Wise Nutrition Website Introduction

Each morning when I sign into my PC, I check the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) news, health and science bulletins.

The top news stories have frequent references to the problems that women have with their health (including endometriosis), the difficulty that they have in obtaining diagnosis and treatment and the suffering that they are enduring.

In the past several months, there has been at least 7 stories relating to endometriosis, with two as recently as 27th July.

I have written to the ABC on several occasions, with references to peer-reviewed articles and links to Neal Barnard’s video telling Katherine Lawrence story of her recovery from endometriosis in less than 2 months. Check out the green Videos button that is on the right panel on every page of my 150 page website.

Despite the fact that all complaints to the ABC must be responded to, I have not received one response. It could be a life-changing event for 10,000s of men and women if the ABC followed one or two of these women over a period of 2 months following the introduction of a whole-food, plant-based diet.

Ketogenic and low-carbohydrate diet advocates have been having a much greater impact on diet in our community than whole-food, plant-based advocates. Book sales are higher, website visits are much more frequent.

Over the past several decades, our health indicators have become progressively worse. The prevalence of many cancers have continued to rise. The mortality rate for all cases of cancer has risen for females. It has decreased for males because of the reduction in lung cancer. ¹

Breast cancer, a sex-hormone related cancer with a high prevalence rate, continues to rise.

Pancreatic cancer, has a lower prevalence rate but has a high mortality rate, continues to rise unabated.

Whilst a substantial reduction in cervical cancer occurred between 1992-2002, there has been no reduction in the following two decades.

In 2018, 36% of Australians aged 18 and over are overweight (BMI of 25 to up to 30) and 31% of the population are obese (BMI 30 or more). ²

34% of adult Australians have hypertension (greater than 140/90 or taking medication). According to the Framingham Risk Assessment calculator, a systolic value of less than 120 mmHg is ideal. ³

Autoimmune diseases are a pernicious group of diseases where the immune system produces antibodies that destroy the body’s cells. There are 80-100 autoimmune diseases that have been identified.

Autoimmune diseases cumulatively affect 5-10% of the industrial world population and are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. ⁴

World-wide, the incidence of autoimmune diseases is increasing at the rate of 19% each and every year ⁵.

5.3% of Australian adults aged 18 and over had type 2 diabetes in 2017–18. Diabetes is the fastest growing chronic condition in Australia, increasing at a faster rate than other chronic diseases such as heart disease and cancer. ⁶

Almost 1.9 million Australians have diabetes. On average, one in three of these people have some level of diabetic retinopathy. ⁷

Dementia is a syndrome in which there is deterioration in memory, thinking, behaviour and the ability to perform everyday activities. It is not a normal part of aging. 50 million people world-wide have dementia with nearly 10 million new cases every year. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia contributing 60–70% of cases. ⁸

In 2016, the global number of individuals who lived with dementia was 43·8 million which increased from 20.2 million in 1990. This represented an increase of 117% in 16 years. Dementia was the fifth leading cause of death globally accounting for 2·4 million deaths. This could be attributed to modifiable risk factors of high BMI, high fasting plasma glucose, smoking, and a high intake of sugar-sweetened beverages. ⁹

In the US, in 2010, the rate of autism at age 8 was 14.7 per 1,000 which is 1 in 68. Boys are 4.5 times more likely to be affected than girls. ¹⁰

This rate continues to increase. As at 2020, about 1 in 36 children has been identified with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) according to estimates from CDC’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network. About 1 in 6 (17%) children aged 3–17 years were diagnosed with a developmental disability. ¹¹

Robert Lustig has some “interesting” views regarding fat and carbohydrates.

Despite Robert Lustig’s popularity in the popular press, it is bizarre and nonsensical.

Dr James Muecke, the Australian of the Year in 2020, presented a talk at the National Press Club in Canberra, Australia on Tuesday, 1 December 2020.

Muecke believes that we should be eating more eggs, cheese, meat and dark chocolate to minimise diabetes, its associated blindness (diabetic retinopathy) and diabetic neuropathy. Peripheral diabetic neuropathy is nerve damage of the limbs that is caused by diabetes. 50% of adults with type 2 diabetes have peripheral neuropathy. It can result in pain, numbness and an increase in sensitivity. Diabetes account for more than 80% of amputations.

I contacted Dr Muecke and asked if he had a transcript of his talk and a list of references for his views. He stated that he gives “a couple hundred presentations a year” with a total audience of 100,000s. The talks are all “of the cuff and are different each time”. The only references he has are contained in his talks. He is having a big negative impact on the health of Australians. People want to be told to eat more red meat, cheese, eggs and chocolate. The number of people who identify themselves as vegan has reduced from 1% to 0.5% over the past couple decades.

My goal is to ensure that people such as Dr Muecke, Gary Taubes, Nina Teicholz, Maryanne Demasi and Robert Lustig are held accountable for their mischief.

My goal is to have the opportunity to address the National Press Club to counter the views that Dr Muecke previously presented.

You can view Dr Muecke’s views by clicking on his image that is on the Home Page of my website.

I have been involved in the teaching, design and compliance of Nutrition diploma and certificate courses for Registered Training Organisations. I have also published a text book. Low-carbohydrate Mania: The Fantasies, Delusions and Myths, to be used in association with the courses to dispel the myths of the validity of low-carbohydrate and ketogenic diets.

