“Carnivore causes diabetes” (and the HbA1c sleight of hand) | What the Fitness | Biolayne

Norton uses these cases as a cautionary tale, emphasizing that no one wishes them harm, but the pattern is undeniable. He points out that within the carnivore community, people who report heart attacks or other health crises are often blackballed and told they must have eaten seed oils or are experiencing oxalate dumping. The fact that people who built their entire career on carnivore are now walking away shows how frightening their own lab results must be. He notes that Dr. Kilts also reported acute colitis — inflammation of the colon — which Norton finds unsurprising on a zero‑fiber diet. The broader argument is that the carnivore echo chamber systematically dismisses genuine health warnings.

Norton walks through the physiology: HbA1c reflects glycosylation of hemoglobin over the RBC’s lifespan. Red blood cells completely turn over in 90–120 days; even in the most extreme case, the entire population is replaced within about five months. He grants, for argument’s sake, that healthy RBCs might live two months longer than ‘putrid’ ones, but since Cam and others have been carnivore for years, any RBCs from a pre‑carnivore state have long since disappeared. Moreover, RBCs turn over continuously, so the HbA1c is a running average that would have normalized long ago. Norton also notes the influencer’s hypocrisy of citing cohort data after frequently dismissing epidemiological research as ‘garbage.’ The argument is that the carnivore camp embraces science only when it seems to defend their stance.

Norton explains that high intake of saturated fat can increase liver fat content and decrease insulin sensitivity. Simultaneously, a high protein and fat load can ramp up gluconeogenesis — the liver’s production of glucose from amino acids and glycerol. The combination of more endogenous glucose and reduced ability to clear it can, over time, result in chronically elevated blood glucose. He is careful not to demonize protein in general, but states that in the specific context of an extremely high‑fat, high‑protein carnivore pattern, some people will develop metabolic dysfunction. This mechanism explains why many carnivore adherents see their fasting glucose and HbA1c drift upward despite avoiding all carbohydrates.