Maybe people should not carp as at least they are looking at different options and by it very nature 800 calories has to be reasonably low carb each drink is about 20 carbs ( per internet) so that is 60 carbs a day .
What I thought was so disappointing was that this is now a mandated NHS treatment so if the person wants to try it and the doctor agrees then the 8 weeks of diet drinks by implication be as a prescription ( the the presenter asked this question and the professor said it was a NHS treatment ) so quite a cost to NHS . I know we are all different and I know that low carb is not for everyone , but if instead a person did a low carb and was given a meter and strips for the same 8 weeks I would bet the cost of the strips would not be very different . I would think that after 8 weeks most people would have enough data to work out which carbs were bad for them and which they tolerated and then the ongoing need for strips would be much less .
What I do not understand why the NHS does not do a large study of newly diagnosed giving people given the option of say
Low carb plus strips or
Low carb without strips or
Medication with advice or
The 800 diet.
It would need a follow up to be done over a reasonable amount of time to see how people are able to maintain the lower blood sugars. It would mean that NHS have data to show what is effective rather than hearsay.
However I suspect this will not happen but maybe one can hope
I think the elephant in the room is fat. If you go low carb most people lose weight, and at some point will want to stablise their weight but they can not use carbs, so what would they advise to eat and would it go against the low fat message, which they have spent millions on?
The 800 cal diet is a nice neat solution for a clinical trial, it means they can publish, and also keep within the currant guidelines. So its not contraversial, and any comments are restricted to the evidence they have provided. Dr Unwin is also very careful only to express and opinion of what he can prove from the data he has collected from his patients. I have watched a few of his videos and always about low carb , not higher fat. He is paid by the NHS. Proff Taylor is never going to say anything he can not prove with trials evidence, he has a career to think of. Some of the heart specialists to have gone to the fat side will always make a living if they can do surgery.
It still leaves the question what happens when you come off the 800cal diet, or have lost enough weight on low carb.
Its funny I was watching this today, which seems to be a truth hard to get around.
