Uh oh…
My Kitchen Rules star Pete Evans has angered health professionals everywhere after advising a woman suffering from osteoporosis to remove all dairy and eat “the paleo way.”
During a Facebook Q&A, a follower asked the celebrity chef if he had any advice to give her after she was diagnosed with the medical condition that causes brittle bones as a result from a calcium deficiency.
Pete responded to her and his 1.5 million followers, advising: “I would strongly suggest removing dairy and eating the Paleo way as calcium from dairy can remove the calcium from your bones.”
As his suggestion went against standard medical advice, the woman, clearly sceptical, suggested that she would need to do some more investigating before taking his claim on board.
“I’m obviously going to need to read some more about this,” she wrote in response.
“Read one of my comments below on calcium,” Pete replied adding a link to his website. “Most doctors do not know this information.”
Watch the chef discuss the Paleo backlash in the video player below! Post continues…
Since pressing enter on his controversial guidance, health experts everywhere have taken to social media in a bid to discourage fans from listening to the cook’s dietary advice.
“He shouldn’t be saying these things. It’s really bad and just not true,” said Professor Peter Ebeling, Endocrinologist and medical director of Osteoporosis Australia.
“The keystone to preventing osteoporosis is adequate calcium intake and this is achieved by three (daily) serves of calcium-rich foods like dairy.
“Dairy is the most easily available source and has the highest calcium content in it,” the medical expert said to The Daily Telegraph.
A second medical professional, Queensland obstetrician and gynaecologist Brad Robinson, addressed an open letter to Pete.
“Dear Pete Evans, I presume you have forgotten (silly you!) so please allow me to remind you,” he began.
“You are a chef, NOT a doctor. Further, you are not someone who magically knows things that the sum total of generations of medical research has determined. You do not have access to information that we uneducated doctors do not.”
The Brisbane-based specialist went on: “Your astounding advice about osteoporosis would be amusing if it wasn’t so potentially damaging to anyone at risk who actually believed you.”
“Can we make a deal? You don’t give medical advice and I won’t tell you how to best shuck oysters. Agreed?”
Dr Brad Robinson’s comment has since been liked over 12,000 times.
This instance isn’t the first time the father-of-two has come under fire for providing questionable advice to his immense following.
Earlier in July he angered cancer research experts after advising fans to spend time in the sun without the use of sun protection.
When asked by a fan on his Facebook page what sunscreen he prefers, Pete replied admitting that he wears “generally nothing” and that those who do slip slop slap are simply covering “themselves in poisonous chemicals.”
Click here to get the full story on Pete’s questionable sun safety advice.