karppaus.infon arkistoitu foorumi

A tribute to Dr Michael Mosley and some advice for Sir Keir Starmer
By Frank Hansen

The sudden death of Michael Mosley in Greece attracted a lot of attention not just because he was a media personality, but because of his ability to popularise the latest, leading-edge nutritional science – science that had a positive impact on the health and lives of thousands of ordinary people, including myself.

While I have a ‘normal’ healthy weight and BMI, I learned from Michael’s own experience that Type 2 diabetes (TD2) wasn’t always linked to obesity and could develop because of visceral fat around internal organs. Even though I had no obvious symptoms – TD2 can develop slowly and many people are unaware of it happening – I decided to have a test and discovered I had high blood glucose levels. Over time, these can seriously impact on health. Using his 5-2 diet plan, intermittent fasting and low carb meals, I was able to put Type 2 diabetes into remission, lower blood sugar and reduce the risk of associated serious illnesses. Tom Watson (remember him?) was able to achieve a similar outcome using Michael’s advice to combat obesity and T2D, as were many others.

This was at a time – ten years ago – when the NHS’s approach to T2D was rather outdated relying mainly on drugs, rather than nutrition. Thanks partly to Michael’s friendly, proselytising approach – in books, the press and on TV – and the fact that patients began to raise these issues, the NHS now has a more positive approach to prevention through its “Know Diabetes” programme. However, it is still in fire-fighting mode as food-related health problems continue to escalate, not only among older people, but also children and younger people – where T2D used to be rare and obesity uncommon – to the extent that the NHS is now in danger of being overwhelmed. Labour acknowledges this in its health policy, although it lacks effective measures to address it.