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BBC Food: Truth or Scare on the Ketogenic Diet

ketointheuk

Active Member
Messages
40
Location
Cardiff, UK
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
if anyone doing low carb has caught this today maybe you're as appalled as I am in how much misinformation they gave.
I am always shocked to see how DiabetesUK will do anything to not cure people, thank god here with the low carb program some education has been done.
Anyway, if it can help I took it upon myself to address every point they made with books and studies in this video http://po.st/truthorscare
 
I've taken note and will watch later (BBC1 on iPlayer 43mins). Thanks for the heads up.
If past programmes on the subject are anything to go by I would expect misinformation or ambiguity at best and sheer falsehoods at worse.
 
I saw it - its disappointing that they roll out the danger to people with diabetes as they may hypo - if your not on meds or even minimum meds you have no more danger than someone without diabetes- they mentioned carb flu but talked about it like it was a permanent thing not something that is transitional - They never seem to speak to anyone that has long term success. They did mention about using for epilepsy which was more positive
 
The bit on keto starts at about 31 minutes in (so you don't have to watch the rubbish on hair or why you should eat cake!)
I thought the BBC was bad with Moseley dumbing everything down but this trash took the proverbial low carb cracker..
Douglas Twenefour DUK's Dietitian in residence was the usual naysayer mentioning hypo's without mentioning insulin or the type of "people with diabetes" he was referring too... Clogging of arteries made an appearance of course as well as more misinformation.
 
I put in a complaint. They should do a Panorama programme about the scandal surrounding the British diet and the obvious outcomes over the last 50 years. I think the other Diabetes site are too far gone to recover, unless they sacked the person who spoke for them, Britvic and now this. A well formulated Ketogenic diet is "The best thing since sliced Bread".
 
I was interviewed for the programme.

I've been T2 diabetic for 20 years. I followed the DUK/NHS advice for 8 until the peripheral neuropathy I was diagnosed with became crippling with constant pain. In 2008 I joined this forum & saw the low carb advice - particularly from a T1. I gave up on all the obvious carbs & increased veg & fatty foods. In 3 months I was free from pain & playing tennis again.

Over the past 11 years I have increased animal fats & more recently adopted a keto diet. (Ketones around 0.5-1) At 80 I am still playing tennis, running around the tennis court as I did years ago. A young relative is also on the keto diet for epilepsy.

The researcher, Rebecca, would have included me - we had several conversations. They would have come to film me in Hereford if my relative's dietitian (who was on the programme) had approved. Her comment - "Don't go on the programme as people might think the keto diet is safe." I didn't fancy a 4-hour each way journey to London, so I wasn't included.

Twenefour showed up as an ignorant & biased "expert" as when asked about keto for T2 diabetics he stated the danger of very low BG & resultant hypos. Therefore not recommended - warned against. Obvious it is effective - but needs control by testing. Any treatment should be accompanied by testing & medication adjustment. He should know that.

I have had correspondence with Twenefour & others at DUK & challenged the "science" he claims that supports his views. The previous 2011 (?) "Position statement on low carb" included references that showed positive results for long term low carb - 44 months. The conclusions of these reports was ignored as was the fact that some of the control diet patients switched to low carb.

I recommend reading the full report, so you also know the REJECTION of science practised by DUK.

Low-carbohydrate diet in type 2 diabetes: stable improvement of bodyweight and glycemic control during 44 months follow-up

I quote Nielsen's conclusion:

 
I've had a "reply" from our friends at DUK -
 

Think I’ll give this a swerve then. I was just about to check iPlayer but you have saved me the effort of bothering
 
I have now had a reply from Diabetes UK which shows how slanted editing produced a rubbish programme that totally misrepresented the advice given by Doubles Twenefour of Diabetes UK. I quote in full -

First of all we are happy to hear that a low carb diet has had such a significant impact on your life. It is apparent from your email that it has not only improved your diabetes management but your quality of life overall so we can appreciate you were disappointed by Diabetes UK's input into "Truth or Scare" .
Unfortunately the short clip that was included in the show was taken out of a 45 minute interview that Douglas Twenefour did. In the full interview he covered the differences between a low carb diet and aketo diet and explained the fact that we have evidence for the effectiveness of a low carb diet in Type 2 diabetes in terms of weight loss, blood glucose management and reducing medications. He explained that we do not have as much evidence for keto but we are aware that some people with diabetes do follow it and have good results. He recommended that people wanting to do a low carb or keto diet involve their diabetes team to make sure they are doing so safely and can get support with any medication changes and more frequent blood testing. This is when he mentioned the fact that for some people, depending on how their diabetes is treated, hypos are a risk. Unfortunately, this was the part used in the programme and was taken out of a wider context, something that is not in our control .
It may be helpful for you to look at our position statement on low -carb diets for further information:
https://www.diabetes.org.uk/resources-s3/2017-09/low-carb-diets-position-statement-May-2017.pdf
We do hope this has been helpful but please do get in touch with us again if you need to. You can also call the Helpline on the number below if you would like to talk things through.​

I replied - "I suggest Diabetes UK make a strong representation to the BBC for what was clearly a very biased programme that portrayed Douglas as seriously ignorant even of T1 & T2. You deserve a full airtime apology & a new programme."
 
apparently they just re-aired the episode last night as again i've seen plenty of people concerned receiving messages from their families all worried that this diet is going to "kill them"...
 
I don't want to be as impolite as I would like to be! B.B.B.

OTH, to mix metaphors....These dieticians must be really getting their cages rattled but make themselves look silly when they throw their pandas out of the pram.
D.
 
Unfortunately the bbc are like other media companies, and follow their own agenda. I find that they are so biased now.
But who do you trust, if even documentaries don’t give you the truth?
 
I trust my own body.

Only it knows what works best for it. Listen to your body.
 
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