Тим Ноакс: Оңтүстік Африкалық спорт ғылымының зерттеушісі және диетологиядағы жаңа көзқарас

South African sports researcher

Timothy David Noakes (born 1949) is a South African scientist, and an emeritus professor in the Division of Exercise Science and Sports Medicine at the University of Cape Town. He has run more than 70 marathons and ultramarathons, and is the author of several books on exercise and diet. He is known for his work in sports science and for his support of a low carbohydrate, high fat (LCHF, Banting) diet, as set out in his books The Real Meal Revolution and Lore of Nutrition: Challenging Conventional Dietary Beliefs.

Noakes was born in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia (today Harare, Zimbabwe) in 1949 as the son of a third generation tobacco exporter and moved to South Africa at the age of five. As a young boy his main sporting interest was cricket. Noakes attended boarding school at Monterey Preparatory School in Constantia, Cape Town. He has earned an MBChB (1974), MD (1981), and DSc (Med) (2002).

In 1980 Noakes was tasked to start a sports science course at the University of Cape Town. Noakes went on to head the Medical Research Council funded Bioenergetics of Exercise Research Unit, which was later changed to the MRC/UCT Research Unit for Exercise Science and Sports Medicine. In the early 1990s Noakes co founded the Sports Science Institute of South Africa, with former South African rugby player Morne du Plessis. He is a leading researcher on the condition now known as exercise associated hyponatremia (EAH). He first recognised this condition in a female runner during the 1984 Comrades Marathon, and published his findings in 1985 in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. Noakes wrote the consensus statement for the 1st International Exercise Associated Hyponatremia Consensus Development Conference in Cape Town in May 2005. In 1996 Noakes published his theory of the "central governor". Noakes served on the selection panel for the International Olympic Committee’s Science Prize between 1995 and 2002. In 2007, Noakes was the expedition doctor for Pugh's one kilometre swim at the Geographic North Pole.

Noakes has characterised mainstream dietary advice, which emphasizes carbohydrate consumption, as "genocide", and instead advocates a low carbohydrate, high fat (LCHF) diet — a variation of the low carbohydrate diet — often referred to in South Africa as the "Noakes Diet" (or, less commonly, the "Banting" diet). Noakes founded the Noakes Foundation in 2012 to help promote the diet, which is described in detail in Noakes's 2014 book The Real Meal Revolution. Noakes' father died from diabetes. Despite following his diet, Noakes's fasting glucose levels barely budged, and he started taking the diabetes management drug metformin and dietary supplements to control the condition. He now describes himself as "cured" as long as he follows this regimen. Registered dietician Megan Pentz Kluyts said that omitting food groups, as Noakes's diet does, is the hallmark of fad diets not backed up by scientific evidence. After members of the Parliament of South Africa expressed support for his diet, fellow faculty members at the University of Cape Town accused him of making “outrageous, unproven claims about disease prevention” in an open letter they sent to the Cape Times. Wim de Villiers, dean of the faculty, accused Noakes of having no real scientific evidence to back up his assertions. In February 2014 a registered dietician complained to the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) that Noakes tweeted to a mother that she should wean her baby onto low carbohydrate, high fat foods, which he described as real foods. The HPCSA held a hearing about the allegation against Noakes over the next few years. Controversially, on 28 October 2016, the HPSCA incorrectly released a statement announcing that Noakes had been found guilty of misconduct, namely "giving unconventional advice over social media". In a second press release issued over three hours later, the HPSCA apologised for the mistake. Noakes was cleared of misconduct in April 2017. The HPSCA lost its appeal in June 2018 and the appeal committee dismissed the HPSCA's case by unanimous decision. Noakes commented: "Acquitted on all counts, twice, by two different judging panels". to which Noakes responded. Clinical dietitian Ingrid Schloss, citing a 2018 study, pointed out that no significant differences were found between low fat and low carb diets, and suggested that instead of the "fundamentalism" of the Noakes diet, people should be encouraged to reduce added sugar and refined grains; choose more whole foods, and include a wide variety of vegetables.

In August 2014, Noakes tweeted: "Dishonest science. Proven link between autism and early immunisation covered up?". Eduard Grebe, an epidemiologist and infectious disease specialist, has written that Noakes had "a long history of making misleading and false claims", including support for the false claim that MMR vaccines can cause autism and claiming that hydroxychloroquine was an effective treatment for COVID 19.

In 1996 he was honoured by the American College of Sports Medicine when he was asked to present the J. B. Wolfe Memorial Lecture, the college's keynote address at its annual meeting. In 2002 he was awarded a Doctorate in Science (DSc). In 2002 Noakes was awarded the International Cannes Grand Prix Award for Research in Medicine and Water, for his work on Exercise associated hyponatremia (EAH). In 2004 Runner's World (USA) included this work as one of the 40 most important "persons or events" in the sport of running in the past 40 years. In 2008 he was elected an honorary fellow of the Faculty of Sports and Exercise Medicine (UK), the first foreigner to be so recognised. In that year he also received the Order of Mapungubwe (Silver), from the President of South Africa for his "excellent contribution in the field of sports and the science of physical exercise". In 2011 Noakes was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands. In 2012 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from South Africa's National Research Foundation for his contribution to sports science research. In 2014 the Southern Africa Association for the Advancement of Science (S2A3) awarded Noakes their prestigious South Africa Medal (gold) for his outstanding contributions to sport physiology.