Farewell to dietary cholesterol The US Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee has released its recommendations for the next edition of Dietary Guidelines for Americans. In an editorial on thebmj.com, Daan Kromhout writes that the committee’s recommendation that dietary cholesterol should no longer be a “nutrient of concern”, has been cause for much discussion. As has the […]
Category: The BMJ today
The BMJ Today: Are you closer to pharma than you think?
• Are you closer to pharma than you think? 36 English clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have been involved in medicines management programmes either directly or indirectly paid for by pharma. In a BMJ feature, Margaret McCartney examines the different types of relationships in practice, the potential benefits and harms that can arise from these and […]
The BMJ Today: Conferences, antibiotics, and general practice
• In her third blog so far, Lyndal Trevena reflects on the second day of the ISDMISEHC 2015 conference in Sydney. Highlights included Professor Alex Barratt’s keynote address on overdiagnosis, in which he suggested that we should increasingly focus on trying to prevent too many new tests being adopted before there’s clear evidence that they improve people’s […]
The BMJ Today: Patient data, sweetened drinks, and fruit juice
• Patient data from the clinical trials of statins In July 2014, an expert panel convened by The BMJ called for anonymised individual patient data from the clinical trials of statins to be made available for independent scrutiny. One year later, Emma Parish and colleagues look at how things have moved on. • Making patient data available […]
The BMJ Today: Naming, shaming, and homeopathy wars
• Homeopathy wars The Head to Head article “Should doctors recommend homeopathy?” has generated a heated online debate with 48 responses so far. More than 5000 people have responded to the linked poll with 62% voting yes, 38% no. If you have the luxury of a few minutes to spare then join in the debate […]
The BMJ Today: #ImInWorkJeremy
• NHS news—This weekend social media has been awash with NHS health workers proudly tweeting their secretary of state for health, Jeremy Hunt, with photos and declarations of their commitment to 24/7 service provision. The trending #ImInWorkJeremy, comes on the back of a week of announcements from Hunt around the direction the NHS will take. Hunt […]
The BMJ Today: Homeopathy, sexual health, and saying sorry
• Homeopathy: patients like it Our rapid response boards have been ablaze this week since we published a Head to Head debate on homeopathy. Many of you have rallied to homeopathy’s defence, agreeing with Peter Fisher of the NHS’s Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine, despite a dearth of quality evidence of effectiveness as well […]
The BMJ Today: A new era of drug and device regulation, homeopathy, and avoiding death in hospital
• Watch this space Will future historians mark 2015 or 2016 as the beginning of a new era of drug and device regulation? Proposed legislation in the United States, popular for its promise to increase funding for the National Institutes of Health, easily passed in the House of Representatives last week. However, the 350 page […]
The BMJ Today: The paperless NHS
• Finally, the NHS goes digital. Or does it? There have been many predictions of the death of paper in the NHS, but are they exaggerated? The NHS is in fact 20 years behind the private sector in its use of technology, and a long way behind many of its doctors and patients. And although there […]
The BMJ Today: Hiking the price of fizz
• Getting busy with the fizzy The BMA is the latest voice to call for a 20% tax on sugary drinks in the UK. The tax, if introduced, could reduce the prevalence of obesity by around 180 000 people in the UK, says the doctor’s union. The target would be all non-alcoholic drinks with added […]