Diabetes UK Dietary Advice

[BloodThirsty]

I've just received an email from the above promoting their dietary recommendations (amongst other things):
https://www.diabetes.org.uk/Guide-t...with-diabetes/What-is-a-healthy-balanced-diet

I still don't understand how an organisation that purports to represent the official voice of UK diabetics is so at odds with the low carb approach.

Sorry to hammer this but I feel so frustrated that they continue to support a paradigm that is, at best, suspect and at worst potentially dangerous.

 

[Mbaker]

Think of the suffering this type of advice causes to an individual and their families. It is an impossible hole to reconcile for them. They are in a privileged position and have made choices that defy belief. I phoned up my Witham branch some time ago and took them to task over their dietary advice. Since then I have realised that change will have to come from the ground up, as change in this area has implications bigger than Brexit.

 

[kokhongw]

Got to understand who the stakeholders are...its about membership retention.

 

[Oldvatr]

Got to understand who the stakeholders are...its about membership retention.

Also see who they are in bed with. Their sponsors who pay their wages are (or were) the likes of Coca Cola, Asda Tesco to name a few. The have also signed up with the WFPB vegans to promote the high carb ultra low fat diet. and also the British Vegetarian Society to research their diets too. So they are busy keeping their cash cows happy. They hold their local fund raising awareness days in Asda and Tesco, and recently Tesco paid for a joint venture guideline advice booklet to be given away free. I read it and it was actually not too bad, but is still Eatwell fare. At Xmas their prize daw prizes tend to be Xmas Hampers along traditional lines i.e. luxury face stuffing carbfests.

This is their current declared sponsors list but we have seen others posted on the forum that showed some definite conflicts of interest. This list is certainly different to the one that was added to their website when they were promoting a Diabetes Conference in London last year but that may have been just for funding that event.
https://www.diabetes.org.uk/get_involved/corporate/acknowledgements

Here is a somewhat biassed comment on the matter, but which many feel says it all
http://www.zoeharcombe.com/2016/03/eatwell-guide-conflicts-of-interest/

 

[Guzzler]

DotOrg is well and truly tethered.

 

[JohnEGreen]

You must remember who their co-founder was in order to understand their obsession with works of fiction.

 

[bulkbiker]

You must remember who their co-founder was in order to understand their obsession with works of fiction.

You learn something new every day...

 

[Knikki]

I wonder around that place sometimes and they have a fairly active forum and interestingly in the Food thread there is a lot of talk about Low Carb this and that and from what I can see, and this is no more than flicking through a couple of pages, there is no one on there that seems to say 'No to low carb follow what is in the link' which I guess would be the one provided by the OP.

But if they are tied in with NICE then guess they will follow to official mantra.

 

[Daibell]

You need to understand who provides their dietary advice; the same advice that BHF, BDA etc use. It's the NHS PHE. PHE in turn draw their advice from the SACN who in turn draw on the research work of various universities including Oxford. The Profs who manage the research departments need funding to keep themselves in a job and the food industry and sometimes Big Pharma provide the funding. What does the food industry want to sell? It's carbs of course as they are cheap and simple and very profitable. One result was the (in)famous Eat(un)well Plate/Guide. So dig down and it's obvious why all these organisations provide this harmful advice. It's a scandal but not about to change quickly but it is changing slowly. Even my DN recently told me to keep the carbs down to help with my BS control.

 

[NicoleC1971]

I wonder around that place sometimes and they have a fairly active forum and interestingly in the Food thread there is a lot of talk about Low Carb this and that and from what I can see, and this is no more than flicking through a couple of pages, there is no one on there that seems to say 'No to low carb follow what is in the link' which I guess would be the one provided by the OP.

But if they are tied in with NICE then guess they will follow to official mantra.

I don't see an anti low carb conspiracy here either. Having attended a workshop with them re Food Labelling, I got the impression that as an official charity they have to be extremely broad in their dietary advice and also conservative.
I feel it is a failing on the part of NICE who don't seem willing to look at dietary trials for low carb and continue to promote the Eatwell Plate model of healthy eating. Diabetes UK clearly believe the conventional wisdom that obesity is the main cause of type 2 diabetes rather than a symptom. hence the drive of the current campaign to label foods more clearly with calories for type 2 and carbs for type 1s.
Can't blame DuK for playing it safe but they are behind the curve in not giving the idea for prominence even if it does compete with their Direct research into the Newcastle Diet.

 

[NicoleC1971]

Had to laugh when I spotted this in their gift shop though:

 

[DCUKMod]

Had to laugh when I spotted this in their gift shop though:

I think though, we have t remember that the shop is selling to all sorts of diets, and that tin could be holding your hypo treatments; not to mention those, albeit mainly T1s who subscribe to the DAFNE way to manage their diabetes.

