Just had an email with 'advice' about snacking from Patient Access

[slip]

I just ran a toasted teacake with a banananana and a tablespoon of maple syrup through MyFitnessPal.

86g carbs of which 42g sugar.

Ah but those 86g of carbs are good carbs, ideal for a diabetic!

 

[mike@work]

Doesn't really matter if this is meant as hypo treatment - with this treatment one surely is spiking. Even a normal pancreas could be confused with such a diet...

 

[slip]

I've just clicked the author of that article and it says:

"Dr Mary Lowth

MA (Cantab) MB BChir DFFP DRCOG PG Cert Med Ed FRCGP MA (London)

Dr Mary Lowth was a GP in Suffolk for 20 years, and specialised in paediatrics and child protection, and more recently in the assessment of patients who have experienced sexual violence and torture. She has been a medical writer and journalist since 1992, writing for numerous publications and websites including Patient and Private Eye.

She qualified in Cambridge in 1988, and after specialising for a while in obstetrics and gynaecology, moved to general practice and eventually became a GP trainer and appraiser, and a GP Vocational Training Programme Director. She was also an MRCGP Examiner and Clinical Casewriter for ten years, and the Royal College of GPs' International Development Advisor for MRCGP(International) in Brunei for five years.

Mary has completed an MA in Medical Law and Ethics, and is a clinical ethics committee member at a paediatric hospital. She is currently working on a PhD on Human Rights in Transplantation at King's College, London."

Well at least she could defend her self by saying she's not a diabetes specialist in any shape or form - question now is is it ethical for her to publish this stuff, after all after completing a MA in Medical Law and Ethics I guess she'd know!

 

[Robinredbreast]

Disgusting - not just carb advice but also the suggested snacks! They put me off food rather than appealing, perhaps that's the point.

It could be they are trying to 'kill off' type 2's as they are, after all, costing the NHS SO much money okay, I am being flippant here, but the words, Floor, Drop and Jaw sprang to mind when I read it, it's actually criminal negligence, IMO, just shocking

 

[Robinredbreast]

Done :-

Patient Access Support Ticket Submitted Successfully!

Thank you for submitting your ticket,

We'll contact you shortly.

 

[NicoleC1971]

I was just reading that!
I’ve sent some feedback via their contact us!
“How can it possibly be right to recommend high carbohydrate (bread, teacakes, popcorn and noodles), high fructose (bananas) and high sugar (maple syrup) products as snacks for Type 2 diabetics? Then mushing up fruit in a milkshake which hastens the absorption of the fructose, shooting blood sugar up rapidly. All of these products would raise my blood sugars (I am Type 2) above an acceptable level!”

Just one quibble, fructose in fruit is processed via the liver an dit is the glucose which is going the shoot your blood sugars up.
ON the other hand why is anyone at all surprised? DuK are the official charity and follow the 'evidence based party line - low fat and healthy wholegrain with the emphasis on calorie control! . Thanks for letting them know. Heading over there to do the same!

 

[LooperCat]

Working it out again, this teacack snack. 10g carbs raises my BG by around 3mmol, depending on the time of day. So 84g could potentially add an extra 25mmol to my existing level, and need 8+u insulin. Now _technically_ as a type one, I could do that, but not everyone has the insulin on tap like I do to bring their levels down, they’d just have to ride it out.

The more I think about this, the more furious I’m becoming.

 

[ickihun]

They are going to be the last to change their literature .. it seems.
What a travesty for newees.

I'd rather they said nothing than those kinds of advice. They should say take advice from your diabetes team/dietician. At least they are more on the ball. Now.

 

[ickihun]

Working it out again, this teacack snack. 10g carbs raises my BG by around 3mmol, depending on the time of day. So 84g could potentially add an extra 25mmol to my existing level, and need 8+u insulin. Now _technically_ as a type one, I could do that, but not everyone has the insulin on tap like I do to bring their levels down, they’d just have to ride it out.

The more I think about this, the more furious I’m becoming.

And the more IR I'd become.
More units for a snack. Erm.... Me thinks not.

 

[Robinredbreast]

You cannot be serious :-

 

[Skippy1]

done

I really have to point out the dangers in the information you have provided on this page and the amount of damage which following it could cause to a person with type 2 diabetes.
For someone who is trying to limit the amount of circulating glucose in their body, the 'snacks' you have suggested are high in carbohydrates, both sugars and starches, which will lead to extended periods of high blood glucose levels and contribute to damage throughout the body.
Tea cake (30g of starch, fructose, sucrose), banana (30g of fructose), syrup (10g of sucrose). 70g of carbohydrate is going to increase my blood sugar levels by at least 7mmol for several hours.
Smoothies are also a danger. 200 ml semi-skimmed milk (10g lactose), 1 banana (30g of fructose) - liquidising makes the sugars rapidly absorbed so 40g+ of carbohydrate would raise my blood sugar levels immediately by at least 4mmol and keep it high for several hours.
You have also advocated pitta bread (35g carb), focaccia (23g carb), ciabatta (50g carb), noodles (45g carb), fruit (approx 30g carb) - all of these are unsuitable for anyone who is unable to process carbohydrates.
More appropriate snacks, if needed at all, would be small amounts of cheese, a few nuts, a few berries, cold meats, vegetable sticks, none of which would have much effect on blood sugar levels. Indeed, a couple of digestive biscuits at 10g of carb each would likely do Roy less harm than the things you have suggested.

 

[eddie07]

It's criminal that so called professionals advice eating such rubbish. Makes me wonder how much money they got paid and by which organisation.
It's a travesty that they are allowed to publish this guidance

 

[welovedzig]

Has anyone had a reply yet please?

 

[Rachox]

Has anyone had a reply yet please?

Not me

 

[Resurgam]

No - but I am giving advice on the Tesco website now - I used to work for Allied Lyons doing storage testing and gave them advice on recipes - they had not got a clue about such things as making croissants - so now I am advising on how to make Jamie Oliver recipes work when there are complaints.