Wellness gurus are hurting our health

Pete Evans. Picture: Tara Croser.

Pete Evans.

No, I didn’t want to go there either, but we have to keep pushing back against the nonsense he spreads.

Paleo Pete, as he’s known to fans of the Seven Network’s cooking show, MKR, was given 20 minutes on the Seven Network’s Sunday Night program last night, to spruik his book, his show and an upcoming movie.

Seven is, of course, quite within its rights to run a promo for Pete, who is a hugely popular Seven star.

Let’s ignore for a moment the irony of somebody completely obsessed with the profit motive of corporations that sell food, diets, and medicine, while simultaneously profiting from his own company that sells food, diets and food-as-medicine.

The dissembling that went on in that interview can’t go unchecked.

Pete was asked about the time one of his recipe books — Bubba Yum Yum — had to be pulped because it contained a recipe for bone broth for babies. Pete has made a number of statements about why the publisher got nervous, saying in one interview that they feared a backlash from ‘big retailers’ and last night he was going on about how his message had been twisted.

Here are the facts: Bubba Yum Yum was pulped because health experts had declared the recipe potentially deadly.

Not dangerous, or wacky, or relatively harmless.

Possibly deadly.

The president of the Public Health Association of Australia, Professor Heather Yeatman, told The Australian Women’s Weekly at the time: “In my view, there’s a very real possibility that a baby may die if this book goes ahead. And [I consider that] the baby’s growth and development could be impaired.”

That is why, when Pete and his co-authors reissued the book, they changed the recipe. They didn’t dare include it. Because there was a high chance it may be deadly.

Also in last night’s program, Peter was questioning the benefits of fluoride.

“Why are doctors experts in fluoride?” he said. “What are their qualifications?”

Hey Pete, what are yours?

Here, again, are the facts: the introduction of fluoride to Australian drinking water is up there with vaccinations, in terms of its success in promoting the good health of all Australians.

Fluoride absolutely, indisputably prevents tooth decay.

Who remembers elderly relatives, especially from England, all gums, and teeth in jars by the bed?

Who remembers that generation of adult males in their 50s, dropping dead from heart attacks, diabetes, and strokes?

Recent studies — the good ones actually take a while to do — show a clear link between tooth decay and heart disease, diabetes, and stroke.

Fluoridisation of the water is up there with the pasteurisation of milk, in terms of health promotion.

This is not to say Pete is wrong about everything. He’s right about many things: you should, where possible, prepare your own meals. You should probably eat more vegetables. You should partake of regular exercise and it’s not wise to carry too much weight.

And that’s about where it ends, and you’re welcome to it, no fee necessary.

But we can’t lay the blame for all the misinformation in the world at Pete’s door.

There’s a plague of wellness bloggers and diet gurus out there, making questionable pronouncements.

You’ll know them when you see them. They’re all terrific narcissists.

They’re the ones taking selfies of their own lean bodies in yoga poses, and putting them on the internet for likes.

They’re all: look at me, all skinny and fit. Look at me, all lean and hungry. Look at me, all gorgeous. Look, look, look at me. Admire me. Like me. Follow me.

And now give me your money.

If you’re a pretty thing with a health problem and a dodgy cure — quit this, take that — the internet is your nirvana.

You can set up your site, flog your books, and you’ll soon be making a motza.

But the risks of poor health advice are real. In Australia, we have seen mothers who have starved their children pretty much to death following crackpot theories put forward by the unqualified.

We’ve had cancer-cure warriors who died, because they didn’t want to take conventional medicine.

The internet-led campaign against vaccinations has led to outbreaks of whooping cough and measles.

Whooping cough killed four week old Riley Hughes in 2015.

Any day now, we’re going to have an innocent child crippled by polio, and it’s going to be the fault of wellness bloggers with no qualifications spouting absolute nonsense on the internet.

We have to push back. It’s 2017, and we live in a thriving, secular democracy. We’re for promoting the health of human beings, especially those we love.

We’re for long lives, and optimal health. We’re for healthy, well-nourished babies, protected from the ravages of disease. We’re for reason, and we’re for science.