I see a lot of patients in General Practice with anxiety and depression. In fact, according to a recent survey, 6% of New Zealand adults will have experienced a high level of psychological distress in the last 4 weeks. 1 in 6 of us will be diagnosed with anxiety and/or...

I recently attended a Food and Mood Event hosted by the Ancestral Health Society of New Zealand.

There were many interesting speakers, but Professor Felice Jacka  of the Food and Mood Centre in Melbourne was particularly compelling as she presented the evidence from her...

We live in the 'Age of Adiposity', caused by several different factors involving the western lifestyle, which are fuelling the current Diabetes epidemic. Currently 25% of New Zealanders are thought to be in the pre-diabetic stage ( Hba1c levels between 40-49) but aren'...

Vitamin D has been shown to be very important for wellbeing and is involved in supporting healthy immune function, maintaining a healthy skeletal mass and supporting a healthy mood. The term 'vitamin' is misleading as it really operates as a hormones in our bodies, hel...

Sleeping pills are in the news again with concerns of increasing cancer. 1 in 10 adults apparently use sleeping pills regularly. Relying on pills to send you to the land of nod is not a good idea, as research is starting to confirm. Sleep is hugely important to everyda...

Lately I have been diagnosing more and more Coeliac Disease in my patients. Whilst bowel symptoms are the commonest presentation,many patients simply present with fatigue or thinning hair and eyebrows and other less known symptoms.  According to Coeliac New Zealand, up...

Having your DNA analysed is becoming more accessible, but making sense of the results can be a challenge.

Fitgenes is a more targeted approach which doesn't just process your whole genome, but instead focuses on 7 important areas of your physiology which are key to opti...

Dr Libby Weaver, nutritional biochemist, recently visited Wellington to talk about energy levels. Daily fatigue is a real issue for many people, and there is a  spectrum from low energy causing major debilitation through to  not reaching personal potential due to fatig...

Here in New Zealand we are in deepest darkest winter and spring still seems a long way away. There are many excellent methods available to alleviate the SAD symptoms and low mood such as exercising outdoors, taking a vitamin D supplement and even using a lightbox to im...

Sugar has been in the news this week following a major report in the UK in which urges us to half our current recommended intake of sugar to 7 teaspoons per day. Just to illustrate this, there are apparently 9 teaspoons of sugar in an average can of coca-cola. Sugar co...