The relaunch of the UK’s patient.co.uk website, with plans to offer a series of apps, including one that will allow patients to make medical appointments on their smartphones – according to eHealth Insider – has got me thinking about the lack of anything that compares even remotely in Australia.
Patient.co.uk describes what it is offering as “Trusted Medical Information and Support”, and I couldn’t help but compare the link it offers to a Guardian story which quotes a report by US scientists on the dangers of sugar to one our Medical Observer ran just a day or so ago, in which some of our scientists condemn their US counterparts’ call for measures to curb sugar consumption.
The expert opinion in Australia, it seems, is that tooth decay is “the only disease proven to be related to excess frequent sugar consumption” and “sugar is just another form of over-consumed calories … no more metabolically deadly than starch or fat calories”.
That’s not the opinion of Dr Robert H. Lustig, one of the authors of the US report, which was also picked up by Time magazine. Lustig’s 2009 lecture, “Sugar: The Bitter Truth” [below], sparked a New York Times piece by health writer Gary Taubes posing the rhetorical question, Is Sugar Toxic?
When you have such diversity of opinion, it seems to me that patients need all the trusted information they can get.
If I were writing on health, I wouldn’t be prepared to just present two sets of opposing opinions. I’d want to know why doctors in Australia seem to be taking a more benign view of the medical implications of sugar, and the potential for its role in commerce to influence research and government policies.
Having read UK nutrition authority, John Yudkin’s 70s book, Pure, White and Deadly, which linked sugar to type 2 diabetes and elevated triglycerides, I’m not so sure that Lustig isn’t on to something.
In an environment in which television seems to be constantly switching from food programs to radical weight loss programs, it would seem to me to be a worthy topic for, say, Q&A.
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This kind of thing is best driven by entrepreneurs spending four figures, not government spending nine figures. I say that because my D2P startup is about to launch
There is no question that much more can be done to support consumers. There are already some initiatives in Australia. For example:
With regards to providing health information to consumers, the Australian Government runs the site http://www.healthinsite.gov.au/. This website aims to provide consumers with current and reliable information on health and wellbeing.
In terms of support for health consumers in managing and coordinating care, the website http://www.seecare.net.au is freely available. It combines the provision of personalized information with utilities for collaborative care and support. This allows consumers to self-manage care and take action based on the relevant information.