Summary
The discussion centers on the political landscape surrounding dietary guidelines and diabetes management in Australia, particularly the slow progress of the Australian Dietary Guidelines update and the recent parliamentary inquiry into diabetes. The current guidelines, established in 2013, are criticized for ignoring low-carbohydrate diets and saturated fat, which many believe have significant implications for public health. An expert committee was formed to revise these guidelines, but its progress has been sluggish, with concerns raised about conflicts of interest among committee members.
The parliamentary inquiry into diabetes produced a comprehensive report with 23 recommendations, including a review of dietary guidelines to better address diabetes management. However, the report's limited acknowledgment of low-carbohydrate diets has left advocates frustrated, as many submissions highlighting the effectiveness of such diets were not adequately represented. The chair of the inquiry acknowledged the importance of low-carb diets in his foreword, yet this sentiment was not reflected in the report's findings.
Despite these challenges, there is a glimmer of hope with the establishment of a partnership between Diabetes Australia and Defeat Diabetes, aimed at improving dietary resources for diabetes management. This collaboration represents a potential shift towards more progressive dietary recommendations, although significant work remains to align existing guidelines with contemporary understanding of nutrition and diabetes care. Advocates continue to push for greater recognition of low-carb diets in both governmental and media discussions, emphasizing the need for transparency and reform in dietary policies.
Show Notes
Peter Brukner OAM, MBBS, FACSP, FACSM, FASMF, FFSEM is a specialist sports and exercise physician and the founding partner at the Olympic Park Sports Medicine Centre in Melbourne. Peter is a world renowned sports medicine clinician and researcher. His most recent team appointments have been as Head of Sports Medicine and Sports Science at Liverpool Football Club and, until 2017, Team Doctor for the Australian cricket team.Peter is Professor of Sports Medicine at the La Trobe Sport & Exercise Medicine Research Centre at La Trobe University, Melbourne. Peter has published widely internationally with a number of books, book chapters and over 100 original research articles. He is the co-author of Clinical Sports Medicine, a best selling general sports medicine text in its fifth edition as well as Stress Fractures, Food for Sport, Encyclopedia of Exercise and Sport Health and Clinical Sports Anatomy.Prof. Brukner is the founder of the public health campaign SugarByHalf and is committed to the challenge of improving Australia’s health with improved diet and increased physical activity. The profits from Peter's book 'A Fat Lot Of Good' will help to fund the campaign http://www.sugarbyhalf.com/Peter is also the founder of Defeat Diabetes, Australia's first evidence-based and doctor-led program that focuses on the wide range of health benefits of a low carb lifestyle, particularly for those wanting to send into remission pre-diabetes, type 2 diabetes, and other metabolic illnesses. The Defeat Diabetes Program is delivered via a mobile app. It provides 100+ hours of video from health professionals, masterclasses, cooking demonstrations, recipes, a meal planner, and a rich library of resources, with new content regularly added. Please consider supporting Low Carb Down Under via Patreon. A small monthly contribution will assist in the costs of filming and editing these presentations and will allow us to keep producing high quality content free from advertising. For further information visit; https://www.patreon.com/lowcarbdownunder Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Dr. Laureen Lawlor-Smith has been a doctor since 1982. She has owned and managed her own General Practices in Adelaide’s southern suburbs for much of her career. She is passionate about helping people change their lives and improve their health through lifestyle medicine.Despite following and dispensing conventional medical advice around diet and exercise for 35 years as a general practitioner, Laureen found herself obese, with pre-diabetes, sleep apnoea, and filled with shame. After discovering the transformational benefits of a low carb lifestyle, she was able to reverse her health issues, lose weight and improve her overall health.Discovering the low carb lifestyle has completely changed her life. Her experience led to Laureen leaving general practice and co-founding the Low Carb Keto Health Clinic where she helps patients lose weight and gain health. She has reconnected with why she became a doctor to start with and now absolutely loves her job again.Please consider supporting Low Carb Down Under via Patreon. A small monthly contribution will assist in the costs of filming and editing these presentations and will allow us to keep producing high quality content free from advertising. For further information visit; https://www.patreon.com/lowcarbdownunder Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nina Teicholz is a New York Times bestselling investigative science journalist who has played a pivotal role in challenging the conventional wisdom on dietary fat. Her groundbreaking work, 'The Big Fat Surprise', which The Economist named as the #1 science book of 2014, has led to a profound rethinking on whether we have been wrong to think that fat, including saturated fat, causes disease.Nina continues to explore the political, institutional, and industry forces that prevent better thinking on issues related to nutrition and science. She has been published in the New York Times, the New Yorker, the British Medical Journal, Gourmet, the Los Angeles Times and many other outlets.Please consider supporting Low Carb Down Under via Patreon. A small monthly contribution will assist in the costs of filming and editing these presentations and will allow us to keep producing high quality content free from advertising. For further information visit; https://www.patreon.com/lowcarbdownunder Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dr James Muecke AM is a South Australian based ophthalmologist and visiting consultant at Royal Adelaide and Women’s and Children’s Hospitals. Dr. Muecke graduated with Honours from the University of Adelaide Medical School in 1987. Following his internship, James lived and worked as a doctor in Africa and subsequently as an eye surgeon in the Middle East, battling malaria, wild animals, and rebel soldiers. He founded 'Sight For All' in 2008, turning his boundless energy into a fight against blindness in the Aboriginal communities of Australia and some of the poorest countries of Asia and Africa.Dr. Muecke's commitment to social impact and humanitarian endeavours has earned him a string of awards. He received an Outstanding Service to the Prevention of Blindness award by the Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology in 2011, a Member of the Order of Australia in 2012, a South Australian Community Achievement Award in 2013, the Australian Medical Association’s President’s Leadership Award in 2013, Ernst & Young’s Social Entrepreneur for Australia in 2015 and The University of Adelaide’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2019. In 2020, Dr. Muecke was named Australian of the Year and vowed to use his platform to advocate for measures to tackle preventable blindness caused by diabetes.Please consider supporting Low Carb Down Under via Patreon. A small monthly contribution will assist in the costs of filming and editing these presentations and will allow us to keep producing high quality content free from advertising. For further information visit; https://www.patreon.com/lowcarbdownunder Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Charlotte Summers is the Director of Education and Chief Operating Officer of www.diabetes.co.uk Europe’s largest support website for diabetics, founded in 2010. The business has used the experiences of 475,000 members to develop digital health advice.Charlotte joined Diabetes.co.uk as a mindfulness-based diabetes researcher and commentator. Her enthusiasm soon led her to becoming COO in 2014. She has a BSc Hons in Psychology.Charlotte is responsible for the creation and delivery of digital education programs with proven health outcomes and cost savings. Charlotte’s passion lies in creating offline accountability and behavioural change in a digital age and Charlotte frequently gives talks on the future of diabetes and wider healthcare education.A .PDF version of the slides used in this presentation is available here; http://denversdietdoctor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Charlotte-Summers-Low-Carb-Program-185000-Anecdotes.pdf Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices