South African medical practitioners have no fixed social media guidelines, Professor Tim Noakes’ legal team said at a hearing into his conduct on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
But, said part-time bioethicist Professor Willie Pienaar, this did not make it sound practice to offer advice via Twitter.<\/p>\n
Noakes – whose book The Real Meal Revolution<\/em> promotes a low-carbohydrate, high-fat (LCHF) diet – was called before the council after a complaint was lodged by the former president of the Association for Dietetics in SA, Claire Julsing-Strydom.<\/p>\n The complaint was prompted by a tweet Noakes sent to a Pippa Leenstra after she asked him for advice on feeding babies and on breastfeeding.<\/p>\n Her tweet read: “@ProfTimNoakes @SalCreed is LCHF eating ok for breastfeeding mums? Worried about all the dairy + cauliflower = wind for babies?? [sic]”<\/p>\n Noakes advised her to wean her child onto LCHF foods, which he described as “real” foods.<\/p>\n His tweet read: “Baby doesn’t eat the dairy and cauliflower. Just very healthy high fat breast milk. Key is to ween [sic] baby onto LCHF.”<\/p>\n He is accused of giving unconventional and unscientific advice, and of unprofessional conduct for dispensing the advice via social media.<\/p>\n According to witnesses called by the HPCSA, a consultation was required before any diagnosis could me made or advice given.<\/p>\n Pienaar argued that other Twitter users may see the information and consider it a “one-size-fits-all” solution.<\/p>\n “Social media is open, that is why we cannot allow this,” he said.<\/p>\n “[Leenstra] could have acted on it.”<\/p>\n Pienaar, who said he was neutral in the argument on whether an LCHF diet was healthy, described Leenstra’s decision not to implement the advice given by Noakes as “wise”.<\/p>\n This, Michael Van der Nest SC for Noakes argued, showed Pienaar’s bias.<\/p>\n “I do think your petticoat did show. You are not an expert witness and should be completely neutral,” he said,<\/p>\n Pienaar backtracked, saying Leenstra “took an autonomous decision to not take it”.<\/p>\n “I am not a scientific expert but just as a clinician, I am still of the opinion that the dietary needs of a baby is specialised information,” Pienaar insisted.<\/p>\n Van der Nest further quoted an article published on Netwerk24, in which Leenstra told the publication that she “doesn\u2019t give a damn” about the hearing.<\/p>\n She declined to give evidence to both parties when approached, Van der Nest read.<\/p>\n “I just laughed when he said [the baby] should start banting,” he translated from the article.<\/p>\n Leenstra had further said she had the common sense not to follow the advice, pointing out that her tweet had just been an innocent question.<\/p>\n The hearing continues.<\/p>\n Tim Noakes told he can\u2019t use social media to advise patients<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Tim Noakes\u2019 dietary advice deemed \u2018irresponsible\u2019<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\nNews24<\/h3>\n
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