Public Health England (PHE) has just launched the latest version of the Eatwell Guide (1). In the related PR the following points were made: There is greater prominence for fruit, vegetables and starchy carbohydrates, preferably wholegrain, in the new guide. PHE recommends consuming 30 grams of fibre a day, the same as eating 5 portions […]
The cornerstone of the original dietary guidelines was the recommendation to reduce the intake of saturated fat (SFA). This in turn led to the advice to increase the consumption of complex carbohydrates and the polyunsaturated fat (PUFA). The fundamental basis was the so-called “cholesterol theory” which was that the risk of developing heart disease was
203. Dietary Guidelines for Americans: Another Fine Mess! Read More »
There is no absolutely no doubt that the dietary recommendations which were formulated by the US Senate Committee chaired by George McGovern have proved to be disastrous. Effectively this resulted in public health policies all over the world advising that total fat, especially the saturated fats (SFAs) should be reduced and that there should be
183. The Significance of the Low Carb Summit in Cape Town, February 2015 Read More »
According to a report prepared by Public Health England (PHE) children in local authorities with water fluoridation schemes have less tooth decay than those in local authorities without such schemes (1). It also claims that as many as 45% fewer children aged one to four in fluoridated areas are admitted to hospital for tooth decay
A comprehensive review on the role of cholesterol in health and a critique of the use of statins has recently been published by a team of Japanese researchers (1). This pulls together information from a range of different sources. The focus is on all-cause mortality because fundamentally that is the key parameter most people understand
I have recently been writing letters to our local newspaper “The Craven Herald” (1) in which I have advocated a fundamental shift in NHS policies. My stance is that pouring more and more money into the system is a dead end approach. In particular, there needs to be a switch in emphasis towards prevention at
.Every 5 years the Dietary Guidelines in the USA are reviewed. The latest exercise is in progress and the first draft was released in February 2015 (1). The crucial and potentially contentious aspects relate to fat, sugars and salt. The position of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) was that it: “…encourages the consumption of
In part 1, I described how there is a real scope for reducing the expenditure on drugs and many medical procedures which make little contribution to improving health and very often do more harm than good. In this blog the emphasis will be to focus on the potential for curing and preventing diseases by making
167. HUGE OPPORTUNITY FOR THE NEW GOVERNMENT TO DEVISE A RADICAL HEALTH POLICY (PART 2) Read More »
A recent article in the BMJ highlighted concerns about the statin Crestor which in 2014 was the most prescribed brand name drug in the US, with 22.3 million prescriptions at a cost of $5.8bn. World-wide sales for 2013 were $8.2bn (1). The report is by Sidney Wolfe, who founded Public Citizen based in Washington DC
When will the politicians face up to the fact that pouring more and more resources into the NHS will not solve our current health issues? The fundamental problem is that standards of public health are deteriorating while costs escalate. This is illustrated by the increased incidence of diabetes which has doubled in the past 15