The 2020 Australian of the Year has opened fire at the RACGP, claiming its handbook on type 2 diabetes is biased against low-carbohydrate diets and the college is failing to manage conflicts of interest.

Now the RACGP has defended itself against Dr James Muecke, an ophthalmologist, following his speech at the AMA National Conference this month in Adelaide.

Dr Muecke told doctors that the college’s Management of Type 2 Diabetes handbook promoted low-calorie meal replacements and bariatric surgery ahead of carbohydrate reduction.

“Within the body of the handbook, there are a few brief mentions of therapeutic carbohydrate reduction, but amounting to roughly half of one page, and much of it dismissive of the approach, using cherry-picked data,” Dr Muecke said.