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For decades we’ve been told to stay away from lashings of butter and diets high in fat, but ABC’s science affairs program Catalyst – due to screen on Thursday night – is making a strong case for the opposite.
The show features sports medicine scientist Professor Tim Noakes, cricketer Shane Watson and controversial chef Pete Evans, who claim the key to losing weight and tackling the obesity epidemic in Australia is to replace the majority of your daily carbohydrate intake with fat.
Think bacon over bircher, butter over olive oil, and a diet similar to the current Paleo trend.
But not everyone is happy about the promotion of this new ‘healthy’ eating plan.
Following on from the so called Diet Wars and public debate between Paleo diet advocate Pete Evans and the Dieticians Association of Australia, health experts are pleading with the ABC to pull the program ahead of tomorrow night’s screening.
According to News Limited, the Australian Advisory Committee on the Safety of Medicines is asking the ABC to drop the program citing the reason that it may encourage the thousands of Australians on anti-cholesterol drugs to quit their medication.
A consequence that could mean “there will be people who didn't have to have a heart attack and didn't have to die from a heart attack, who will die through reducing use of statins,” the committee chair Professor Emily Banks has told the ABC.
The Heart Foundation is also concerned the controversial show has disregarded many of their dietary recommendations, including how “replacing saturated fat with 'good' unsaturated fat, in particular polyunsaturated fat, reduces your risk of heart disease.”
At this stage the ABC has said the program will air, but have agreed to run a message warning the audience the program is not intended as medical advice and to consult their doctor before making any changes to their medication.
Catalyst airs tomorrow night at 8pm on ABC1.