Food Junkies Podcast Episode 49: Prof. Tim Noakes
Dr. Tim Noakes is a South African scientist and an emeritus professor in the Division of Exercise Science and Sports Medicine at the University of Cape Town. He is also a member of the National Research Foundation (South Africa), which lists him as one of their highest-rated members.
He has run more than 70 marathons and ultramarathons and is the author of several books on exercise and diet. He is known for his work in sports science and for his support of a low-carbohydrate, high-fat (LCHF) diet, as set out in his books The Real Meal Revolution and Lore of Nutrition: Challenging Conventional Dietary Beliefs.
Noakes is an advocate of a low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet, often referred to in South Africa as the "Noakes" or "Banting" diet. Noakes has characterized mainstream dietary advice as "genocide".
In February 2014 a registered dietician complained to the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) that Noakes tweeted to a mother that she should wean her baby onto low-carbohydrate, high-fat foods, which he described as real foods. The HPCSA held a hearing about the allegation against Noakes over the next few years. Controversially, on 28 October 2016, the HPSCA incorrectly released a statement announcing that Noakes had been found guilty of misconduct. In a second press release issued over three hours later, the HPSCA apologized for the mistake. Noakes was cleared of misconduct in April 2017. The HPSCA lost its appeal in June 2018.
Noakes co-wrote the 2017 book Lore of Nutrition with journalist Marika Sboros. In it, Noakes describes his Damascene conversion to low-carbohydrate dieting, explores how the lipid hypothesis is the "biggest mistake in modern medicine" and details his struggles with the medical establishment.
Noakes has written several books detailing his research in sports science and nutrition. A selected bibliography is given below.
Lore of Running (1986)
Running Injuries: How to Prevent and Overcome Them (1990)
Bob Woolmer's Art and Science of Cricket (2008)
Challenging Beliefs: Memoirs of a Career (2012)
Waterlogged: The Serious Problem of Overhydration in Endurance Sports (2012)
The Real Meal Revolution (2014)
Raising Superheroes (2015)
Lore of Nutrition: Challenging Conventional Dietary Beliefs, with Marika Sboros (2017)
Real Food On Trial: How the diet dictators tried to destroy a top scientist, with Marika Sboros (2019)
Today's EpisodeDr. Noakes shares his Personal/Professional Story
We talk about the Banting Diet
Changing one person, one meal at a time
Why we need to work on changing doctors
Dr. Noakes discusses his legal battle
We discuss how research can be biased and manipulated
Food Addiction as a legitimate diagnosis
How to find accurate information
Nutritional science and why it needs to change
He answers our question about Volume addiction
Signature Question
FOLLOW DR. NOAKES
Twitter: @ProfTimNoakes
Website: The Noakes Foundation https://thenoakesfoundation.org/
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