Archive for November, 2013

SACN or Sack ‘em: the committee that’s confused about carbs

35 by / on 28 Nov 2013, / in low carb diet

About ten years ago for various personal reasons I became interested in the benefits of an Atkins-type low carbohydrate diet. I read a lot of research material, talked to many experts and became convinced that the advice to follow a low fat/high carbohydrate diet has been disastrous for our national health. (Read more…)

Current Posts – 28 Nov 2013

0 by / on 28 Nov 2013, / in editorial

With winter well and truly here none of us will be getting any vitamin D from the sun for four to five months. Unfortunately. writes Dr Oliver Gillie, we also won’t be getting clear evidence-based advice from the government on safe sun exposure. (Read more…)

Great caution and profound shame

14 by / on 21 Nov 2013, / in vitamins

News that the Chief Medical Officer, Dame Sally Davies, is “profoundly ashamed” at the return of rickets is greatly encouraging. Rickets, the bone disease of children, is only one of dozens of diseases associated with, or known to be caused by, insufficient vitamin D in early life. At last it seems the risks of vitamin D deficiency are being taken seriously. (Read more…}

Current Posts – 21 Nov 2013

0 by / on 21 Nov 2013, / in editorial

With winter well and truly here none of us will be getting any vitamin D from the sun for four to five months. Unfortunately. writes Dr Oliver Gillie, we also won’t be getting clear evidence-based advice from the government on safe sun exposure. (Read more…)

Cholesterol: I’ve never been wrong so fast or so right

18 by / on 16 Nov 2013, / in statins

Rarely have I been proven wrong quite so fast. After confidently informing the world that the post-statin cholesterol lowering drugs PCSK9 inhibitors would be launched upon an unsuspecting public in the near future, with billion dollar marketing budgets, it seems that I was wrong. Although who knows, I may be wrong about being wrong. (Read more…)

Why does the government ignore evidence for the benefits of Vitamin D?

12 by / on 16 Nov 2013, / in vitamins

Some years ago I became interested in how the government and the Department of Health deal with preventing illness. My own health had improved after I had lost a lot of weight and I felt so much better that I began researching what else could keep me feeling so well. One bit of advice that kept cropping up was to keep Vitamin D levels topped up. (Read more…)

Current Posts – 16 Nov 2013

0 by / on 16 Nov 2013, / in editorial

Evidence for medical treatments, like Campbell’s coup, comes in many different varieties. As Dr Malcolm Kendrick’s latest feature reveals, when evidence is needed to licence the first post-statin drug intended to cut the risk of a heart attack, there is no need to show it actually does cut the risk, only that is lowers cholesterol, which is not necessarily the same thing at all.(Read more…)

Beware: new cholesterol lowering drugs coming

77 by / on 6 Nov 2013, / in statins

An era is coming to an end. Statins, the world’s most widely prescribed and profitable drugs, have, with the exception Crestor (rosuvastatin), all come off patent and their price has plummeted. Good news for NHS accountants not so good for company profits. (Read more…)

Editorial – 6 Nov 2013

0 by / on 6 Nov 2013, / in editorial

This week we bring you a shocking warning about a new danger linked with statins. Did you know that they stimulate the production of something called P9 which can not only damage the liver but also actually makes statins less effective? Nor did we. (Read more…)

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