Current Posts – 05 October 2014

The more you learn about statins the more confusing the whole issue gets. Almost every aspect of these drugs – do they benefit healthy people, what’s your chance of suffering side effects, can we trust the results of big clinical trials – is disputed. We offer 10 contradictory facts may make you more sceptical and your doubts about the benefits can only increase further when you read about the latest pro-statin fiddle to emerge.

Last week New Scientist magazine published one of those familiar articles claiming that good scientific evidence shows that few vitamin and mineral supplements do anything to treat or prevent disease. However this involved ignoring high quality evidence that B vitamins can help slow down or prevent the development of Alzheimer’s and relied instead on poorly done, shoddy and irrelevant trials to dismiss it. So why believe their negative claims about the other supplements?

For decades diabetics have been advised by doctors and dieticians to stick to a low fat diet – avoiding especially saturated fats – and to fill up on carbohydrates – potatoes, rice bread and the like. Increasingly, however, cutting fats is looking a far less effective option than cutting carbs. Read more. And in a special Q&A, senior biochemist Professor Feinman explains why and describes how close-minded low fat supporters can be.