Tim Noakes is currently getting a lot of attention in South Africa for his pro stance on the low-carb/high-fat (LCHF) diet, which the South African media is calling the "Tim Noakes diet". He's receiving lots and lots of praise for the life changing results people are seeing after switching to a LCHF diet, with reports of people effortlessly losing shed loads of weight but more importantly "curing" themselves of things like type-2 diabetes and high blood pressure. Of course he's also getting a lot of stick from medical professionals who are still abiding by "conventional wisdom" and calling his "diet" and his promotion of it reckless.

Not being one to shy away from a matter close to his heart which his research has or is proving to be right, he's thrown a cat among the pigeons in a letter to the Cape Times in which he makes the very bold statement...

The theory that blood cholesterol and a high-fat diet are the exclusive causes of heart disease will, in my opinion, prove to be, like the miasma theory, one of the greatest errors in the history of medicine.

It is time to admit that the theory has failed. We need to adopt an open mind if we are ever to discover the real cause(s) of the global epidemic of obesity, diabetes and coronary heart disease.
— Heart disease theory an error - Noakes - IOL Lifestyle | IOL.co.za

Have a read of the letter. Looks like we're in for a very entertaining debate over the next few years which has the potential to turn into a miraculous U-turn in dietary advice.

I'm all for the LCHF diet and have been following it for about 6 months and am currently experiencing the best health of my life with the my running performance back up to levels last seen when I was 19 years old.