EVANS! DOCS PAN PALEO
FOR passionate followers of the paleo diet, it’s a miracle lifestyle that can fight obesity and cure all types of ill health from diabetes to autism.
But what do medical and nutrition experts really think about the Pete Evans- backed way of life? The verdict isn’t good.
Paleo is sold as a hunter- gatherer style of eating mimicking the diet of our Palaeolithic ancestors and promotes the consumption of lean meat, fish, poultry and nonstarch vegetables while avoiding grains, legumes and dairy.
The World Health Organisation says any diet that excludes whole food groups should be treated with suspicion.
“The idea of cutting out grainbased foods and legumes is not backed by science and eating more meat than is needed by the body certainly has risks,” it advised.
It’s a concern echoed by doctors and nutritionists here and abroad.
Celebrity chef and TV host Evans is one of the staunchest advocates of the paleo diet.
Alex Nella, a dietitian at the University of California, said the typical paleo diet “puts most ( people) at risk of deficiencies in calcium and vitamin D”.
“At the same time, saturated fat and protein can be consumed far above recommended levels, increasing the risk of kidney and heart disease and certain cancers,” Ms Nella said.
Chronically low carbohydrate intake could lead to an overuse of fat for energy, or ketosis, and anyone on the paleo diet should be medically supervised, she said.
Ms Nella also believes paleo “isn’t effective for sustained weight loss”.
Australian researcher Associate Professor Sof Andrikopoulos from the University of Melbourne last year published results of a study of the diet, which used mice to examine the socalled benefits.
Shockingly, he observed a potential for rapid weight gain and health problems after just eight weeks, leading him to warn about “fad” diets with little or no scientific evidence behind them.
“Low- carbohydrate, high- fat diets are becoming more popular, but there is no evidence that these diets work,” Professor Andrikopoulos said. “In fact, if you put an inactive individual on this type of diet, the chances are that person will gain weight.”
The Medical Journal of Australia wrote that any strong conclusions about the long- term health benefits of the paleo diet were difficult to make.
Improvements in type 2 diabetes or any other condition couldn’t be demonstrated, it said.
In 2015, US News and World Report placed the paleo diet dead last in its annual Best Diets Rankings.
A panel of experts assessed 35 different diets, examining factors from nutrition and safety to weight loss effectiveness. Paleo failed to meet the grade.
After his appearance on Channel 7’ s Sunday Night program promoting the paleo diet attracted criticism, Evans hit back on Facebook yesterday.
“We promote an organic diet of small to moderate amounts of well sourced seafood and or meat from land animals, an abundance of colourful vegetables and fruit, ( lower carb preferably as the majority of your intake) and good quality dietary fat as opposed to the criminal low fat movement,” he wrote.
“We also encourage breast milk as the number one food for babies ( and) respecting the sun and not getting burnt and choosing a non- toxic sunscreen and making sure to get adequate vitamin D exposure as so many people are lacking this.”