Background Generations of parents have encouraged their children to eat their vegetables. There is an almost intuitive assumption that plenty of vegetables and fruit is an important part a healthy diet. In the 1956 Four Food Group Plan, the cornerstone of dietary guidance in the USA for almost forty years, the target was at least…
Background In a recent post I advocated that a common UK food like milk or bread/flour should be fortified with vitamin D. Large number of the British population are classified as vitamin D deficient and clinical cases of rickets have been rising albeit from a very low base. There is robust evidence that increased vitamin D…
Context of this post Many newspapers and broadcasters gave extensive coverage to new advice from Public Health England (PHE) recommending increased use of vitamin D supplements. PHE recommended that most adults and school age children should take a daily dose of 10μg (400i.u.) of vitamin D during the winter and autumn months and…
Part I – Do we put too much faith in “the latest scientific evidence”? Context of this post This post is an edited extract from chapter 3 of my as yet unpublished book about error and fraud in biological and medical research. In chapter 2 of this book I discuss in detail four case studies…
Fish oil is extracted from the bodies of oily fish whereas cod is a non oily fish that stores oil in its liver. Cod liver oil also contains substantial amounts of vitamins A and D. Cod liver oil has been taken for over 50 years as a source of these vitamins but they become toxic…
The media bombard us with new vitamins that boast a cure to the aches and pains of everyday living, banish those niggling ailments and quash the nagging thoughts in the back of your mind telling you your lifestyle should be healthier. These self prescribed vitamins have become a part of UK health. But are self…
Dr Geoff 