HoldsUp

David Unwin

National Health Service (NHS)

David Unwin is a general practitioner working within the National Health Service (NHS). His work focuses on metabolic health and the management and remission of type 2 diabetes through dietary interventions. His published research investigates the clinical applications and safety of ketogenic and low-carbohydrate diets, intermittent fasting, insulin resistance, and their effects on obesity, hypertension, and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

52 claims checked on air: 3 context 1 overstated 30 supported 18 unverified 1 flagged

What they said on air - citing their own research

3 citing their own research

0:13:30supportedvery lowtheir own paperFatty Liver Expert: The Toxic Ingredient Silently Filling Yo

In Dr. David Unwin's practice cohort, patients with early-stage type 2 diabetes achieved a 73% remission rate on a low-carbohydrate diet, which dropped to 50% if the condition had persisted for 5 years.

"At that point, if I can get you early, I've got a 73% chance of you having a normal blood sugar. Let's wait another few years because you don't want to give up bread and you don't want to give up chips and pizza. Fair enough, I'll wait. But, you know, if we wait 5 years, you only stand a 50% chance." (said at 0:13:30)

In an 8-year service evaluation of Dr. David Unwin's general practice cohort (Norwood Surgery, n=186) utilizing a lower-carbohydrate diet, drug-free type 2 diabetes remission was achieved in 77% of patients with disease duration under 1 year, and overall remission across the whole cohort was 51% (with remission rates progressively declining with longer disease duration, reaching 20% after 15 years). Because this evidence comes from an uncontrolled, observational general practice service evaluation/cohort of self-selected patients, the GRADE certainty for this finding is very low.

0:44:10supportedmoderatetheir own paperFatty Liver Expert: The Toxic Ingredient Silently Filling Yo

A 150-gram serving of boiled white rice has a glycemic load equivalent to 10 four-gram teaspoons of sugar.

"This is 150 grams of boiled rice. Three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and 10. So, that's the winner." (said at 0:44:10)

Dr. David Unwin and colleagues developed communication infographics (published in clinical diabetes literature and endorsed by organizations like NICE in educational contexts) translating the glycemic load (GL) of carbohydrate foods into equivalent 4 g teaspoons of table sugar (sucrose) based on relative glycemic response / glucose equivalents. Under standard glycemic index (GI) and glycemic load calculations, a 150 g portion of boiled white rice contains approximately 42–45 g of available carbohydrate with a GI around 70–73, resulting in a glycemic load of ~30–33 g glucose equivalents. Because 1 g of table sugar (sucrose, GI ~65) has a glycemic impact lower than pure glucose, 10 four-gram teaspoons of table sugar (40 g sucrose, GL ~26–28) or ~8–10 teaspoons produces an equivalent blood glucose response to 150 g of boiled white rice in clinical educational models.

1:31:00needs contextvery lowtheir own paperFatty Liver Expert: The Toxic Ingredient Silently Filling Yo

Dr. David Unwin has achieved drug-free type 2 diabetes remission in 157 patients in his clinical practice.

"One of my patients with type 2 diabetes, we got drug-free remission. Hooray! I've done that now 157 times." (said at 1:31:00)

Dr. David Unwin has published serial audit data from his UK general practice (Norwood Surgery) evaluating a low-carbohydrate dietary approach for type 2 diabetes. In an 8-year service evaluation published in 2023 (PMID 37559961), 51% of 186 participating patients (approximately 95 patients) achieved drug-free diabetes remission, up from 46% of 128 patients (~59 patients) in an earlier 6-year audit (PMID 33521540). The figure of 157 remissions reflects an updated clinic total as his ongoing practice audit continued beyond the published 2021 study cutoff. Because these findings come from an uncontrolled, self-selected general practice service evaluation rather than a randomized trial, the certainty of evidence for the intervention's broad efficacy is very low, though it accurately documents his clinic's ongoing real-world experience.

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