PUBLIC HEALTH
Ursula Arens Writer; Nutrition & Dietetics
Ursula has a degree in dietetics, and currently works as a freelance nutrition writer. She has been a columnist on nutrition for more than 30 years.
THE PUBLIC HEALTH COLLABORATION CONFERENCE: ‘MEATING’ THE LOW CARBERS The Public Health Collaboration (PHC) is a small charity dedicated to improved health in the UK population; they specifically want to address the issues of overweight and Type 2 diabetes (T2D). But PHC are critical of current government dietary guidelines and professional practice. I was invited to attend their conference in May, to learn about their dietary principles and concerns over official UK dietary guidelines. Firstly, they disagree with advice to reduce and avoid foods high in saturated fats. Secondly, they disagree that diets should contain less than 35% of energy from total fats. Lastly, they advocate lower carbohydrate intakes and so oppose current advice on both the quantity and quality of carbohydrates. Diets should be composed of ‘real foods eaten to satisfaction.’ Fake foods - those containing free sugars or any kind of processed oils - should be avoided. They advise to consume freely any unprocessed foods high in protein and/or fat, and small amounts of unprocessed carbohydrates containing less that 25g per 100g. THE CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS
The scientific programme was packed. Dr Aseem Malhotra, describing his career from cardiac surgeon to health campaigner, introduced the day. He had received many professional reprimands, but claimed that these had only helped him to ‘grow a rhinoceros hide’. Highlights for me included South African campaigner Professor Tim Noakes, the celebrity in the room, who spoke about his academic journey from exercise physiologist to dietary guru and his conversion to low carb diets. Peripheral arterial disease and arterial plaque instability were the biggest threats to those with insulin
resistance, and low carb diets were the only effective treatment. There were interesting discussions on the difficulties of obtaining direct measurements of insulin, rather than indirect measurements via blood glucose. Tim described the court case against him in relation to a tweet he sent supporting low carb intakes in weaning; he won the case, but cautioned against law courts to debate science. (See my book review on Tim Noakes’ Lore of Nutrition on p52.) Dr Trudi Deakin described the new nutrition guidelines issued by Diabetes UK in March. The report recognised low carb diets as an option for some diabetics wishing to try different ways to control blood glucose. Trudi felt the guidelines were an opening up to the use of low carb diets and were better than previous guidelines. Dr David Cavan, author of the book Reverse your Diabetes spoke about his support for low carb diets for T2D. He was able to add particular depth to the subject by describing his career in Bermuda, with the extreme challenges of most diabetes and most carbohydraterich diets. The PHC conference was an exciting and inspiring event, but my lunchtime encounters were bizarre. One meal partner was consuming a heap of meatonly stew, despite lots of lovely green vegetables available. Another young man was telling me that his parents were not open to his great diet. “Which was,” I asked? “Bullet-proof coffee and steak…and I feel great,” he said. www.NHDmag.com July 2018 - Issue 136
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