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The British Dietetic Association often use a strap line "Trust A Dietitian" can they be trusted? many high profile dietitians are on the junk food or big pharma payola treadmill and that is a fact. It's my opinion the average dietitian is a health hazard to the general public and especially so to us diabetics. Here is a recent situation involving the British Dietetic Association Chairperson Catherine Collins.
British Dietetic Association Chairperson Catherine Collins doesn't like a straight question. April 2015
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 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.
From the BDA website April 2015 and still in place today here https://www.bda.uk.com/foodfacts/diabetestype2.pdf
A long way from my idea of ideal BG numbers for a type two diabetic. And remember Catherine Collins is the British Dietetic Association Chairperson. If this level of ignorance and lack of sound information gets you to the top in the BDA, it's easy to see why the epidemics of obesity and type diabetes gets ever worse. Couple that to so many big name dietitians on the junk food pay roll, and we cannot expect things to improve any time soon.
From twitter.
British Dietetic Association Chairperson Catherine Collins doesn't like a straight question. April 2015
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 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.
From the BDA website April 2015 and still in place today here https://www.bda.uk.com/foodfacts/diabetestype2.pdf
A long way from my idea of ideal BG numbers for a type two diabetic. And remember Catherine Collins is the British Dietetic Association Chairperson. If this level of ignorance and lack of sound information gets you to the top in the BDA, it's easy to see why the epidemics of obesity and type diabetes gets ever worse. Couple that to so many big name dietitians on the junk food pay roll, and we cannot expect things to improve any time soon.
From twitter.
