Release of Pete Evans’ paleo cookbook reportedly pushed back due to health concerns

PETE Evans’s paleo cookbook for babies has allegedly been ‘pushed back indefinitely’ after health experts warned ‘a baby may die if this book goes ahead.’

Pete Evans at Doltone House in Pyrmont for the launch of the 2015 season of Channel 7's My Kitchen Rules. Picture: Richard Dobson

PETE Evans’s paleo cookbook for babies has had its release date pushed back after health experts warned “there’s a very real possibility that a baby may die if this book goes ahead.”

Bubba Yum Yum: The Paleo Way was due to hit stores on Friday, but publishers have “held back release” indefinitely after health officials intervened, the Australian Women’s Weekly reports. Their major concern was a recipe for DIY baby formula which “contains more than ten times the safe maximum daily intake of vitamin A for babies and inadequate levels of other nutrients.”

The recipe book.

The book, which has been marketed as “a treasure trove of nutritional information and nourishing paleo recipes that are guaranteed to put you and your little one on the path to optimum health,” promotes the DIY formula as an alternative to commercial formula, despite the World Health Organisation’s stipulations that the only safe alternative to breast milk is commercial formula.

Evans’ bone broth version includes ingredients like chicken liver, oils and a probiotic supplement which “could potentially cause a vitamin A overdose in infants, the symptoms of which include loss of appetite, dry skin, hair loss, bone pain, fissures in the corners of the mouth and failure to thrive,” according to the AWW.

“In my view, there’s a very real possibility that a baby may die if this book goes ahead, especially if [the DIY formula] was the only food a parent was feeding their infant, it’s a very real risk. And [I consider that] the baby’s growth and development could be impaired,” Professor Heather Yeatman, president of the Public Health Association of Australia, told the AWW.

Pete Evans is a long-time Paleo advocate

Yeatman, along with an army of health officials, alerted Federal Health Minister Sussan Ley to the “negligent” nature of the book. Concerns about other recipes included the addition of salt to baby food, the limitations on fruit, and avoiding fluoride in drinking water.

“The only good thing about it would be that the child would not get any junk food,” nutritionist Rosemary Stanton told the AWW. “But I really think not to let a child have any dairy or grain products is not a good idea. Without any proof that this is a safe way to eat, I think it’s particularly unwise to do it with children.”

Pete is currently on MKR with Manu Fieldel.

The book, which was co-authored by Evans, blogger Charlotte Carr and naturopath Helen Padarin, states: “All kids deserve the best start in life, and that means adopting a healthy lifestyle right from preconception, through pregnancy and breastfeeding, and into first foods.

“This book is a wealth of information on everything from where to source the best and freshest ingredients to how to make your own natural health remedies and how to rid your home of toxins. All recipes are gluten-free, dairy-free and devoid of refined sugar, and instead favour ingredients that are organic, unprocessed and sustainably produced.”

The book’s page on the Pan Macmillan website appears to have crashed. A spokeswoman for Pan Macmillan declined to comment to news.com.au.