Anti-Atkins nutritionist working for flour millers

telegraph.co.uk ^ | 18/08/2003 | Tom Peterkin

[PhilipFreneau]

The nutritionist who condemned the protein-based Atkins Diet is working on a report looking at the benefits of a high-carbohydrate diet funded by the Flour Advisory Bureau (Fab).

It emerged yesterday that Susan Jebb, the head of nutrition and health research at the Medical Research Council (MRC), has been commissioned by Fab, the organisation which is recognised as the lobbying arm of the National Association of British and Irish Millers.

The council will be paid £10,000 by Fab for the study, which involves Dr Jebb reviewing scientific literature investigating diets that are high in carbohydrates such as bread, pasta and rice.

Last week she caused consternation among devotees of the Atkins Diet when she said that there was not a "shred of evidence" to suggest that it worked. Followers of the diet are allowed to eat as much protein and fat as they like provided that they cut out carbohydrates altogether.

[reformed_dem]

Good luck with it MM. I have been on it for 6 weeks and lost 20 pounds (I do cheat occasionally). I haven't felt this great in a long time.

[bluefish]

Thanks for this PF. I tried to find a link like this when the thread was first posted, just know it existed out there! I failed, but missed your post. Someone on a current thread that repeats Jebb's assertions just linked to this thread! Sweet find (figuratively, of course).

[MRMEAN]

angkor wrote: And again I ask you for why more than half of a human being's teeth (incisors, canines) have evolved for the purpose of ripping and tearing animal flesh. Accident?

Not only our teeth, but our whole bodies have been shaped by the need to run in order to hunt down and scavenge meat. A key difference between humans and other great apes is our ability to engage in long-distance running; which is not necessary for other primates who subsist on non-meat diets.

Humans evolved from ape-like ancestors because they needed to run long distances – perhaps to hunt animals or scavenge carcasses on Africa's vast savannah – and the ability to run shaped our anatomy, making us look like we do today.