Tim Noakes attracts another backhanded compliment

By Alec Hogg

I enjoyed meeting Derek Yach yesterday. A South African who has risen to pre-eminence in the global medical field, he now runs Discovery's ambitious Vitality Institute in New York. Our CNBC Africa interview was fascinating, including disclosures of how he helped his former employer, PepsiCo, remove mountains of sugar from its products. Confirmation the newly dubbed "white poison" is under attack everywhere. Not great news for shareholders of JSE-listed Tongaat and Illovo.

What surprise me, though, was Yach's dismissal of Prof Tim Noakes's increasingly popular "Banting" diet. Especially as both are closely aligned with Discovery. Yach gave Noakes a backhanded compliment, describing him as a great sports scientist but no nutritionist. Noakes could have done with some support yesterday after colleagues at UCT  branded his diet a danger to society in a letter to the Cape Times.

Not sure how Tim is taking all this, but whatever the establishment may think, he's certainly hit a chord with the public – and politicians who've asked him to make a presentation to Parliament. Noakes's book is permanently sold out with each new pressing by his small publishing firm flying off the shelves in days. And as you can see from yesterday's top stories (below) Noakes is extremely popular among the Biznews community. Perhaps it's because his easy to understand theories about diet is so rational. And, more importantly, it actually works.

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