Group Says Atkins Diet May Be Dangerous

Yahoo! News ^ | Nov 20, 2003 | Maggie Fox

[traumer]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A nutrition advocacy group warned on Thursday that the popular Atkins diet may cause heart disease and could have killed a teen-age dieter.

It urged the U.S. government to monitor the high-fat weight loss approach to see if it indeed causes heart disease.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine stressed it could not prove the diet had hurt or killed anyone. But one dieter said he believed the approach clogged his arteries and the parents of a teen-ager who died while on the diet also blamed her meat-heavy regimen.

The PCRM called on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (news - web sites) to monitor diets and check for signs that the Atkins and other high-fat, high-protein diets may be harming people's health.

"You can never say this diet caused this death," PCRM director Dr. Neal Barnard cautioned. He said the CDC should monitor large groups over time to see if there was an association.

The CDC had no immediate comment. Two federal health officials who asked not to be named said it might be possible to incorporate the information into existing surveys on diet, lifestyle and health.

Atkins Nutritionals, Inc. said its diet was safe.

"There is no logic and no science to support any association between these individuals and the ANA (Atkins Nutritional Approach)," said Colette Heimowitz, vice president of education and research for the company.

EAT MEAT

The Atkins diet has made headlines around the world with an approach that flies in the face of most medical advice. It is based on a theory developed by Dr. Robert Atkins, who died in April after a fall, that carbohydrates make people fat.

It encourages dieters to shun bread, pasta, fruit and many vegetables in favor of meat, butter and other fatty food.

"What I contend is that the Atkins diet gave me heart disease," Jody Gorran, a 53-year-old Florida businessman, said at a news conference organized by PCRM. He said his arteries clogged and cholesterol shot up while on the diet.

Paul and Lisa Huskey of Columbia, Missouri, say their 16-year-old daughter, Rachel, died of a heart arrhythmia in 2000 while on the diet. Dr. Paul Robinson, a pediatrician at the hospital where Rachel died, said the diet could have caused her death by leaching calcium and potassium from her body.

Many doctors and the American Heart Association (news - web sites) have warned that the diet could be dangerous. The Heart Association advocates a diet based on whole grains, fruits and vegetables.

It warned that over time the Atkins diet and similar approaches could raise cholesterol. Other experts have said the diet might also increase the risk of kidney disease and the PCRM adds osteoporosis and colon cancer to the list of risks.

The PCRM, which advocates a strict vegetarian diet, has set up an online registry at www.atkinsdietalert.org for people to offer complaints about the diet.

Doctors say anyone who loses weight will lower cholesterol in the short term.

More than 60 percent of American adults ore overweight or obese so the need for effective diets is clear.

"The skinniest people on the planet are vegetarians and Asians," Barnard said.

[traumer]

So, now what ?

[JohnGalt]

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine are simply stooges for the grain and fruit industry, is my guess.

I'd check where they get their funding, first.

[Bronco_Buster_FweetHyagh]

Yep. Pure BS, funded/encouraged/prayed-for by the carb industry.

[Varda]

PCRM = PETA

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has used a tax-exempt affiliate called the Foundation to Support Animal Protection (FSAP) to funnel at least $592,000 to PCRM. This foundation, whose letterhead now shows that it is doing business as “The PETA Foundation,” has the same mailing address as PETA, and PETA owns its website address. Newkirk and Barnard are two of FSAP’s three directors.

And PETA itself directly gave PCRM over $265,000 between 1988 and 1999.

Barnard is PETA’s “medical advisor” and regularly writes for PETA’s publications. He admitted in a sworn deposition (International Primate Protection League v. Administrators of the Tulane Educational Fund, 1992) that PCRM has been housed at PETA headquarters in the past. He also acknowledged requesting and receiving money from PETA, and using a PETA-owned car to drive back and forth from work. According to Barnard’s deposition, PETA even paid the salaries of some of PCRM’s staffers.

Citing an unnamed, former PETA employee, a 1989 article in Washingtonian magazine reads:
PETA funds were used, he says, to finance membership campaigns and activities of two anti-vivisectionist organizations, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) and the National Association of Nurses Against Vivisection (NANAV). Both organizations were housed, rent-free, in PETA’s headquarters, he says, and the respective heads of the groups, Neal Barnard and Susan Brebner, were introduced to him as PETA staff members. "
http://www.consumerfreedom.com/activistcash/org_motivation.cfm?ORG_ID=23

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

The Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine is a radical animal rights vegetarian group. Do a Google on them.

