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On the futility of breast cancer screening
Breast cancer screening doesn’t save lives, doesn’t ‘catch cancer early’, and doesn’t protect women from aggressive treatment. So why are we still spending great gobs of money on it? 17 February 2025 One of the principal load-bearing myths on which the sociopolitical power of the medical-industrial complex rests, is that cancer screening programs save lives.…
Mending the broken bone business
A fascinating interview with orthopaedic surgeon Dr Nick Birch on what’s wrong with the current medical approach to bone health, and how to fix it. 10 February 2025 A couple of weeks ago, I received an email from UK orthopaedic surgeon Dr Nick Birch, who had stumbled across one of my articles on osteoporosis, The…
Lean body, healthy brain
Newly published research shows that the more muscle mass you have, the sharper your brain… and the more fat mass, the duller your wits.
Fat body, starved brain
A study of over 35 000 brain scans has found that the more body fat you carry, the less blood flow your brain receives.
Are you fit enough to save your brain?
Updated 13 January 2025 It’s that time of year again, when fitness clubs cash in on the New Year surge. About 12 per cent of gym memberships are initiated in the month of January – that’s 25-30 per cent more than any other month. Unfortunately, the bloom comes off the ‘new year, new me’ rose…
Cholesterol and depression: What’s bad for the heart is bad for the brain
16 December 2024 N.B. I hate those stupid trigger warnings that encourage grown adults to believe that they’ll be permanently psychologically harmed by reading about upsetting topics. But yeah, this post discusses suicide – a lot – so if you find that triggering, consider yourself warned. Anyhow… In the last post, I laid out the…
What is high cholesterol, what is low, and why should you care?
9 December 2024 Positive psychology researchers – not to mention philosophers and religious sages – tell us that consciously cultivating gratitude is one of the best ways to enhance happiness. Well, here’s one thing I’m grateful for: my wonderful readers, who often provide me with topics for my posts, and whose thoughtful comments frequently stimulate…
Is low cholesterol bad for you?
2 December 2024 I’ve been doing a bit of debunking lately, haven’t I? From deconstructing the everyone-should-be-taking-vitamin-D argument, to critiquing the ketogenic-diet-cures-cancer narrative, to blowing up the phytates-and-lectins-are-dangerous-antinutrients fables, I’ve spilled a whole lot of digital ink on debunking bad ideas that originate from the weird world of online health and nutrition ‘influencers’. In case…
Lectin, schmectin
Is there no end to the idiocy of the ‘wellness’ movement? 25 November 2024 In response to my article on phytates and bone health, I’ve had a couple of requests to write about the other big scary ‘antinutrient’ that oNLinE nUtRItIoN gURus love to hyperventilate about: lectins. TheLastBattleStation asked me, “Is there really a concern…
Lessons in critical thinking: Reader feedback from last week’s post
18 November 2024 Last week’s post, Academia and the new dark age: Part 11 – Nature’s Trump meltdown, generated some thought-provoking comments which are well worth your while to read (particularly the excerpts posted by Freedom Fox from Walter Berns’ essay, ‘Law and Behavioral Science’, which “presciently speaks to what science applied as law might…