Steve Cooksey aka the diabetes warrior no fan of Dr.Jason Fung !

For those who do not know of Steve Cooksey, a very brief back ground. Steve was diagnosed a diabetic some years ago. He followed the usual dietary advice from health care professionals. His health deteriorated. Steve changed his diet to low carb high fat and set up an exercise regime. Steve realised the advice he had been given by the "experts" was useless and he never would have come close to achieving the good health and control of his diabetes, his methods had achieved. It is worth noting Steve, following his regime was able to stop using all diabetes medication. OK at this stage nothing exceptional so far, countless diabetics have done the same thing. Steve decided to help other diabetics by way of his excellent blog linked below, and that is when it turned pear shaped. US dietitians challenged Steve in the courts, in short they wanted him and his blog silenced. To cut a long story short Steve took the establishment on and won. To this day he still works hard to help other diabetics to get to a safer place. Something the establishment has failed to do for countless diabetics around the world. The carb up and shoot up method of diabetes control has proved to be a disaster, as evidenced by the annual NHS audited stats for diabetes. Absolutely no improvement year after year.

I have said in the past I have high regard for Steve and admire what he is doing, how could I not, I have worked for seven years to help diabetics by way of a low carb higher fat diet. We are on the same side. Not so long ago I learned about a Dr. Jason Fung, and was highly impressed with his videos, and posted them up on this blog and other internet sites. So much of what Jason was saying had been my and others diabetics experience. In short Jason was a new guru to me and the diabetics I work with. Jason fully and clearly articulated what we had been saying for years.

So why this post, what's the problem? I was astonished to read Steve's blog post ripping Jason to bits, and calling Jason a liar, a snake oil salesman and dangerous. Some words from Steve's site  posted here.  

"Summary

I will not even get into his other ridiculous claims except to just mention them here.

– Fung claims blood sugar control is useless

– Fung claims that insulin as a treatment is not only ineffective but harmful.

– Fung claiming he cures diabetes is a disgusting lie that causes harm in and of itself.

– Fung claims to reveal the ‘ancient secrets’ of low-carb and fasting… he’s a snake oil salesman.

Read “Fung I” for a full description of his lies and deceptions and why I say… he is harming people.

In closing, I have ‘bashed’ the ADA for promoting an A1c of 6.5 as being ‘good’ for diabetics. Many low carb / paleo / ancestral leaders have as well. Yet Fung gets a free pass.

I waited to post negatively about Fung, hoping others with MD, PhD or other credentials would do so… they have not.

If your mother, brother, sister or daughter was receiving such harmful advice from a ‘diabetes educator’ … we would all be ranting about the ridiculous advice. And I am now."

Let's look at the statements made by Steve. 

"Fung claims that insulin as a treatment is not only ineffective but harmful."

In the videos I have seen from Jason, he was referring to over weight type two diabetics, and I agree with Jason 100%. As Dr.Richard Bernstein has said, a heavily overweight type two can have up to the three times the plasma insulin levels as a slim non diabetic. Insulin resistance is the problem. It seems logical to me, injecting more Insulin will be counter productive, and only increase Insulin resistance, the last thing the average type 2 diabetic needs. Also it is an established medical fact, highly elevated blood insulin levels are toxic. The ACCORD study was wound up early, when it was discovered ramming down high blood glucose levels with insulin and combination of up to three type two medications, was killing too many people.

"Fung claims blood sugar control is useless"

That is totally and utterly misconstruing the context in what Jason has said. Jason uses a very simple analogy to explain the following. Giving pain killers to a person suffering from an infection may relieve the pain, but the root cause needs antibiotics to treat the condition effectively. High BG numbers are a symptom, high insulin resistance is the problem that must be dealt with. And the best way to address that problem for type two's, is a drastic change in diet. In my case for what it is worth, the correct diet took me from HbA1c of 12 to 5.5 in three months and a 50 lbs weight loss. Insulin and a bag of diabetes meds was the last thing that would have helped me, and the hundreds of type two diabetics I have come to know over the last seven years.

"Fung claims that insulin as a treatment is not only ineffective but harmful."

I think I have addressed that statement in the above.

" Fung claiming he cures diabetes is a disgusting lie that causes harm in and of itself."

Again I think Steve is being less than honest and unfair. I have never used the term cured, I prefer to use the term diabetes reversed. Just about everyone knows, should a very well controlled type two diabetic, go back to the high carb junk food diet, that contributed greatly to him becoming a type two, with high Insulin resistance, very often over weight etc (not all type two's are over weight) he can fully expect to go back to poor control of his diabetes.

I can see why some Doctors and other non medical people would use the term cured. I have come to know type two diabetics who were diagnosed 30 and as long as 40 years ago. The advice then (before big pharma heard the cash registers ringing) was a low carb diet. Those people are showing no obvious signs of diabetes complications and consider themselves cured, as long as they keep to the plan. 

Look at this analogy, an alcoholic is damaging his body and brain with excess booze. Alcoholism is said to be a disease, but if the alcoholic never drinks again, I reckon that is a cure. Obviously if he goes back on the booze his health will continue to go down hill. Pretty much the same for most type two diabetics wouldn't you say. 

"If your mother, brother, sister or daughter was receiving such harmful advice from a ‘diabetes educator’ … we would all be ranting about the ridiculous advice.   And I am now."

I have a type two diabetic son and a type two diabetic sister. Type two diabetes complications killed my Grandmother and Father. Oh that they would have been fortunate enough to have been treated by Dr. Jason Fung. No one is perfect, no one knows all the answers, but it is my total belief Jason has got it right, and his patients are fortunate to have such a forward thinking Doctor, who realises, chasing highly elevated blood glucose numbers, with ever more medication, will do them no favours whatsoever.

So, I am left with these thoughts. With all the low carb antis, big pharma shills and junk food pushers out there, why has Steve gone after one of the good guys. Is he looking to raise his profile by taking on Jason, has Steve lost his compass? Can he not see he is supplying ammo to the naysayers, and the real snake oil salesman, who have killed off millions, with their non effective medications, (some have killed people outright) and ludicrous dietary recommendations for diabetics.

Make up your own minds.

Eddie

Post edit.

After some exchange of views after this post was published on twitter, Steve clearly did not want to discuss the issues in a meaningful manner (twitter is no place for a full debate). Steve tweeted this. Looks likes end of conversation to me. My opinion counts for nothing, that's cool with me, but Steve's opinion is set in stone and clearly does not want his views being questioned.