[maryz]

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine

Just by the sound of those droning "highminded,"self-important words, it sounds like a first cousin to Center for Science in the Public Interest.

[T.Smith]

The PCRM, which advocates a strict vegetarian diet, has set up an online registry at www.atkinsdietalert.org for people to offer complaints about the diet.

A group of strict vegetarians have put up a web site for people to complain about a meat heavy diet, which they claim will kill you? Well, I don't see any cause to doubt the veracity of their claims. /sarcasm

[FormerLib]

The PCRM called on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...to monitor diets and check for signs that the Atkins...

The reason they are asking for this is because they have no scientific research supporting their fear-mongering! This group has been hyping a move toward vegetarianism from some time and the Atkins plan just "feels bad" to them.

My experience with the Atkins plan is simple, I dropped 50 pounds and dropped 60 points off of my cholosterol (well below 200 for the first time ever). That was 2 years ago, except for 3 months of travel this year that allowed restaurant food to put 10 pounds back on (I am losing that via Atkins) I have kept it off.

Atkins ultimate plan is a simple one: eat fewer calories, eat a balanced diet, avoid white sugar and simple carbs, and exercise. Oh yeah, that sounds dangerous!

[big gray tabby]

"The skinniest people on the planet are vegetarians and Asians," Barnard said.

Of course, most of us have access to things to eat besides grass and reeds, and some of us are not Asians, so this comment strikes me as a little silly.

Note that PCRM advocates a vegetarian diet. Rather than beards for the Fanjuel/Andreas axis, they're most likely a bunch of bunny-hugging hippies.

[TankerKC]

PCRM Website

Featuring:

Dissection Alternatives. Students and teachers are choosing better and more humane teaching methods, paving the way for more efficient and effective learning. Learn more about introducing your school to dissection alternatives in the What You Can Do section

Why doesn't Yahoo News label this group for what it is?

[Hatteras]

"A nutrition advocacy group (sponsored by Krispy Kreme, McDonald's, Frito-Lay, Mars Candy and Wonder Bread) warned on Thursday that the popular Atkins diet may cause heart disease and could have killed a teen-age dieter."

[Mfkmmof4]

Okay, so what are they going to do? Pass a law that says no one can be on the Atkins Diet? I just started it and love it!!

[shiva]

the diet could have caused her death

[areafiftyone]

They are hard core Vegetarians. I just found out I am diabetic and was told I could control it with diet and not medicine. The nutritionist gave me a diet that was alot like the Atkins. Carbos are even deadlier to diabetics than sugar. I have been on this diet for 3 weeks and I have more energy and feel so much better than I ever felt before. Theses people are like the walking dead!

[alloysteel]

I know! I know! These people are just shills and front men for all the Big Bread and Big Doughnut interests.

Hah! And they didn't think we would see through their ploy....

[Portnoy]

Very True...

My fiance's girlfriend went around saying that she was on Atkins, but all she did was eat meat. She never once read the book.

Its not about NOT eating carbs...its about CONTROLLING your carb intake. Its also NOT a license to eat all you want either...

I lost 17 pounds on Atkins...Now, I'm no longer on the diet, but I do watch my carb intake. I excercise and eat less than I did before. I've kept the pounds off now for mor ethan 6 months...

[Hatteras]

"...I just started it and love it!!"

Makes breakfast fun again, huh?!

[uncbob]

The skinniest people on the planet are vegetarians and Asians," Barnard said.

Next time PBS puts the documentary on about the construction of Hoover Dam during the DEPRESSION and compare that work force today that at any of todays construction site

Years ago the Super Market lots had only ONE place to return carts but people gradually just left them all over the place

Now they have many sites for return and people STILL leave them all over the place cause they are too damn lazy and we wonder why people are obese

[Mfkmmof4]

Yes, it does!! And I feel satisfied. I have cut out breads, starches, pasta and rice. Will I miss them? Sure but will cheat from time to time :)

[JohnGalt]

You should have put that post in bold.

Cheers to a long life,