Keto diet documentary on Netflix sparks controversy with wild claims

A celebrity chef’s documentary has come under fire for its claims, including one woman's suggestion that her cancerous tumour 'shrunk' after she went on the ketogenic diet.

The high-fat, low-carb diet encourages people to eliminate processed foods, grains and legumes, and “embrace healthy fats” like olive oil, avocados, meats and eggs.

Pete Evans came out to defend himself after the Australian Medical Association (AMA) demanded Netflix pull the documentary, called 'The Magic Pill', on the grounds that the “risk of misinformation is too great”, after it was picked up for its content lists.

Australian presenter Sarah Harris of The Sunday Project blasted the chef on her show. She said:

Stop getting medical advice from celebrity chefs.

Her co-presenter, Tommy Little added:

What I love about Pete Evans’ diet is he says it’s for other species; this is what they do so we should do that, but I don’t reckon other species are that into fake tan and tenth whitening. He’s orange.

The documentary first appeared on Netflix last year, and a new AMA president, Dr Tony Bartone said he was worried “vulnerable members of society” might believe it over health professionals.

He told Fairfax:

All forms of media have to take a responsible attitude when trying to spread a message of wellness.

Netflix should do the responsible thing. They shouldn’t screen it. The risk of misinformation…is too great.

In the documentary, one woman claims her “tumour started shrinking” on the diet, a diabetic woman said she had been off her insulin for ten days following the diet, and a mother of an epileptic child said her daughter stopped having seizures after the diet.

Evans hit back at the criticism in Instagram posts.

He wrote:

Does the head of the AMA believe that eating vegetables and fruit with a side of well sourced meat/seafood/eggs to be a dangerous way of life? If so can they please share the evidence that this way of eating is detrimental to the health of human beings. 

Perhaps the bigger question to ask would be, 'is the head of the AMA fearful of people in Australia becoming healthy? What would this mean to their industry?' 

He added that the “mainstream media” is “personally attacking” him.

A personal attack instead of having an intelligent discussion about how this simple approach may benefit the population. 

Thanks again for helping to spread the word about our life changing documentary 'The Magic Pill' that will not be removed from Netflix. And yes I got my teeth whitened about 7 years ago 

so at least they got that right. I will post a nude photo later today showing my real appreciation of the sun where you can see my tan lines. Surfing has been known to create an all year round tan.

Netflix declined to clarify to indy100 whether they would be removing the documentary, but told BuzzFeed News:

H/T News.co.au

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