Thursday, April 26, 2007

What I Tell You Repeatedly Will Be True

In the latest Mind&Body supplement to the West Australian newspaper (24th April 2007) Dr Dingle again appears, pushing his "diet causes disease" line.

Associate professor in environmental science at Murdoch University Dr Peter Dingle said highly processed food could trigger ADHD symptoms. [...] Dr Dingle said decreasing protein could cause difficulty in producing neurotransmitters in the brain which can result in depression and ADHD.


Dr Dingle also provides an ADHD curing menu which EOR won't bother boring his readers with. He says we should eat what "grandma and grandpa used to eat." Which, given the sort of unhealthy food they fed on, is perhaps not the best advice.

As EoR has pointed out before: Dr Dingle is not a medical doctor or mental health specialist; depression is a multifactorial problem; depression is frequently lethal.

To be implying that depression is a result of a bad diet is incorrect (indeed, the effect may actually be the cause). To be publicly repeating these statements is potentially dangerous. Particularly when the last week has seen the tragic case of two young girls hanging themselves.

Is Dr DIngle suggesting that if only these girls had had a proper breakfast, this tragedy would not have occurred? Would he be prepared to state that directly to the girls' parents? Is Dr Dingle's continued insistence on his diet/toxin source of ADHD and depression not only dangerous, but deeply offensive?

Why does this article describe Dr Dingle as an environmental scientist, but not reveal a possible conflict of interest in relation to his commercial enterprise?

Other media nutrition advisors seem to be more circumspect.

1 comment:

  1. Heh, the food eaten during the 1950s and 1960s wasn't "unhealthy"! We all grew up just fine eating meat and potatoes and a variety of foods. Processed foods aren't evil or deadly; it's basically just food that's had some advance preparation. (aka cooking) Back then, we were at least free from today's hysteria over idealized "perfect" diets conceived of by anorectic, food phobic, chemical phobic, magical-thinking woos. Today's fixation over healthy eating (chemical free, "whole" foods with vital energies, no fats, no sugars, no salt, etc.) has gone completely over the top.

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