You can find my website by performing a Google search on “richard harding nutrition“.

Dr. Fiona Godlee was the editor The BMJ from 2005 to 2021. She was an enthusiastic supporter of Nina Teicholz and her low-carbohydrate, high-fat and high animal-sourced diet as was Dr. Richard Smith. Smith’s BMJ Editorial – “Are Some Diets “Mass Murder?” was published on 15 December 2014. Dr. Smith joined The BMJ in 1979 and was editor-in-chief from 1991-2004.

It is really extraordinary that Dr. Smith relies on unsubstantiated material from a popular ketogenic diet advocate to advance his views.

Dr. Goodlee was the editor on 24th September 2015, when The BMJ issued a press release titled “BMJ investigation questions expert advice underpinning new US dietary guidelines“.

Much publicity is given to the longevity of the people of Japan and Okinawa (an archipelago that stretches from southern Japan to Taiwan). However, it is vegetarian Californian Seventh-day Adventists that have the longest lifespan and the highest levels of health on the planet.

The AHS-1 [Adventist Health Study 1] study showed that the average 30-year-old white vegan Californian Adventist male lives 9.5 years longer than the average 30-year-old white omnivore Californian Adventist male and with females living 6.1 years longer. Note that Adventists are much healthier than the average American. ¹²

Professor Stewart Truswell and his colleague, Professor Jim Mann from were, in their words, “incensed” when Arne Astrup’s article WHO draft guidelines on dietary saturated and trans fatty acids: time for a new approach? was published in the BMJ in July 2019 and received so much attention in the popular press. ¹³

Professor Truswell’s colleague Professor Jim Mann, from University of Otago was at a World Health Organisation diabetic conference in Europe and the meeting decided not to engage in a public debate because it will “give them oxygen” and that “they will always lose out to the well-funded dairy and beef industries”.

Stewart is “appalled” with Lustig’s and John Yudkin’s influence in the popular press. Stewart was Yudkin’s successor as Head of Department of Nutrition at Queen Elizabeth College, London University.

I disagreed. I have produced an 85 page A5 document that reviews Astrup’s paper which Stewart has reviewed. I also produced a 97 minute video with some of the highlights.

My book and the accompanying video documents how food industry has manipulated the media and researchers to ensure that profits become before public health.

Professor Stewart Truswell of University of Sydney has reviewed my books, movie and website. He is a renowned nutritional researcher and author. He still has an office at the University of Sydney. He is over 90 and before COVID drove into work at University of Sydney most days and has recently published the 5th edition of his 700-page text, Essentials of Human Nutrition for Oxford University Press. He also wrote Cholesterol and Beyond: The Research on Diet and Coronary Heart Disease 1900-2000.

Stewart was a contributor to Dietary Goals for the United States: Second Edition of November 1977 (The McGovern Report).

Professor Truswell stated that my book “very informative and interesting” and that the movie and accompanying book are “brilliant”.

Last updated on Friday 15 November 2024 at 07:18 by administrators

1. Anon (n.d.) Cancer data in Australia, Data – Australian Institute of Health and Welfare [online]. (Accessed 22 May 2021).
2. Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2018, December 12). Overweight and obesity, 2017-18 financial year | Australian Bureau of Statistics.
3. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2019, July 19). High blood pressure, High blood pressure—Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/risk-factors/high-blood-pressure/contents/high-blood-pressure
4. Shapira, Y. et al. (2010) Defining and analyzing geoepidemiology and human autoimmunity. Journal of Autoimmunity. 34 (3), J168–J177.
5. Lerner, A. et al. (2016) The World Incidence and Prevalence of Autoimmune Diseases is Increasing. International Journal of Celiac Disease. 3 (4), 151–155.
6. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2020, July 15). Diabetes, Type 2 diabetes—Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
7. Centre for Eye Research Australia. (2024). Diabetic eye disease.
8. World Health Organization Fact Sheets (2020) Dementia.
9. Nichols, E. et al. (2019) Global, regional, and national burden of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. The Lancet Neurology. 18 (1), 88–106.
10. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2014) Prevalence of autism spectrum disorder among children aged 8 years-autism and developmental disabilities monitoring network, 11 sites, United States, 2010. Morbidity and mortality weekly report. Surveillance summaries (Washington, DC: 2002). 63 (2), 1-24.
11. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2024). Data and Statistics on Autism Spectrum Disorder.
12. Fraser, G. E. & Shavlik, D. J. (2001) Ten Years of Life – Is It a Matter of Choice? Archives of Internal Medicine. 161 (13), 1645–1652.
13. Astrup, A., Bertram, H. C., Bonjour, J.-P., de Groot, L. C., de Oliveira Otto, M. C., Feeney, E. L., Garg, M. L., Givens, I., Kok, F. J., Krauss, R. M., Lamarche, B., Lecerf, J.-M., Legrand, P., McKinley, M., Micha, R., Michalski, M.-C., Mozaffarian, D., & Soedamah-Muthu, S. S. (2019). WHO draft guidelines on dietary saturated and trans fatty acids: Time for a new approach? BMJ, 366(14137), 1–6.