The article in today’s Daily Mail about B vitamins and Alzheimer’s is the story of the triumph of dogged scientific persistence – do read it first if you can because this blog would become impossibly long if I repeated all the details. But behind it is another story of indifference and prejudice that is preventing […]
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) […]
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 […]
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 […]
Can diabetes societies prevent diabetes?
June 25, 2012 by Leave a Comment
As you enter the vast conference centre – half a mile or more end to end – hosting the 79th Scientific Session of the American Diabetes Association in Philadelphia, your first sight on the left is a Dunkin’ Donuts store. Up the escalator brings you to the ADA’s mission statement which reads in part: “to […]
Alzheimer’s Funding boost 2
April 16, 2012 by Leave a Comment
The second alarming event (the first was here) concerns an announcement that never happened. Two years ago a high quality randomised trial showed that taking high doses of B vitamins significantly reduced brain shrinkage in patients who were beginning to have problems with memory and general thinking. Given that Alzheimer’s is such a huge problem and […]
Alzheimer’s funding boost 1
April 9, 2012 by Leave a Comment
The announcement last month (March 25th) the Alzheimer’s funding was to be doubled by 2015 is to be welcomed. But what is the money going to be spent on? Two separate developments don’t inspire confidence that it will always be the most safe and effective treatments. The first concerns the latest developments with the drug […]
Series: Drugged-Up Britain – No. 1
August 14, 2011 by Leave a Comment
No. 1 of 4 articles in Reader’s Digest UK. (August 2011) How did we get to the point where £22m is spent on prescribing drugs—every day? In the first of a four-part special, Jerome Burne launches our campaign to tackle Drugged-Up Britain. When 54-year-old John arrived at a nutritional clinic in south London, he was in a bad […]
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