Cape Town - Professor Tim Noakes is flying in an international team of expert witnesses to defend him at the HPCSA inquiry into his professional conduct this week.
Noakes dubbed his team of three female expert witnesses “#Charlie’sDietAngels”, but his supporters call them “Tim’s Angels”.
The three women are international experts on the low-carb high-fat (LCHF) diet, and have all written books on the topic.
The Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) inquiry into Professor Tim Noakes’ professional conduct resumed on Monday after a seven-month break.
Noakes asked for three hours to finish presenting evidence to the committee, chaired by Advocate Joan Adams. Instead, the first half of the day was taken up by an argument between the legal teams on whether Tim’s Angels should be allowed to take the stand.
The “Angels” are Dr Caryn Zinn, a dietician from New Zealand and author of What the Fat; Dr Zoe Harcombe from the UK, whose PhD thesis will be used to bolster Noakes’ case; and Nina Teicholz, a science journalist from New York and author of The Big Fat Surprise.
The three witnesses were not present on Monday, as they were still en route to South Africa, but their participation was already meeting with resistance.
Doctor-turned-advocate Ajay Bhoopchand is representing the HPCSA. He said that Noakes’ team had not given due notice that they would be calling new expert witnesses.
Bhoopchand pointed out that Teicholz is not a medical professional, but an investigative journalist. “This is a lay publication,” he said of her book.
Bhoopchand also argued that the evidence about the low-carb high-fat diet was not relevant to assessing Noakes’ professional conduct.
Noakes’ advocate Michael van der Nest SC disagreed, saying that part of the charge against Noakes was that his tweeted advice was not evidence-based, and was potentially or actually harmful. Therefore, in order to defend his client, he needed to prove that the LCHF advice was in fact based in substantial evidence, and is not harmful.
“He did not ask to be prosecuted,” Van der Nest said. “He did not ask to spend from 2014 to 2016 under a professional cloud, spending a fortune on experts, spending a life under stress.”
Noakes was reported to the HPCSA in February 2014 for responding to a tweet from a breastfeeding mother by advising her to wean her child on to a low-carb high-fat diet - meat and veg.
The tweet read: “Baby doesn’t eat the dairy and cauliflower. Just very healthy high fat breast milk. Key is to ween baby onto LCHF”.
Claire Julsing Strydom, former head of the Association for Dietetics in South Africa (ADSA), responded to Noakes’ tweets saying he had gone too far, and reported him to the HPCSA.
“I AM HORRIFIED!! HOW CAN YOU GIVE ADVICE LIKE THIS??” Julsing Strydom tweeted, all in capital letters.
The hearings commenced in June last year, and are expected to be concluded at the end of the next eight days of sittings.
Cape Argus