Carb Scare Tactics

About Diabetes.com ^ | July 08, 2003 | Paula Ford-Martin

[Nov3]

Carb Scare Tactics

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July 08, 2003

Carb Scare Tactics
U.S. News and World Report has an article in their upcoming issue (7/14/03) entitled: "The Diabetes Diet Wars: The nutrition advice given to most diabetics might be killing them" that discusses the great carb debate - again. Headlines like this really rub me the wrong way, especially for those who are newly diagnosed and may read this piece. The article does touch on some interesting points in the ADA nutrition guidelines vs. low-carb debate, but unfortunately leaves out critical information. Begin rant here...

Here's the letter I wrote to the U.S. News editor in response to the piece:

To the Editor:

I found the headline "The nutrition advice given to most diabetics might be killing them" on your "Diabetes Diet Wars" piece to be irresponsible and alarmist. While I agree that the current dietary recommendations from the ADA deserve re-evaluation in light of the recent NEJM studies on low-carb diets and weight loss in type 2 diabetes (which were vaguely referenced in your article), the current guidelines are a far cry from killing anybody. Given that the consumers who are actively digging for diabetes information online and in their bookstores are often those who are newly diagnosed as type 2 and completely overwhelmed (I know, I get email from hundreds each month), this type of fear-mongering headline is uncalled for and designed not to inform but to cause panic.

Diabetes is very much an individual disease, and I believe the ADA emphatically recognizes that when they state in their technical review on the subject that a primary goal of medical nutritional therapy should be: "To address individual nutritional needs, taking into consideration personal and cultural preferences and lifestyle while respecting the individual’s wishes and willingness to change." In other words, while the ADA does issue evidence-based clinical practice recommendations for carbohydrate intake (and the key phrase is *evidence-based* - meaning based on the current body of knowledge from controlled scientific studies and subject to future change as knowledge evolves), these are only guidelines.

Your article also fails to address several critical points of the debate. You quote Frank Vinicor of the CDC speaking to how high protein intake (a feature of popular low-carb diets) cannot harm anyone with healthy kidneys. This is absolutely correct, but your reporter fails to mention that diabetes is the number one cause of chronic kidney failure in America. Many people with diabetes *do* have existing renal impairment, and forcing their kidneys to process extra protein makes the problem worse.

There's also the matter of carb quality versus carb quantity (otherwise known as the glycemic index, or GI), which should play a necessary role in this debate. A baked potato, for example, will raise blood glucose levels much higher and faster than a portion of fiber dense whole grain bread, even if the portions given have equal amounts of carbohydrates gram for gram. If anything, there should be a push towards including GI basics on smart carb choices in diabetes medical nutrition therapy. The ADA currently acknowledges the possible utility of the GI, but stops well short of endorsing it, citing a lack of current scientific evidence on long-term success, plus the supposed complexity of the method. In a world of exchange lists, carb counting, and blood glucose testing, however, the GI seems to be just a little more math for a much larger reward.

Finally, exercise is an absolutely essential component of any treatment plan for type 2 diabetes. Exercise lowers blood glucose levels, improves heart health (cardiovascular disease is a major complication of diabetes), and improves overall well being. Inactivity is sometimes, though not always, the cause for a seemingly ineffective diet plan.

Respectfully,
Paula Ford-Martin

*****************
About Diabetes
Editor and Content Producer
diabetes.guide@about.com
http://diabetes.about.com

[Nov3]

Here is the Diabetes establishment response to the US News article I posted earlier. They can't admit the obvious, a high sugar diet is not good for a diabetic. A high sugar diet can cause adult onset. That is obvious to the casual observer. However the spate of diabetes we have been seeing is not all diet IMO. I believe there is an autoimmune cause for a number of people.

At least they are backing off of the fact a diabetic can eat raw sugar.

They will let people die to avoid admitting they are wrong.

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[Nachum]

What about all the people meeting success on the Atkins diet? If at the very least you told a dieter to eliminate sugar, white flour, and white rice a person's health would improve.

I see huge numbers of people making dieting gains with carbohydrate control. I have not heard of any that have harmed their health.

[lelio]

Donning my tinfoil hat I went to the website listed and noticed there's a lot of articles on there about products you can buy. If they told you how to quickly become a non-diabetic they wouldn't be able to push it on you.

[crazykatz]

bttt

[foto]

Keep your voice down,large scale Atkin's conversions will be death to the american processed food industry(basically the entire supermarket product line).We paid alot for that new food pyramid and we've got a sell alot of corn syrup to make that investment pay off. ssssHHHHH.

