One of the reasons that public health messages struggle to get through is that they are presented as very black and white, a bit like in George Orwell’s Animal Farm -“four legs good – two legs bad”. Yet with virtually all matters of health it is not that simple....
Health messages particularly when it comes to eating are confusing to many people. It seems every week some food is linked to cancer and the next week is linked to reducing cancer. This is not your imagination. American researchers looked at studies on the first 50...
“Down, down, prices are down”. If you haven’t heard this song by now you probably live on Mars. Most of us find it either annoying or a really catchy tune, thanks to Status Quo from the seventies era. And whilst Coles are reaping the rewards from their campaign to...
Some weeks the world gets even crazier. A man in Sydney has successfully sued his GP because the GP “failed” to refer him for gastric surgery. The verdict is being appealed. The man was significantly obese. He also had liver problems and developed liver cancer. The...
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...
What’s your blood count? Blood pressure? Bone density? PSA? If it is abnormal, odds are that you will want it to be normal. In doing so, you are making the same leap of faith that your doctor is making when he commences treatment: that treating the numbers will...
