Aseem Malhotra

Aseem Malhotra is a British cardiologist, health campaigner, and author, whose anti-COVID vaccine and anti-statin views have been criticised as misinformation by experts. He contends that people should reduce sugar in their diet, adopt a low-carb and high-fat diet, and reduce their use of prescription drugs. He was the first science director of Action on Sugar in 2014, was listed as one of ''The Sunday Times'' 500 most influential people in 2016, and was twice recognized as one of the top fifty black and minority ethnic community member pioneers in the UK's National Health Service by the ''Health Service Journal''. Malhotra is co-author of a book called ''The Pioppi Diet''.Mellor, Duane. (2017)
"Dietitians like me don't take the Pioppi Diet seriously"
. ''The Spectator''. Retrieved 2 December 2018.

His views on diet and health have been criticized by the British Heart Foundation as "misleading and wrong", and his public questioning of the need to ever use statins has been condemned as a danger to public health. His "Pioppi diet" was named by the British Dietetic Association as one of the "top 5 worst celeb diets to avoid in 2018".

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Malhotra published a book called ''The 21-Day Immunity Plan'', which claimed, without the backing of evidence from medical research, that following the diet can quickly help people reduce their risk from the virus. Despite initially campaigning for the COVID vaccine, he later campaigned against the use of COVID mRNA vaccines contrary to the available evidence.

Biography

Early influences

Malhotra was born in New Delhi in India in October 1977. He was the younger son of two doctors: Kailash Chand and Anisha Malhotra. The family moved to Britain in 1978 when his father had a clinical attachment at Alder Hey Hospital and was studying for a Diploma in Tropical Medicine at Liverpool University. Both parents became General Practitioners in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester. In 1988 Malhotra's brother Amit, who was two years older than Malhotra and had been born with Down's syndrome, died of heart failure aged thirteen. This inspired Malhotra with the ambition to become a cardiologist. Malhotra was educated at Manchester Grammar School.

Malhotra's father went on to become the first Asian to be elected as honorary vice-president and deputy chair of the council of the British Medical Association and received an O.B.E for long-standing service to the NHS. Malhotra's mother's religious faith was important to her and Malhotra observed that she fasted weekly by only consuming one meal on a fast day. He was quoted later as claiming his mother's vegetarian diet contributed to her 'premature and painful death' and said he hoped "we can learn that much of these ills are preventable."

Career

Malhotra studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh and graduated in 2001. He spent his foundation years as a doctor in Scotland, at Wishaw General Hospital then at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and finally at Liberton Hospital which specialises in care of the elderly. He completed his post-graduate medical diploma during two years working at the Manchester Royal Infirmary. He held specialist registrar positions at St James's University Hospital in Leeds and Blackpool Victoria Hospital.

Malhotra has held cardiology posts with the UK National Health Service as a cardiology specialist registrar at Harefield Hospital, at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead and as an Honorary Consultant Cardiologist at Frimley Park Hospital. and Lister Hospital in Stevenage. When Action on Sugar was founded in 2014, he became its first Science Director. He is a former Consultant Clinical Associate to the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges. In 2018 he was a visiting professor at Bahiana School of Medicine and Public Health, Salvador, Brazil. In 2015 he was appointed as a trustee of the King's Fund and was reappointed for a further three years in 2018.
In 2021, Malhotra was appointed chair of the scientific advisory committee of the small UK charity The Public Health Collaboration. On 20 Feb 2023, the Public Health Collaboration announced that Malhotra was no longer part of the organisation.

In January 2023, a group of doctors, including some General Practitioners, called on the General Medical Council to investigate Aseem Malhotra's fitness to practice due to what they claim is his ‘high-profile promotion of misinformation about Covid-19 mRNA vaccines’. On 2 June 2023, the doctors took the first formal step in legal proceedings against the GMC by sending them the formal pre-action protocol letter. This stated 'we are bringing this legal action because we believe that the GMC, as the official regulator of doctors’ professional standards, has a duty to act in this case.' On 15 February 2024 the GMC stated that it had identified an error in its decision making.