[Hodar]

I see huge numbers of people making dieting gains with carbohydrate control. I have not heard of any that have harmed their health.

Well put.... I've been doing a low-fat diet (as recommended) for years; without any success. I'd lose the weight, then gain it right back. However, the Atkin's diet has been the best, and most successful diet I have found .... and it makes sense. Perhaps thats why it is so despised by the AMA, a cardiologist figured out what nutritionists have been preaching against for decades.

[Nov3]

I have been on Protein Power / Atkins for seven years now. Thank God for it.

[AAABEST]

A$$hole$.

It's obvious to anyone with the most basic understanding of nutrition that sugars and carbs have a direct and sometimes severe impact on blood sugar levels as well as being much more easily turned into fat than proteins and fat itself.

Let me hear any healthcare professional state otherwise here, so we can get your lies out in the open and uncover your intellectual dishonesty.

Ill intended agendas are bad enough, but it's unforgivable when it comes from those who are supposed to be concerned with the lives and health of others.

I'm wondering when they're going to give up the ghost and stop spouting this HORSE$**T.

[AAABEST]

It's now getting to the point where it's not funny anymore, and it's not a matter of opinion. God, there really are people who would physically hurt others for selfish gain.

[jacquej]

You gopt that right, foto!

i was on the verge of type 2 D... and went on the Atkins diet to get my hypothyriod weight gain under control, and found that the chol levels went down by 100 points, my blood sugar levels plumetted, hdl went up, ldl went down, and triglycerides also dropped to normal levels...

Who woulda thunk it? I was doing the vegetarain thingie before to try to get a handle on my thyroid problem. But, it just didn't work. i bought the philsophy, but my dumb body just didn't get with the program, you know?

Now, I eat meat, eggs, healthy fats, nutsand good cheese, grow my own above grown veggies for salad, etc... can't wait till the brandywines ripen!!!

Feel better than ever, and enjoy low carb white wine, but should be more moderate at that than I am... Have lost 80 lbs. gained on vegetarian diet, but can't really blame that, prolly was the failing thyroid... anyway, the veggie diet made it worse, not better.

Atkins approach was the only way to stop the spiral.

Thanks, Dr. Atkins. Rest in peace...

[Nov3]

I'm wondering when they're going to give up the ghost and stop spouting this HORSE$**T.

There is a huge amount of EGO involved here. People have to die so these morons can be right.

[Nov3]

That is quite a testimony. Congratulations

[jacquej]

Well, to be fair... Atkins didn't do much for my ability to type or proofread... but, let's blame the low carb Chablis for that,.

[AAABEST]

It's beyond disgusting. A year ago it would have been halfway debatable with a mental midget. At this point it's downright criminal to continue this charade.

I'm even a little angry with myself for not realizing much earlier in life that carbs and sugars are so easily turned into glucose and fat.

I'm not a brain surgeon by any means, but this is such a simple concept. Everything has to be broken down to a calorie before it's utilized by the body and put into the blood or stored as fat. Sugars and carbs are much more easily utilized this way than fat.

I have 4 bunless cheeseburgers waiting as we speak!

[Nachum]

Wow, a great story.

[DB]

Yes, I find it amazing that doctors recommend hi carb diets to people diagnosed with diabetes. Just plain stupidity. When they were trained they were told it was so, so now they preach it like a religion regardless of the evidence.

[CarmelValleyite]

No kidding about the white flour and refined sugar, in particular. Severely limiting those two would've probably saved me from upcoming gall bladder surgery :(

[EggsAckley]

Many years ago I had to search far and wide to find an MD who would even DO the blood sugar panel for me. They all said it was a fad, didn't exist, blah blah blah. That was back when Adele Davis was writing about low blood sugar.

I did the test, and then went in for him to explain the seven hour panel to me. Before he could, I said, don't show me the panel, I'll DRAW it for you. I drew the curve precisely the way it looked on his expensive panel. When he asked how I did it, I told him because I could FEEL it going up and down. What a maroon. And he STILL didn't believe it.

[sinkspur]

but, let's blame the low carb Chablis for that,.

If you'd graduate up to chardonnay, or develop a taste for red wines, you'd have less sugar in your wine.

I'm a wine nut, and I am absolutely convinced that red wine is better for your metabolism than white.

Plus, you'll drink less of a good cabernet sauvignon or a zinfandel or a chardonnay than a chablis or chenin blanc.