For me, the biggest issue is NICE et al not allowing T2s into the "secret" that self testing informs dietary choices to manage blood glucose. I'm not sure eating to the meter can offend anyone. Let's face it, even those following the DAFNE way eat to their meters, except that their side-bar toolkit has more powerful exongenous tools that those without meds in play

 

[NicoleC1971]

I am officially a volunteer for the DuK local group and in my food talks I am spreading the word. This always surprises people and many cannot get their heads around the idea that they can eat high fat/low carb! Especially if they are the kind of people who don't really want to change.++
As to hypo treatments and biscuits, dextrose tablets or liquid (4 or 100 ml) are what is needed and I'd never have biscuits on board because hyops can lead to binges. I know some diabetics on injections rather than pump might need a follow up biscuit or piece of toast and also that there are plenty of type 1s who follow the advice to 'eat what you want and just dose for it' but this is bad advice for type 1s too. It is very hard to eat to your meter even with a pump (only 17% seem to achieve the 6.5% hba1c target and under) so let's hope for a closed loop system soon. Even then though I will minimise the insulin I use by eating low carb.
On the other hand it is a cute tin and they need to raise funds!

 

[pixie1]

I've just received an email from the above promoting their dietary recommendations (amongst other things):
https://www.diabetes.org.uk/Guide-t...with-diabetes/What-is-a-healthy-balanced-diet

I still don't understand how an organisation that purports to represent the official voice of UK diabetics is so at odds with the low carb approach.

Sorry to hammer this but I feel so frustrated that they continue to support a paradigm that is, at best, suspect and at worst potentially dangerous.

I have been to their support group on the Wirral. It's so frustrating as I talk about low carbing and how it works and it has for me. They are very happy to go along with advice. I asked the group whose on medication, everyone put their hands up. They still ignore the fact thatn im diet controlled a1c of 39, after 5 years.

The diabetic and endocrine consultant is doing a talk in a couple of weeks. I've heard him before, quite happy carrying on to give advice, he totally ignores low carb program, the he tries to explain what diabetes is, said nothing nothing what I already know..
I'm going to ask why Wirral has a high rate of amputation amongst diabetics, I would have thought that he would try to find the reason and take duetvand advice into consideration that bit could be wrong. Doesn't take a genius to work out, continual high glucose levels would be the problem. They only promote going to see the duabetic nurse for foot checks and eatvwgat us advised.
One of the members has macular degeneration, still insist on following advice

 

[SamJB]

I've been involved with DUK when I worked for the National Diabetes Audit. I've had direct access to their clinical leads and had some fairly heated debates with them on this. There's no conspiracy with Big Pharma, or Tesco or whatever else; they've just got their fingers in their ears, repeating the dogma they were taught in dietitian school. They say there's no evidence, but wouldn't listen when I gave them some papers on low carb research. They've got a large research budget - why don't they find out for themselves? In the end I felt nothing but exasperation.

As I've said many times on here; eat fewer foods that raise your sugar levels and you will have better sugar levels. Ridiculous that DUK don't get this. You wouldn't have peanut allergy charities saying fill your boots with peanuts, would you?!

The National Diabetes Audit shows that 1 in 20 T1s hit the 6.5% HbA1c target and 1 in 4 T2s do. If DUK threw their weight behind low carb research, there wouldn't be these figures. I blame them for these figures. Selling biscuits and decorating their magazine with carb-heavy recipes is pathetic

 

[Guzzler]

I've been involved with DUK when I worked for the National Diabetes Audit. I've had direct access to their clinical leads and had some fairly heated debates with them on this. There's no conspiracy with Big Pharma, or Tesco or whatever else; they've just got their fingers in their ears, repeating the dogma they were taught in dietitian school. They say there's no evidence, but wouldn't listen when I gave them some papers on low carb research. They've got a large research budget - why don't they find out for themselves? In the end I felt nothing but exasperation.

As I've said many times on here; eat fewer foods that raise your sugar levels and you will have better sugar levels. Ridiculous that DUK don't get this. You wouldn't have peanut allergy charities saying fill your boots with peanuts, would you?!

The National Diabetes Audit shows that 1 in 20 T1s hit the 6.5% HbA1c target and 1 in 4 T2s do. If DUK threw their weight behind low carb research, there wouldn't be these figures. I blame them for these figures. Selling biscuits and decorating their magazine with carb-heavy recipes is pathetic

As our favourite GP, Dr. David Unwin, says, telling a T2 to eat 'moderate' carbs is moderately poisoning them.

 

[Onerunshort]

On the first page of their recipe suggestions there is a recipe coming in at just 76.9g of carbs per portion. What is perhaps worse is glaring errors. A search for Daal suggests that a 300g portion of daal is 1.8g carbs! Please tell me Im wrong as I love Daal. Should it be 18g maybe? Even that seems low

 

[NicoleC1971]

Lentils are low GI because of all the fibre so should absorb slowly especially if eaten with protein and fat. So why not carry on and check your blood glucose at 2 hours.
I suppose it is also possible that green lentils/split peas may be absorbed more slowly than red lentils. A quick google search was not helpful to me either but I suspect you are right that it is more than 1.8g per portion!

 

[bulkbiker]

On the first page of their recipe suggestions there is a recipe coming in at just 76.9g of carbs per portion. What is perhaps worse is glaring errors. A search for Daal suggests that a 300g portion of daal is 1.8g carbs! Please tell me Im wrong as I love Daal. Should it be 18g maybe? Even that seems low

I wouldn't recommend going there for recipes.. try www.dietdoctor.com.. far more Type 2 friendly