Advertising Passed Off As Research
Confuses the Public Again
A
study, published in the July 17, 2008 issue of the New England
Journal of Medicine, has generated headlines that may lead the
casual reader to believe that a low-carbohydrate (animal-food based)
diet is the healthy, effective way to lose weight and a low-fat,
plant-food based diet, like the McDougall diet, is not. The diet
they called “low fat” was the American Heart Association Diet - a
diet of 30% fat with 300 mg of cholesterol daily. The diet I
recommend is 7% fat with no cholesterol.
The Dr. Robert C. and Veronica Atkins Research Foundation funded
the study. The full study can be read here:
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/reprint/359/3/229.pdf
This is another case of purposeful deception, publicized widely
in order to confuse the public—keeping the status quo. There will be
an economic windfall for a variety of industries with an increase in
sales of meats, dairy products, cholesterol-lowering statins, and
angioplasties. Consumers will pay with worse health, rising medical
bills, higher food costs, and an increase in environmental
pollution.
This was a 2-year trial of 322 moderately obese (about 200 pounds
or 91 Kg), mostly men, randomly assigned to follow a low-fat,
restricted-calorie; a Mediterranean, restricted-calorie; or a
low-carbohydrate, non–restricted-calorie regime. The mean weight
losses were 7.26, 10.12, and 12.1 pounds (3.3 Kg, 4.6 Kg, and 5.5
Kg), respectively. There was little change in cholesterol levels (LDL-cholesterol
changes were -0.5, -5.6, and -3 mg/dL, respectively).
At our live-in program the average weight loss for moderately
overweight people in 7 days is 4.5 pounds (2 Kg)—while eating
without limit from a delicious buffet of foods. And the average
reduction in total cholesterol is 25 mg/dL.
People looking for more information on the right way to lose
weight should read my Hot Topics, the
obesity section.
John McDougall, MD
