Can keto help treat cancer? Ivor Cummins defending sound science on Primetime

March 15 2018 by in Bad science, Cancer, Ivor Cummins, Keto, Science & health

Can a keto diet help treat obesity, diabetes… and possibly have an effect on cancer? Here’s an interesting new clip that is – deservedly so – quite critical of unproven nutrition advice for serious diseases like cancer.

Ivor Cummins does a great job of standing up for sound science, acknowledging that cancer research using keto is still ongoing with no definite answers, while there is good support for its use in many other conditions.

The Fat Emperor: Ivor Cummins Fat Emperor on RTE’s main current affairs program – Primetime

Cummins’ opponent Mike Gibney seems to be stuck in the failed calorie paradigm of yesterday, sticking hard to the party line of “a calorie is a calorie”. This is the junk food industry’s dream, that is being increasingly questioned today. It does seem to be a major oversimplification. Different calories have different effects on the body, including for weight regulation.

Whatever the calories say, a donut is not the same thing as a steak.

Conflicts of interest

Interestingly, Mike Gibney is a apparently quite used to working for the processed food industry. Some of his conflicts of interest (not mentioned in the program) can be found below, including work for the Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and McDonald’s-funded International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI).

Calories vs. hormonal regulation

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Why is counting calories useless? And what should you do instead to lose weight?
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Why do we get fat – and what can we do about it? Gary Taubes at Low Carb USA 2016.
Do you have to count calories to lose weight?
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Do you have to count calories to lose weight? Dr. Jason Fung explains why you don't.
Diet Doctor podcast #14 with Dr. Robert Lustig
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The debate wages. Is a calorie just a calorie? Or is there something specifically dangerous about fructose and carbohydrate calories? That's where Dr. Robert Lustig comes in.
Diet Doctor Podcast #29 – Dr. Spencer Nadolsky
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Dr. Spencer Nadolsky is a bit of an anomaly as he openly wants to explore low carb nutrition, low fat nutrition, multiple forms of exercise, and use it all to help his individual patients.
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To lose weight, you just eat fewer calories than you burn. Is it really that simple? Top low-carb doctors answer.
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Although more people are trying to lose weight, few people are succeeding. Why? Is it possible that the medical community has basic concepts about obesity wrong?

Ivor Cummins

Earlier

New keto book: Eat Rich, Live Long

Ivor Cummins on heart disease, LDL and insulin resistance

9 comments

1
susan
March 15 2018
Can you believe it...so what’s happened in those thirty years? Diabetes and obesity epidemics!
2
Carol
March 15 2018
Good interview Ivor. You held your line very intelligently and brought the discussion back to the # 1 fixable elephant (health disaster) which is ......first fix the derangement of type 2 DM and obesity .... and many other health problems will be prevented.
3
Joann Dixon
March 16 2018
Glad that guy is not my doctor. His views are exactly why people have such a hard time losing weight. I can't wait until the long term studies are completed and when Ivor presents sound science, it will be heard by docs like this!

Reply: #9
4
ivor cummins
March 16 2018
Guys - please note that Mike Gibney is NOT A DOCTOR - he is an agriculture/nutritionist person - thanks for comments though !

Best

Ivor
5
Jean
March 18 2018
It continues to amaze me how wrong so many so called experts can be and how arrogant and self assured they are about their dangerous advice. It also continues to amaze me how clear headed and calm Ivor and others remain in the face of such ignorance. I will be forever grateful for having found the low carb community.
6
Pam
March 19 2018
Thank you Ivor, you did an excellent job with the opportunity you had! But so frustrating not to get to rebut what Gibney said b/c your comment was redirected by a different question from the interviewer.
1 comment removed
8
POPT
May 13 2018
Ivor came across as a complete fool in that clip. He appeared to know little about the subject matter and is clearly too used to talking to low carbers who won't question his claims.
How you can chalk this off as a victory is beyond anyone with half a brain cell.
If you want more people to go low carb stop acting like school children, stop misleading people and be more honest.
9
Reply to comment #3 by Joann Dixon
Peter Phelps
May 14 2018
Sadly Ivor does not come across well in interviews and time pressured presentations where he does not have the time to get complex arguments across succinctly. The quality of his research and his longer presentations are a whole different matter and if you have the time, go look at some of his longer presentations. Quite frankly, I would listen to what Ivor has to say on many medical issues over my doctor.
10
KB
December 31 2018
I think Ivor did well under the circumstances. I thought Gibney's answers were trite and very general. When he wasn't being interrupted by Gibney or the interviewer, Ivor backed his answers with solid examples. I thought it was a shame that cancer was used as a big red herring and wasted much of the interview time.