The Prime Minister’s dice with death and time spent in intensive care has evidently changed his mind-set when it comes to intervening in public health. Like me, years ago, he saw initiatives like the sugar tax as part of the Nanny state and he was dead against it.
However, according to James Forsyth writing in the Times today Johnson’s had a major change of heart and it has been driven by the now undeniable link between coronavirus and obesity. He is convinced that the reason he ended up in intensive care was because of his weight.
This change of heart echoes what top cardiologist, Dr Aseem Malhotra has been campaigning about for years and it is urgent that the views of Aseem are now taken very seriously at the top of Government as there is no time to waste.
Pioneers like Aseem and Dr David Unwin have now proved that Type 2 diabetes is not an irreversible, lifelong chronic disease and that it can be tackled with lifestyle and diet changes, not more and more drugs.
Boris has come to the same conclusion as Aseem Malhotra that one of the main reasons why the UK has been so hard hit by Coronavirus is just how obese the UK population is. There is no denying that Obesity is the second biggest coronavirus risk factor, after age, and more than a quarter of Brits are obese.
Listen to the Experts
Aseem Malhotra’s was my guest on my sputnik radio show last week, listen here.
He explained that there's a very strong link between conditions like type two diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and increasing death rates from COVID-19.
Aseem believes that our nations’ diet with its reliance on fast food and ultra-processed food is one of the major factors behind our obesity crisis and is strongly linked to a whole host of other diseases. He favours a move to a more Mediterranean style of diet and is a supporter of eating a low carbohydrate high fat diet.
He believes this style of eating can fundamentally change our health and is a believer that Type 2 diabetes can be reversed in this manner.
He told me in last week’s show that “current NHS guidelines haven't caught up with the science. What I would say though, interestingly, is new evidence suggests for Type 2 diabetes, specifically, that a low carbohydrate diet is a safe and effective option, but the problem is, it's not well publicized."
Dr Malhotra stunned me when he also stated that the public aren't aware that the present dietary guidance is not independently formulated and companies like Coca Cola, Kellogg's, Pepsi, McDonald's, amongst many others directly influence the guidance. He says "they are not there to look after your health, they're certainly not there to protect you from getting Type 2 diabetes or obesity, in fact, the opposite in a way because they want to make money by selling you more food. The question is, why are they involved in making up what's supposed to be independent guidance? And that for me that is the real scandal."
Big Sugar Fake
This is a point that has been taken up today on Twitter by former Tory Minister, David Davies who tweeted, ‘Good to see Boris taking obesity seriously now. But he had better be sure the science behind any policy is right. Quite a lot of evidence that all Western governments have based guidance on bad science for 50 years. We must review the science first, then act.’
He is correct that thee science is not only outdated but it was fake from day one and funded by the sugar industry.
Effectively in the 1960’s the sugar industry paid scientists to play down the link between sugar and heart disease and instead to promote the idea that saturated fat was the driver of heart disease.
This fake news or “science” then shaped five decades of nutritional advice and dietary recommendations. In other words, Big Sugar controlled the agenda and many say they still do!
Look at the Evidence
It was also good to see Labour’s ex Deputy Leader, Tom Watson give his support too by tweeting, ‘David is right on this, we need independently funded nutritional science. There’s so much more we can do to unify the nation on this agenda.’
The thing that unites these two political heavyweights is the fact that both lost tons of weight (8 stone in Watson’s case) by following a low carbohydrate high fat diet combined with gentle exercise.
According to the Times' article today Boris favours getting everyone on a bike to promote fitness and weight loss but he should heed the wise words of Professor Tim Noakes of the University of Johannesburg who states unequivocally that you cannot out run (or out cycle) a bad diet. Its’ what we eat that is the primary driver of obesity.
If Boris is still not convinced he should have a word with his health secretary, Matt Hancock, who declared at the World Economic Forum in China on September 19 2018 that he had lost 2 stone in 3 months by cutting out carbs from his diet.
He said, "It is clear that obesity is one of the rising challenges for the health of the nation, the links between obesity, diabetes and to cancer are increasingly clear.”
“We need to ensure that people don’t always reach to the medicinal solution. Losing weight, activity and eating better are there of the best things that you can do to tackle obesity.” He also praised Tom Watson calling him “an example to many.”
If Boris wants more evidence he could always give me a call, as I too have reversed my Type 2 diabetes, got my blood pressure into the normal range and solved a myriad of other health issues by adopting a low carb high fat lifestyle combined with gentle walking.
I was a type 2 diabetic for 15 years, weighing in at the best part of 22 stone and on at least ten tablets a day.
Stop Dietary Genocide
I’m not alone as people all around the globe are doing it for themselves but still the dietary guidelines push the concept of the Eatwell plate and tell us to eat starchy carbs. It is sugar and starchy carbs (which turn to glucose) that is the enemy, not fat.
Obesity is not just costing lives it is also costing the NHS billions and many experts believe if Type 2 cases continue to rise it could effectively bankrupt the NHS.
At the moment the Annual spend on the treatment of obesity and diabetes is greater than the amount spent on the police, the fire service and the judicial system combined.
Type 2 diabetes and obesity is killing more people than Covid19 and Professor Tim Noakes has even gone so far as to describe the present dietary guidelines as a “genocide.”
Covid-19 caught us unaware and unprepared but there is no need for Type 2 diabetes and Obesity to do the same. We know the problem and we know the fix. Boris let’s get it done now. Let’s change the dietary guidelines now.