Seven’s “Sunday Night” Blasted and it is Almost Time for Round Two.

It seems that barely a week goes by nowadays without some self-labelled expert coming out of the woodwork to tell us how to live our lives. Of late, diets have taken a central role in this. 

Every time we open a magazine or switch on the television, there’s someone madly prophesying that this diet will solve all the world’s health problems. Where others have failed, they claim, this diet will succeed. These diets become the buzzwords of switched on folk the world over. We all want to know how to get healthy, and live healthy, the right way.

In the last few years, paleo has been the word on everyone’s lips, and in Australia Pete Evans has been at the forefront. Most recently we saw him on Sunday Night where he had challenged fellow television face Mike Willesee to try the ‘Paleo Way’.

Like all diets, paleo appears very different to outsiders. There are some aspects of it that the folks at SAHM heartily agree with. It has a strong focus on fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as lean meats, and it encourages less sugars and processed foods. But it also dictates that paleo followers avoid eating legumes, starches, grains and dairy. These are big parts of the food pyramid, and certainly they shouldn’t be cut out on a whim. So, we were interested to watch the Sunday Night segment, in particular to see how ‘paleo evangelist’ Pete Evans responded to the criticism that saw his co-authored cookbook pulled from print publication at the last minute.

Unfortunately, we left our couches disappointed.

Fast forward a week and it is time for round two. The promo for tonight’s episode of Sunday Night has us living in hope for a few more questions and some true science based evidence, but only time will tell.

Paleo Criticism

In particular we, along with many others, are talking about the controversial bone broth formula for babies. In his co-authored cookbook Bubba Yum Yum, which is targeted at mums, babies and toddlers, Evans states that the recipe is the ‘second best thing’ to breast milk and could be used as the sole form of nutrition if women aren’t able to breastfeed and don’t want to use formula. However, the Dietitians Association of Australia has warned that the recipe contains wildly high levels of vitamin A (around 800% higher than recommended) and this could easily harm or even kill a child under 6 months.

With such negative reporting, we expected the Sunday Night segment to at least delve into the backstory. Instead, we got marshmallow platitudes. Evans claimed his publisher was nervous about negative publicity from some recipes in the book, and that despite the critics the book was due to be published at years end (although by who are aren’t sure). Instead of standing up for the recipe, or even explaining in-depth why it might be inappropriate for babies under 6 months, he deflected. He noted that it had appeared in a similar form in another publication in the United States for 20 years, and during that time no cases had been reported with issues relating to the bone broth as formula.

Will tonight episode answer further questions?

The Dietitians Association of Australia has submitted a complaint against last Sunday’s programme, arguing that the segment was blatant promotion. In return Sunday Night argued that the segment was a part of a series, and shouldn’t be taken as investigative journalism, but rather as a kind of road test for the paleo diet.

“This one-sided piece seemed to be a blatant promotion of the personal dietary views of one of the network’s prime time stars. The DAA has written a letter of complaint to Sunday Night … The book [co-written by Evans] promoted the broth to zero to six-year-olds as the sole source of nutrition, along with saying it was the next best thing to breast milk, and the broth formula has never been tested, which is a requirement for all infant formula. The vitamin A content was 800 per cent higher than recommended and that could kill a child.”

All we have to say is when you give someone with radical views a platform, you have to be prepared for what comes with it.