British Dietetic Association Chairperson Catherine Collins doesn't like a straight question!

British Dietetic Association Chairperson Catherine Collins doesn't like a straight question!

A couple of days ago I logged into Twitter to be greeted with this. "Is nutrition the only health subject where accountants, amateur photographers & gym bunnies feel obliged to correct the knowledge of experts?" A tweet from British Dietetic Association Chairperson Catherine Collins no less. I am a professional photographer, my first thought was does she mean me. Over the years I have given the BDA some heavy duty criticism, and was certainly happy to bite the low carb biscuit on that tweet. I replied to her tweet. "Why have dietitians failed totally to stem the tide of the obesity epidemic? Catherine was not amused and replied. "because we don't personally guide every mouthful of food & drink an individual chooses to swallow. But we do in ICU EN pts" So that was me put straight. At that stage another dietitian waded in with lots of waffle on the lines of we don't make the recommendations, so don't blame us.

Now at this stage I started to worry, I had been giving the BDA a tough time for years, had I got it all very wrong. For years I had been told the BDA were experts in dietary information for all sorts of medical conditions regarding diet. Yet two dietitians had said otherwise, certainly as far as diabetics were concerned. I decided to check out the BDA site re. diet for type two diabetics, and found some woeful information. Yet again I saw the 'eatwell plate' loaded with starchy carbs, fruit, fruit juice and even a can of cola on display. But it got worse. The BDA page linked below stated and I quote "The ideal HbA1c is between 48–58mmol/mol" that equates to 6.5 to 7.5 in old money, numbers that no well controlled type two diabetic would be happy with for sure, and over time could well lead to diabetic complications for many.

Well I went back to Catherine and said I felt the BDA dietery information for diabetics was very poor, and that the blood glucose numbers were far from "Ideal" As you can see below, Catherine stated "Eddie. Pur-lease. Check yr facts before tweeting,otherwise undermines yr intelligence. BDA diabetes factsheet? Same as DMUK" Catherine was not the only dietitian that day who stated the BDA did not write the dietary recommendations for diabetics, the BDA recommendations come from Diabetes UK the charity.

So, we have the BDA the organisation of experts on diet, but with no recommendations of their own, passing the buck to DUK. It's my opinion this is a very sad state of affairs, when the one professional organisation that should be leading the fight against type two diabetes and it's often linked obesity, has no dietary information to offer type two diabetics, and relies on a charity whose members are mostly volunteer amateurs. BTW after my tweets to Catherine re. the eat-well plate and "ideal" BG numbers, she blocked me from her twitter account. That seems to be the standard modus operandi from a BDA dietitian when you ask a straight question. I suspect it will ever be thus.

Link to the BDA information for type two diabetics here. https://www.bda.uk.com/foodfacts/diabetestype2

Some of the tweets can be seen here. http://thelowcarbdiabetic.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/british-dietetic-association.html

Licence to maim or kill springs to mind. I bet loads of people have been running the marathon today for DUK too.

P******s!

@Sarah Yes,very likely and as much as I'm sure we support their advocacy service and what they campaign for in terms of type 1 children,their appalling dietary advice is unforgivable as we really are talking life and limb here!

That is a good point regarding today's Marathon and fund-raising. I am sure many did run in support of DUK.

But many would have run for smaller charities which rely so heavily on donations - I often prefer giving my donations to those. We have a club for disabled children near by and volunteers regularly go out to raise much needed funds. I admire and support them.

But going back to the BDA I'm shaking my head ...

All the best Jan

This is what happened on the low carb diabetic blog when I tweeted the post at the top of this thread. The numbers are page views at that moment in time.


I'm taking bets as to who will I hear from first. 5 to 1 Lawyers 7 to 1 The plod 1000 to 1 Catherine Collins. One thing's for sure my grief theory still stands up after nearly seven years. But many stay and read other posts like great recipes and sound diabetes information and latest diabetes news. Think I am a complete nutter? yes    good, that was my defence last time.

That is the norm, they don't seem to see the contradiction. We dietitians are the experts and it's improper for the layperson to give advice. However we won't advise DUK and we will just repeat whatever they think is a good idea. We don't have an opinion on T2 dietary needs.

Link to the very poor information here https://www.bda.uk.com/foodfacts/diabetestype2

"That is the norm, they don't seem to see the contradiction. We dietitians are the experts and it's improper for the layperson to give advice."

Experts on telling every-one they are experts. Meanwhile the epidemics of obesity and the often linked type two diabetes get ever worse. Some dietitians are great, most are about as much use as a rubber beak on a woodpecker.