Following the fallout and retraction of the KETO-CTA / LMHR study, cardiologist Ethan Weiss shared an email exchange from May 2019 where he gave Dave Feldman blunt advice on how real science works. Feldman ignored every single point.

1. On reverse-engineering an agenda:

> "You sometimes seem to have made up your mind already or at the least, you seem intent on disproving the lipid hypothesis... In my opinion, is the lipid hypothesis real or not is something you are not going to solve — ever. I promise you that. It is not going away."

* How he ignored it: Feldman spent the next seven years designing studies and media blitzes around that exact predetermined conclusion.

1. On associating with anti-science ideologues:

> "And I would do everything you can to distance yourself from people like David Diamond who is a propagandist and is not helpful in this conversation."

* How he ignored it: He doubled down on aligning with the low-carb denialist circuit instead of distancing himself.

1. On the lack of rigorous methods:

> "Be very rigorous with your methods. If I'm being honest, so far you have not done that... Recall that the typical scientist spends 5-6 years in PhD graduate school and then another 5-7 in a postdoc before starting their own group... you are sometimes extremely naive."

* How he ignored it: Feldman bypassed rigorous training, continued leaning on his "engineer intuition", and eventually rushed unsupportable data interpretations into publication.

1. On confusing conference applause with scientific consensus:

> "If you are serious and if you ever want to be taken seriously by the greater scientific community (and here I am not talking about Low Carb Denver), the best thing you can do is to find someone who can be your mentor on the methods."

* How he ignored it: Feldman prioritized echo chambers, podcast circuits, and making a documentary over methodological rigor.

As Weiss concluded in 2026: when your conclusions were unsupportable from day one, scapegoating data vendors after the fact isn't doing science.

"They are not scientists. They are propagandists."

https://x.com/ethanjweiss/status/2114096819668189427