Noakes draws new fire with ‘genocide’ comment
LOW-CARB‚ high-fat guru Tim Noakes has tweeted that common dietary guidelines will be “remembered in history as a genocide”.
Low-carbohydrate advocates have long blamed dietary guidelines for the growing number of people suffering from obesity or diabetes worldwide.
Most national dietary guidelines promote eating large amounts of fruit and vegetables‚ low amounts of saturated fat‚ moderate amounts of meat and many servings of carbohydrates.
The guidelines that Noakes referred to as “akin to genocide” promote a daily eight glasses of water‚ three to four servings of fruit, six to 11 servings of unrefined carbohydrates‚ two to three servings of dairy and minimum use of fats.
Some of Noakes’s followers on Twitter were horrified that he compared the guidelines to the mass slaughter of ethnic groups.
Cape Town resident Sean Robinson tweeted: “You mean like the genocide in Rwanda‚ and the 2nd WW concentration camps? Wow.”
@lusciousCT said: “Just stop with the hyperbole‚ please. You’re going off the deep end now. Carbs cause genocide? Hogwash.”
Paediatrician and commentator on junk science Alastair McAlpine said Noakes’s tweet was demeaning to the real victims of genocide.
“Regardless of your feelings of the so-called ‘food pyramid’‚ to compare it to ‘genocide’ demeans the real victims of genocide‚ and grossly insults the well-meaning individuals who put the pyramid together,” McAlpine said.
Dietician Megan Pentz-Kluyts explained to Noakes on Twitter that the South African guidelines had changed‚ so the subject of his tweet was outdated.
“Why does the [food] pyramid keep coming up? It has not been followed or recommended in South Africa nutrition circles for quite some time #oldnews”
Noakes argues that eating too many carbs leads to insulin resistance and causes diabetes.
There is a growing move in mainstream science which asserts that people can eat more fat than was formerly believed healthy‚ and Noakes is critical of people being forced to reduce fat intake.
Many critics of Noakes argue that national nutritional guidelines are not to blame for growing obesity and diabetes cases.
McAlpine believes it is overly simplistic to blame the guidelines.
“Furthermore‚ the guideline is clear that we should all reduce our refined sugar consumption. If Noakes has issues with bread and pasta‚ he should engage meaningfully rather than insultingly.”
Approached for a response‚ Noakes defended the use of the word genocide‚ and said the majority of the people who were interested in his nutritional views thought it was an appropriate statement. – TimesLIVE