The two co-authors of Pete Evans’ controversial Paleo diet baby recipe book say they are “really confident” about the celebrity chef’s decision to self-publish despite major health warnings.
Baby recipe blogger Charlotte Carr and naturopath Helen Padarin spoke out on Seven Network’s The Morning Show today about changes they had made to the cookbook since publisher Pan Macmillan dumped it last month.
A DIY baby formula recipe – which caused national outcry after health authorities warned it could be fatal to small babies – has been rebranded a “Happy Tummy Brew” and the recipe altered to include more vitamin C and increased calcium intake.
The network’s MKR host Pete Evans – the third co-author, and new publisher – was missing from this morning’s interview.
“We’ve taken all of the [health] information on board and applied it to the book,” said Carr.
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“We’re really confident that the information we’ve got in the book is very good information,” added Padarin.
“It is a recipe book, it’s not a way of treatment or medicine.”
The Weekly understands the DIY baby formula recipe has also been moved up to the older six to 12 month section. Carr acknowledged it did not meet the strict health criteria to be classified as an infant formula and was in fact a “drink”.
Questions still remain over its potentially excessive vitamin A content. High doses of vitamin A can cause health problems and in some cases can even be fatal.
“We had just taken the recipe and put it in [the book] and it needed more details,” says Carr about the “Happy Tummy Brew”, which is based on a homemade formula recipe by a US alternative health organisation called Weston A Price.
“It was called a formula and by definition it’s not a formula – it’s a drink – so we’ve changed [the name] and made it really clear about when it should be implemented in the child’s diet so it’s really safe.”
MKR co-host and celebrity chef Pete Evans will be publishing the book after it was dumped by Pan Macmillan
The book was dropped by publisher Pan MacMillan following intervention from the Federal Department of Health, the Public Health Association of Australia, and other health organisations, such as the Dieticians Association of Australia.
“In my view, there’s a very real possibility that a baby may die if this book goes ahead,” Professor Heather Yeatman, president of the Public Health Association of Australia, told The Weekly Online last month.
Her comment was based on the inclusion of the DIY formula recipe as an alternative to breastmilk or commercial formula.
Mainstream health experts also had concerns about recipes in Bubba Yum Yum: The Paleo Way containing runny egg, which is not recommended for young babies as it’s a salmonella risk, and honey, which carries a risk of botulism. Added salt was another concern, as babies’ kidneys can’t process salt like adults can.
Evans will be publishing a printed version of the book later in the year, which will be released as an ebook this month, the co-authors said.
Carr and Padarin also claim it was an “agreement” between “both parties” to walk away from publishing the book as Pan Macmillan wanted to put the book on shelves later in the year, while they wanted to publish it sooner.
However, preview copies of the book had already been sent to media and it was originally due to be published last month.
A spokeswoman for Pan Macmillan Australia told The Weekly Online, “by mutual consent all publishing rights in the title Bubba Yum Yum have been relinquished and returned to the authors Peter Evans, Helen Padarin and Charlotte Carr.”
Sources say Pan Macmillan decided to pulp the book after potential risks to babies were put on public record.
Carr claims the book has sold 10,000 pre-orders, which if true would already make it a best-seller in the Australian book charts.
Click here to watch the full interview
