Noakes Vindicated: BMJ Endorses LCHF Diets

Change to deeply ingrained ideas is never like a switch. It meanders through the societal consciousness igniting controversy at it proceeds and gathers momentum. The Banting or LCHF diet is no different. From the mid-1970s when the eminent Dr Ancel Keyes convinced the US Department of Health that fats were injurious to one’s health, as fat correlated with cholesterol, the received wisdom has been that fats except in extreme moderation were to be avoided. Now scientific evidence is inexorably negating this flawed thinking.

The case of the elusive cure for ulcers is illustrative of all the prevailing forces that hobble the forces of change: these are the existing dogma, entrenched industries and supposed scientific evidence buttressing the existing ingrained ideas. This requires the abandonment of a set of well entrenched beliefs that conflict with the new ideas.

Main picture: The British Medical Journal now condones the consumption of fatty food except that the sales assistant must be sternly informed to hold the chips and the bun but to put a few dollops of cream on it.

More on this point later.

The current acrimonious debate about diets and eating habits bears all the hallmarks of the bacterial origin of ulcers.

An article in the now defunct Readers Digest in the mid-1980s alerted me to the fact that a simple but revolutionary treatment for ulcers had been developed. Instead of receiving accolades for their inexpensive solution, the discoverers, two Australian doctors JR Warren and Barry Marshal, were universally vilified by the medical profession.

In the long term, Coca-Cola could be a casualty to this anti-sugar campaign.

In the long term, Coca-Cola could be a casualty to this anti-sugar campaign.

The commonly accepted cause of ulcers from the 1890s was the stressful and indulgent lifestyle of the afflicted person. It was a self-inflicted injury; an own goal. In fact an ulcer was deemed to be a badge of honour for up-and-coming professionals. If they could not boast about their ulcers that was indicative of the fact that they were not working hard enough or they were not stressed enough in their jobs.

By happenstance, a pathologist, J Robin Warren found curved bacteria in a biopsy of a dyspeptic stomach in June 1979. Why wasn’t the world ready for his discovery? Warren was a pathologist and not a gastroenterologist. As a pathologist Warren had discovered that the bacteria Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) was responsible for these incapacitating stomach cramps. As a non-gastroenterologist, Warren was quickly able to grasp the nettle. His groundbreaking work and potential saviour was immediately published in a groundbreaking article in the medical journal The Lancet in 1984.

A myth until recently: Spicy foods cause ulcers

A myth until recently: Spicy foods cause ulcers

This article immediately received widespread acclaim from the whole medical profession except for the Gastroenterological Societies especially of Australia. What was at the root of their strenuous opposition to his theory: Warren was not a specialist in this field. A sustained 30 year campaign would ensue in which the groundbreaking work by a “lowly” pathologist was debunked and vilified.

Why is the article by the BMJ – The British Medical Journal­ – a prestigious and well-regarded journal – of such great import? Weighing in on the debate regarding whether fat is as harmful as the disparaging dieting advice implies, it emphatically states that it is not an ogre. Tellingly, they conclude that there is no evidence of these supposedly deleterious effects.

Chips

The burger made the chip indispensible. Perhaps the potatoe farmer should switch to pig farming

Is this article as symbolic as the 1984 article by Warren in The Lancet? I contend that it indubitably is. As one of the world’s most prestigious medical journals, any article in this journal implies medical acceptability. Interestingly this Journal has been steadfast in its refusal to publish any articles in support of the contention that far is not an ogre. That implies that a ground swell in support of the notion that fats are not harmful is gaining traction at least within academic circles.

Part of the opposition to Tim Noakes by the Dieticians in South Africa relates to the fact that he is only registered with the Medical Health Professionals Society as a General Practitioner and not as a Dietician. Instead of meekly terminating his membership as a GP because he no longer practices medicine, he has deliberately kept his registration so that he can be charged for offering dietary advice as a non-dietician.

J Robin Warren
What is even more illustrative is that the dieticians have dropped the second charge of offering non-acceptable medical advice counter to accepted medical opinion. By doing so it implies that the dieticians are uncertain of victory in the matter. If they had elected to continue pursuing it further, Noakes had lined up a whole host of international experts in the field to rebut their argument.

Does this imply that Noakes’ views will receive immediate acclaim and backing? Like with Warren and the discovery of a lowly bacteria which gastroenterologists claimed could not exist within the acidic confines of the stomach, so it will be with Noakes.
Tim Noakes

The implications of this revolutionary change, like that with ulcers, will take decades to filter through. The crux will initially be the medical fraternity but more importantly in their rearguard action, will be the food industry, especially the cool drink industry. There will be winners and losers. An obvious loser will be Coke and a less obvious winner will be the tea and coffee industries.

Perhaps in the not too distant future, pizza parlours will be replaced by McBantings offering extra fatty sausages with triple cream coffees!

 

 

 

 

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