Wales MEP writes to Prime Minister to change government guidelines in treating diabetes

A British politician has written to the government requesting a change to the guidelines recommended to combat diabetes, obesity and heart disease.
Nathan Gill, a Member of the European Parliament for Wales, who represents UKIP, has sent a letter to Prime Minister Theresa May addressing how making significant lifestyle changes could have life-changing benefits for the diabetes community. Mrs May has type 1 diabetes and Mr Gill too is dependent on insulin.
A salient part of the letter, which Mr Gill has published on his Facebook page, elucidates the work of Dr Aseem Malhotra, a leading cardiologist who last year published The Pioppi Diet, a book advocating how making dietary alterations can aid weight loss, reduce blood sugar levels and even put type 2 diabetes into remission.
Mr Gill references how following the Pioppi diet has enabled him to reduce his insulin doses by 50%, saying he “cannot express how much my life has changed for the better”.
Chief among Dr Malhotra’s recommendations is reducing sugar consumption to below two teaspoons a day. The current government guidelines allow for 10 times this allowance, Mr Gill reports.
“Having followed a very low sugar diet by drastically reducing my own intake of carbohydrates straight after diagnosis I was able to completely erase the need to take metformin. As a result, I did not require insulin injections for well over a year. After I let my diet revert to its prior patterns my dependency on insulin increased,” said Mr Gill.
Mr Gill said he felt a personal incentive to spread awareness following recent revelations by the Sunday Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches that several members of the Government’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition had financial ties to sugar manufacturers.
“As a British citizen, a diabetic and as a politician I find this utterly unacceptable. Having personally improved my own health significantly by ignoring the official government dietary guidelines, which I have now clearly realised are not based on independent science, I urge you to do the same if you are not doing so already.”
Mr Gill concluded his letter by advising Mrs May to look into Dr Malhotra’s research. Mr Gill also referenced a talk he is hosting on Thursday 12 April, entitled Big Food and Big Pharma, Killing for Profit?, where Dr Malhotra will discuss the need for system reform in improving global health.