There is nothing I like more than finding out that something that has been widely believed for decades is wrong. The cholesterol myth fits the pattern of so many items in my blog: it sounds good, it superficially makes sense, and there is a biologically plausible...
There is a human tendency to focus on small rather than big issues. This is for a number of reasons. Firstly life is made up of small things and we can all relate to everyday tribulations better than big picture issues. Also we feel more that small things can be...
The question, which we must always ask with medication, is whether the benefit outweighs the risk. This question applies to each drug and each individual person. Despite the wishes of academics and governments there is no protocol to fit all. Sadly doctors and...
Sometimes, one reads a statement so obvious that one needs to ask, “Why didn’t I think of that?” So it was that I read on the blog of Dr David Healy a most obvious observation about medications. “Drugs can have a hundred effects … but we only test for one”. In medical...
As the year draws to a close it is interesting how three of the key themes that I have written about this year have all raised their heads. And those are 1) The medicalization of life 2) Over diagnosis from screening tests 3) Pharmaceutical companies misbehaving...
