Long regrets

I

am well known amongst friends and colleagues for an unerring sense of geographical dyslexia. Undeterred by previous failings, I will gaily announce a quicker way to get somewhere (even if I’ve never actually been there) and inevitably get lost, or at the very least arrive half an hour after everyone else.

Short cuts are indeed seldom so effective when viewed in hindsight. A quick read of the General Dental Council’s (or Dental Protection’s) collection of salutary tales reveals all too often that Dr X failed to take a pre-operative radiograph, read the medical history properly, or indeed have one at all.

So when reading recently that a gut bacterium had been identified in mice which prevents them from putting on weight – even when fed a high-fat diet – I did think that “here we go again”. Bariatric surgery – the so-called gastric band and bypass operations has been shown to be far from a short cut to weight loss, and fad or crash diets are largely ineffective. There are no real short cuts in healthcare.