Pete Evans is a very interesting man as highlighted in this article Pete Evans is NOT a health professional – reprinted in part below
For a man who is anti dairy – He suggests osteoporosis can be treated by removing dairy from your diet. I was quite flabbergasted to witness cows milk lined up 5 wide and 3 deep on the counter in the coffee shop inside his restaurant in Brisbane. Yes that’s 15 two litre containers on the counter – not refrigerated and fully exposed to sunlight. When I asked why it wasn’t refrigerated I was told “we sell it so fast”
Mmmh Pete Evans on one hand you demonise cows milk. On the other you are very happy to make a motza out of it and potentially risk people’s health by not storing it properly
EXCITING new health fads pop up each week, peddled by smiling celebrities promising to make our gut smaller, boobs bigger, dick longer, or even claim to cure cancer — but they rarely deliver.
Pete Evans is a good cook with a nice tan and great teeth, but he’s not a health professional.
The recognisable Aussie celebrity sports 1.5 million Facebook followers. Every time we click on his page we give him a voice, and he rewards us by continuing to cook up outlandish health advice.
He’s well spoken, dresses up his opinions with a smile, and people tend to believe him because he repeats his claims with confidence.
He states that sunscreen contains “poisonous chemicals”, but doesn’t list any of these chemicals or provide evidence where sunscreen has poisoned the majority of Australia’s population.
He suggests osteoporosis can be treated by removing dairy from your diet “as calcium from dairy can remove the calcium from your bones”.
His dangerous ideas, scaremongering statements and preposterous claims need to be backed up by solid evidence.
“The reality is that the public love people who give really fiddly, superficially plausible-sounding, very technical, dietary advice,” says medical doctor and academic from the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine at Oxford University Ben Goldacre.
Dr Goldacre, in Australia on a speaking tour, says someone needs to be held responsible for those who peddle nonsense.
“You’re never going to have a world in which you can stop individuals from doing absurd things or making absurd claims, but you can have higher expectations of the systems,” he said.
A deluge of scientific-sounding health advice on our televisions makes it difficult to sift out fact from fiction, but finding out the truth really comes down to you.
Learning takes time, but it’s the only way to stop being a sucker for bad science. Be inquisitive and curious about your health. Ask questions, think critically and be prepared to change your view, depending on the evidence.
Seek out a qualified professional and don’t just believe the next miracle or quick-fix cure endorsed by a confident, conspiracy theorist celebrity.
Just goes to show that money talks! But then again, can we find fault with Evans in this scenario? It is always argued that people have the right to make whatever choice they so wish. In fact it’s one of the most strenuously defended arguments in favour of eating animals/animal products. “It’s my choice, don’t tell me what to do”.
Evans runs a business, servicing people’s demands for food. If the majority believe they need to consume dairy for optimal health then why shouldn’t he meet that need? He can certainly advocate against dairy if he believes it to be unnecessary or even detrimental to health, but it’s not his call whether people consume it or not.
I think it should be borne in mind that his claims are not without foundation either. Consuming dairy is not critical to bone health and there is also evidence that too much dairy, or dairy in the presence of animal protein and so on may have little positive impact, or even negative impacts, on bone health.