On 4 August 2023 Malhotra announced he had been appointed co-chair of the London division of the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO). Later the same day the announcement was removed from BAPIO's website.

Public health campaigns and misinformation

Reducing the consumption of sugar and junk foods

Malhotra campaigns about reducing the consumption of sugar and junk foods, particularly for children. Malhotra argues that it is unrealistic to expect individuals to avoid cheap, unhealthy, heavily marketed foods and that changes to regulation are needed. He draws analogies to the regulations on tobacco needed to reduce smoking. He believes that hospital vending machines which sell sweets or junk food sends the wrong message. At the time of the London Olympics in 2012, he criticized the choice of sponsors: writing that "In the context of an obesity epidemic I find it obscene that the Olympics chooses to associate itself with fast food, sugary drinks, chocolate and alcohol."

His campaigns on these topics have brought him recognition and accolades including as a children's food hero in 2013, one of the top 50 BME pioneers in the NHS in 2013, one of London's brightest stars working in Science and Technology in 2014, and one of the Times Top 500 most influential people in the UK in 2016.

Pioppi diet and low carb diet advocacy

In 2017, Malhotra co-authored the low-carb book ''The Pioppi Diet'', which provides a 21-day eating plan. Dietitians have described the Pioppi Diet as a low-carbohydrate fad diet.

The book recommends the daily consumption of two to four table spoons of extra-virgin olive oil, a small handful of tree nuts, five to seven portions of fibrous vegetables and low sugar fruits and oily fish at least three times a week. It advises people to avoid all added sugars, fruit juice, honey, and syrups, refined carbohydrates, anything flour based (including all bread, pastries, cakes, biscuits, muesli bars, packaged noodles, pasta, couscous and rice and seed oils). Very dark chocolate, butter, coconut oil, cheese, yoghurt are allowed. The moderate consumption of alcohol is allowed but only within the limits set by the NHS and a maximum of 500g of red meat per week is recommended in line with the recommendations of the World Cancer Research Fund. It promotes a higher fat intake with fewer carbs than the NHS reference intakes. The diet is called Pioppi after the Italian village recognized as the home of the Mediterranean diet. The authors use the lifestyles of residents of the town to explain the principles of a healthier lifestyle and the book also explains how policy changes are needed to change the obesogenic environment.

The Pioppi diet book has endorsements from then Member of Parliament (MP) Andy Burnham and Dame Sue Bailey, Chair of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges. Keith Vaz, who was the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on diabetes, promoted it to fellow MPs and then MP and Labour Deputy Leader, Tom Watson.

The British Nutrition Foundation's response to the Pioppi diet explained that there is no single definition of the Mediterranean diet."BNF response to the Pioppi diet"
. British Nutrition Foundation. Retrieved 28 November 2018. However they identified that the advice in the Pioppi diet to cut out starchy carbohydrates is not consistent with an actual Mediterranean diet which would include bread, pasta and rice. In addition, Mediterranean diets are normally low in saturated fat which is contrary to the advice in the book that people can eat as much saturated fat as they like. Rosemary Stanton also says that in most traditional Mediterranean diets, bread would be a part of every meal.

The Pioppi diet was listed as one of the "top 5 worst celeb diets to avoid in 2018" by the British Dietetic Association. According to the BDA and others, it is a new spin on a low-carb high-fat diet that "hijacked" the term Mediterranean diet (e.g. substituting cauliflower for rice or pizza base and cooking with coconut oil are not parts of the traditional diet of the villagers of Pioppi).

Saturated fat, cholesterol and statins

The UK National Health Service website states that: "Too much fat in your diet, especially saturated fats, can raise your cholesterol, which increases the risk of heart disease". This advice is part of the scientific consensus on saturated fat shared with the World Health Organization and the health authorities of many other nations.

Current guidelines for doctors from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence for reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease include giving advice on lifestyle changes before prescribing statins. Such advice includes: eating a healthy diet, exercising, stopping smoking, limiting alcohol and maintaining a healthy weight. The Director of the Centre for Guidelines at NICE

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