Nearly everything that shortens a life in a modern country is influenced by how we eat, move, sleep and manage stress. These articles are about that — written plainly, referenced properly, and revised when the evidence changes.
Americans spend over fifty billion dollars a year on supplements, mostly to prevent disease. The randomised trials designed to test whether that works have now reported — including the ones stopped early for harm. What the evidence shows, the handful of cases where supplementation is genuinely correct medicine, and the question to ask before buying another bottle.
Read the article →People under-report what they eat by around 47% — a figure from a study that measured it directly rather than asking. Why the more useful question is not how much you ate, but what you got.
Read the article →Almost everything written about losing weight is written for people who do not have diabetes. What your medication is doing to the scale, the fortnight where hypoglycaemia happens, and why your target is higher than the general advice suggests.
Read the article →The most consistent finding in nutrition — and a newer one that matters more: the benefit plateaus at about five servings a day, not ten. Which five, and which do not count.
Read the article →The official protein recommendation is now widely accepted to be too low for older adults. Why that is, what sarcopenia means, and the handful of changes that protect independence.
Read the article →The dose for health and the dose for weight loss are different numbers, and the gap explains a lot of disappointment. Featuring my 86-year-old father, who has never seen a gym.
Read the article →Ninety grams a day — about three servings — was associated with 22% less coronary heart disease and 17% lower mortality. Why the real distinction is whole versus refined, not carbs versus none.
Read the article →The structured programme that sits in every cholesterol guideline before the word “statin” appears — what it contains, what it achieves, and why almost no patient has heard of it.
Read the article →An unusual entry for a medical site, and a deliberate one. Financial strain is a measurable risk factor for poor health, and it almost never appears on a problem list.
Read the article →Every article here has been checked against the current literature and carries a full reference list. Where the evidence has moved since I first wrote a piece, the article says so rather than quietly pretending it always said that.
A complete ten-part series on what actually works for lasting weight loss — motivation, biochemistry, plateaus, sleep, genetics, self-deception, and why individual differences deserve more grace than they usually get.
Start the series →Free calculators built on published equations rather than guesswork: ideal weight and BMI, basal metabolic rate, activity energy cost from the 2024 Compendium, the Rockport and six-minute walk tests, and a nutrient tracker.
Try the tools →Commentary and musings from a physician's perspective — on medicine, culture, and how reliably health research survives contact with the news.
Read the essays →