer more closely resembled a deeply eccentric project to turn us into a nation of vampires rather than a sensible evidence-based public health policy. Their SunSmart advice used to recommend that sunny days in Britain posed such a threat that they […]
New post-statin drug doesn’t need proof it works
November 17, 2013 by 1 Comment
There has long been a surreal quality to cholesterol lowering drugs; prescriptions in the millions, earnings in the billions and yet a growing evidence that if you are taking them to prevent your first heart attack, unless you are one of the lucky ones – one in 1/300, 1/500, 1/700; the figures vary – they […]
Official advice onlow fat diet and statins under fire
October 31, 2013 by 1 Comment
It’s been a great week if you don’t believe that eating a low fat diet is the way to stay healthy and protect your heart. It’s also been good if you are sceptical about statins being a sensible way of cutting your risk of a heart attack when you haven’t had one. Each of these radical […]
Antipsychotics: firmly on the wall of shame for quackery and woo.
September 24, 2013 by 6 Comments
Quackery and woo are among the favourite insults directed at anyone who practices most forms of CAM (Complementary and Alternative Medicine) – and especially those who use of homeopathy, herbs or vitamins – by staunch and vocal supporters of evidence based medicine. However a feature in the Daily Mail today describes a class of drugs […]
Could your blood pressure reading be wrong?
September 10, 2013 by Leave a Comment
An essential part of any health check-up is getting a blood pressure reading. But when the doctor inflates that cuff around your arm and then releases it, what exactly is being measured? A feature of mine in the Daily Mail today sets out a radical new picture of hypertension. It explains why some people on blood […]
Why hounding homeopaths is both batty and arrogant.
June 27, 2013 by
There is no shortage of villains in the world. Psychopaths – domestic and national – whalers, toxic waste dumpers, global eavesdroppers, billionaire tax avoiders and their army of accountants – all well worth campaigning against with the aim of getting them banged up or forced to cough up. There is also an infinite supply of […]
What is wrong with randomised trials Part 2
May 5, 2013 by 4 Comments
Could alcohol get a licence as a drug for depression? How do you test for the safety of a drug that causes the same side effects as the disease it is used to treat? These are just two of the points I didn’t have room for in my post last week on randomised controlled trials (RCTs) […]
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 […]
We know how to cut diabetes deaths. So why aren’t we doing it?
April 10, 2013 by 6 Comments
Who’s responsible for our diabetes/obesity epidemic? Is it those fat lazy bastards who eat crap food and sit on the couch all day or is it the drug companies that spend billions researching and marketing drugs of limited effectiveness or dubious safety or is the government that allows commercial interest to create a food supply […]
Body of Evidence 
Recent Comments