Banting Guru Noakes Breaks Down During Testimony Over Diet Advice

Love him or hate him, Tim Noakes gets people talking. And Wednesday was no different, when the Banting Guru broke down in tears after a day being interrogated about an apparently innocent tweet.

It all started with the message on social media by Professor Noakes in which he advised a mother to wean her baby on a low carb/high fat diet. A complaint was later lodged with the Health Professions Council of South Africa. He has now been accused of giving unconventional and unscientific advice, and of unprofessional conduct for dispensing the advice via social media.

Noakes, an A-rated professor of exercise and sports science at the University of Cape Town, has sold more than a quarter million copies of his book “Real Meal Revolution” promoting the Banting (low-carb, high-fat, or LCHF) diet and has 68,000 followers on Twitter.

Noakes was reported to have broken down in tears on Wednesday during the questioning in Cape Town.

“If I had known what the consequences were of this hearing, I would have done anything in my power to stop this from happening because of the cost to me personally and to my family,” Noakes was quoted as saying.

According to news reports, the mother’s tweet read: “@ProfTimNoakes @SalCreed is LCHF eating ok for breastfeeding mums? Worried about all the dairy + cauliflower = wind for babies??”

Noakes replied: “Baby doesn’t eat the dairy and cauliflower. Just very healthy high fat breast milk. Key is to ween baby onto LCHF.”

A lawyer for the HPCSA said earlier this week that Noakes did not know the baby’s age or medical history at the time of his tweet and he warned Noakes’ conduct was not good for the medical profession.

The debate has mostly been about whether a doctor-patient relationship existed between Noakes and the mother. Noakes has reportedly insisted that such a relationship could not exist because he considers himself a scientist and not a doctor.

The case continues.