Muecke says school canteen lunches dangerously outdated

One of SA’s highest profile doctors says the guidelines on government school lunch offerings are dangerously flawed, fuelling a diabetes epidemic.

Health crusader Dr James Muecke wants South Australia’s Right Bite policy for school tuck shops and vending machines to dump its emphasis on a carb-heavy diet saying it is fuelling a type 2 diabetes epidemic now being seen in children.

He called for a “comprehensive overhaul of our national dietary guidelines” — on which Right Bite is based — labelling them “outdated, flawed and biased.”

The 2020 Australian of the Year and Lieutenant Governor of South Australia doesn’t want to see “another preventable blindness, another preventable amputation” linked to sugar-rich diets linked to the type 2 diabetes epidemic.

The Adelaide ophthalmologist who founded the Sight For All foundation fighting preventable blindness has launched a blistering broadside on conventional food advice including Nutrition Australia’s Healthy Living Pyramid and the food industry’s health star rating.

2020 Australian of the Year, ophthalmologist James Muecke, with evil sugar. Picture: Matt Turner

He noted type 2 diabetes was rare in his grandparents’ time but is now in epidemic proportions, is being seen among children and is the leading cause of blindness in working age Australians.

Dr Muecke said refined carbohydrates are “sugar in disguise” and parents checking food labels are being confused by “at least 260 different names for sugar.”

The Right Bite policy encourages carb-heavy foods including bread, cereals, rice, pasta and noodles and discourages saturated fats.

“The outdated, flawed and biased Australian Dietary Guidelines is being used by teachers to educate our kids,” Dr Muecke said.

“SA’s Right Bite policy uses the guidelines as its source of nutritional information, it encourages ‘plenty of cereals, grains, vegetables, legumes and fruits’ - a carb-heavy diet.

“Type 2 diabetes can be avoided and there are more than 100 controlled clinical trials to show how a low-carb, healthy fat diet works to both prevent and reverse type 2 diabetes.”

Education Minister Blair Boyer said Right Bite is undergoing a review to update guidelines on the nutritional quality of food and drinks supplied in schools.

“Wellbeing SA determines where foods sit in the traffic light spectrum and the Department for Education uses this to provide advice about healthy eating and food service in schools,” Mr Boyer said.

“Education around healthy eating and exercise is extremely important for the community as a whole, as well as in schools.”

Dr Muecke said diet guides such as the healthy eating pyramid encourages a carb-heavy plant-based diet and discourages eating healthy fats.

“Fats that have been demonised for over 50 years, fats that are critical to health, to our survival, fats such as those found in unprocessed red meats, eggs and full fat dairy,” he said.

“We need to flip our current eating pattern on its head, shifting from a high-carb to a low carb approach with a good dose of essential satiating proteins and healthy fats.”

Dr Muecke had launched his own “food diamond” which encourages food containing healthy saturated fats; minimises cereals and highly refined grains, high sugar fruits and starchy vegetables; and avoids “ultra-processed food-like substances and unhealthy fats such as margarine and vegetable oils.”

Healthy Eating Pyramid by Nutrition Australia

Healthy food diamond from Dr James Muecke.

Nutrition Australia was approached for their views.

Noting there are more than 8000 studies linking sugar to serious but avoidable diseases, Dr Muecke claimed “corrupt science and the might of the corporate food industry” culminated in the release of The Dietary Guidelines for Americans in 1980.

“This discouraged the eating of saturated fat and cholesterol, on no strong scientific evidence and in fact on flawed and manipulated scientific evidence,” he said.

“To compensate for the resulting lack of flavour and ability of fat to make you feel full after eating, the carbs had to increase — this low-fat, high carb dietary recommendation persists to this day in our own Australian Dietry Guidelines.”

The Australian Guide to Healthy Eating, based on the Australian Dietry Guidelines is “packed with foods made from refined carbs, foods that are relatively high in sugar,” he said. “Can this document truly be considered a guide to healthy eating?”

The result of this “social experiment” has been soaring cardiovascular disease, obesity and type 2 diabetes, with Indigenous Australians and lower socio-economic groups hit particularly hard.

Soft drink bottle labels mocked up by Dr James Muecke to show sugar health risks.

Soft drink bottle labels mocked up by Dr James Muecke to show sugar content.

Families are bombarded by advertising for high sugar food, while sugar-rich treats clog the checkout sections of supermarkets petrol stations and even pharmacies, he noted.

“Our flawed Health Star Rating system needs to be overhauled and industry influence removed,” Dr Muecke said.

“It was a relief to see orange juice has been downgraded to two stars — how can a drink with as much sugar as a glass of cola possibly receive the healthiest 5-star rating?”

Dr Muecke raised the idea of having graphic images on sugar-laden soft drink bottles showing decayed teeth and a foot with gangrene, similar to grisly images used on cigarette packets.

He called for more support for teachers, doctors and parents in steering children toward healthy food choices and for governments to “rein in the rampant marketing juggernaut spearheaded by the ultra-processed food and sugary drinks industry.”

“We can’t afford to turn a blind eye any longer,” he said.