SA experts reluctant to testify on Banting 'science' for Noakes - lawyer

There has been a reluctance by experts to testify in support of Professor Tim Noakes.

The champion of the Banting diet is appearing before a professional conduct hearing of the Health Professions Council.

He has been accused by the Association for Dietetics in South Africa of giving ''unconventional advice'' on social media when he suggested a baby be weaned on a high fat‚ low carbohydrate diet.

Today his counsel‚ Advocate Michael van der Nest‚ made submissions for experts from New Zealand and Canada to testify - in support of Noakes - via live video streaming.

Noakes cannot afford to fly these experts to South Africa.

But Advocate Meshack Mapholisa‚ acting for the council‚ has opposed the request saying this has never been done before. He conceded that there were no written regulations prohibiting such testimony‚ but said there could be a variety of interruptions including load shedding and technical problems.

Mapholisa was also concerned that an expert could be ''assisted'' by someone while giving testimony.

The committee is to make a decision on this and adjourned the hearing.

During a press conference Noakes' lawyer‚ Adam Pike‚ said it was not easy to find local experts.

"When we started fishing around for experts to assist‚ there was not a refusal but a reluctance to step into this arena because obviously one wouldn't want to open oneself up to a similar charge of providing unconventional advice and be seen doing that‚'' said Pike.

"This is a great testing ground to ventilate the science‚ talk about the issues and actually just have a debate.''

Dietician Caryn Zinn‚ who studied at the University of Cape Town‚ is now working in New Zealand. She is one of Noakes' supporters and has been prescribing a low carbohydrate‚ high fat diet for a few years.

Noakes said she had treated ''hundreds and thousands of patients''.

But she claims there had been several attempts to ''silence'' her from New Zealand and Australian bodies.