CBS NEWS Special: Atkins Diet Found to Cause Death From Abnormal Hearts

(Sarah Fox Jahn) wrote in message . ..
On Thu, 20 Nov 2003 08:31:33 -0600, MeMe wrote:
Get off Atkins Now!!.
So says Doctor Barnard of the morning CBS News show after discussing
3 cases of abnormal hearts of Atkins dieters - one leading to the the
death of a 16 year old.
It is also on the cbs web site.

Also off the CBS News website:
At http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/...in582711.shtml -

"A Tufts University study compared four diet books ? Atkins, the Zone,
Ornish and the Weight Watchers cookbook ? in 160 overweight volunteers
and found that all reduced weight by 4 percent to 6 percent over one
year. All but the Ornish plan significantly lowered the chance of
heart trouble as measured by the widely used Framingham cardiac risk
score."

And on
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/...in540776.shtml -
"Over the past year, several small studies have shown, to many
experts' surprise, that the Atkins approach actually does work better,
at least in the short run. Dieters lose more than those on a standard
American Heart Association plan without driving up their cholesterol
levels, as many feared would happen."

and

"The study, directed by Penelope Greene of the Harvard School of
Public Health and presented at a meeting here this week of the
American Association for the Study of Obesity, found that people
eating an extra 300 calories a day on a very low-carb regimen lost
just as much during a 12-week study as those on a standard lowfat
diet."

About Dr. Neil Barnard, and his website,
http://www.atkinsdietalert.org/, both promote a low-fat, vegetarian
diet, holding up the Asian diet as an ideal.

Neil Barnard is the founder and head of the deceptively-named
"Physician's Commitee for Responsible Medicine" which is neither a
committee of
physicans nor concerned with "responsible medicine". Most of their
members are not doctors, and their definition of "responsible
medicine"
appears to be promoting a vegan diet and battling animal testing.
They are, in fact, a PETA-affiliated vegan group. If Barnard already
lies to me with name of his group, why should I believe anything else
he says?


Now I was a vegetarian
for 5 years (1997-2002), and have _Food for Life: How the New Four
Food Groups Can Save Your Life_ by Dr. Barnard on my bookshelf. I
became a vegetarian because my cholesterol was 269 at age 26. After
following a mostly low-fat vegetarian diet for 5 years, my cholesterol
dropped to 238 (last tested Dec. 2002). Not a huge improvement... but
my family has a history of high cholesterol and heart disease. I was
told by my doctor that my risk of heart disease was low otherwise
since my blood pressure was low (110/78) and my weight normal.

I gained some weight recently, and went on Atkin's on November 1st. I
have lost weight with Weight Watchers (50 pounds) before but found
myself hungry most of the time and tired. I am not bashing WW, because
I believe it is a low-risk way to lose weight, but it demands strict
discipline and determination. I've researched Atkins thoroughly, and
made the decision to follow it for 2 months and then follow it up in
January with blood tests. I will post the results here in January.

In 20 days, I have lost 11 pounds. On WW, I could also lose at this
rate, but again, I'd be hungry, cranky and feel deprived. On Atkins, I
have a lot of energy, I'm not hungry, I'm not constipated (a big salad
every night prevents this), and I have to say so far it seems like a
pain-free way to lose weight.

Your diet is your decision, and this is only my experience... if you
have high cholesterol, kidney problems, diabetes, anything like that,
I would only recommend Atkins WITH MEDICAL APPROVAL. Read about the
medical studies done on Atkins, and make a choice based on research,
not a CBS News 2-minute video spot with Dr. Neil Barnard.

Sarah Jahn

"Sarah Fox Jahn" wrote:
Read about the
medical studies done on Atkins, and make a choice based on research,
not a CBS News 2-minute video spot with Dr. Neil Barnard.

Applause.

--
Lexin
www.redrosepress.co.uk
www.livejournal.com/~lexin
LC since 9 June 2003
(300/248/182)

On 20 Nov 2003 11:17:43 -0800, (Tony Lew)
wrote:
[much snipped of my prior post]
Neil Barnard is the founder and head of the deceptively-named
"Physician's Commitee for Responsible Medicine" which is neither a
committee of
physicans nor concerned with "responsible medicine". Most of their
members are not doctors, and their definition of "responsible
medicine"
appears to be promoting a vegan diet and battling animal testing.
They are, in fact, a PETA-affiliated vegan group. If Barnard already
lies to me with name of his group, why should I believe anything else
he says?

I don't think he LIES per se, but he certainly has a biased viewpoint
of diets. (It's true that PCRM is a large membership organization,
like PETA, but it is advised by a committee of medical professionals,
as described on http://www.pcrm.org/about/index.html.) I am familiar
with his politics, but it doesn't mean what he said on the news spot
was false. He was careful to stress that cause and effect is
impossible to declare 100% in the case of an individual in medicine,
and that he is waiting for more data to prove him correct, through
studies that monitor large numbers of people.

His collection of 188 people is not really significant, at least to
me. I would be much more convinced by the results from a formal study
like the link to the upcoming CCARB one I posted earlier.

His POV that the Asian diet is wonderful for long-term health is
valid. And, one important lifestyle factor that helps Asians of course
is that they are, on the norm, MUCH more physically active than
Westerners. This is changing as the countries adopt more of a Western
diet and cushy way of life... But there's no arguing that if I rode my
bike everywhere and lived on rice, tofu and vegetables, with the
occasional fish, I would not be fat! ;-)

Personally, I'm all for a vegetarian diet if people are healthy on it,
more power to them! But I feel that Atkins could be the answer for me.
Lab results won't lie... and in 2 months, I'll have some hard data to
see if I'm right or wrong :-)

Sarah Jahn

"MeMe" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 20 Nov 2003 11:32:38 -0600, "revek"
The only one I know of is the girl who died in Missouri almost 4
years
ago. When did this one happen, and can you point me to the
article?

www.cbsnews.com

I asked for an article-- preferably a medical article-- on the
supposed dead English girl with an abnormal heart **caused by Atkins**
.. I'm not hunting up this vegetarian opinion piece for you.

Oh, and to rebutt: every article at www.lowcarbresearch.org

revek

"Sarah Fox Jahn" wrote in message
...

snip

Also off the CBS News website:
At
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/...in582711.shtml -

snip

All but the Ornish plan significantly lowered the chance of
heart trouble as measured by the widely used Framingham cardiac risk
score."

I find this last bit here to be particularly hilarious.

revek (reverses heard disease my left butt cheek)

On Thu, 20 Nov 2003 20:04:57 GMT, (Sarah Fox Jahn)
wrote:

On 20 Nov 2003 11:17:43 -0800, (Tony Lew)
wrote:
[much snipped of my prior post]
Neil Barnard is the founder and head of the deceptively-named
"Physician's Commitee for Responsible Medicine" which is neither a
committee of
physicans nor concerned with "responsible medicine". Most of their
members are not doctors, and their definition of "responsible
medicine"
appears to be promoting a vegan diet and battling animal testing.
They are, in fact, a PETA-affiliated vegan group. If Barnard already
lies to me with name of his group, why should I believe anything else
he says?

I don't think he LIES per se, but he certainly has a biased viewpoint
of diets. (It's true that PCRM is a large membership organization,
like PETA, but it is advised by a committee of medical professionals,
as described on http://www.pcrm.org/about/index.html.) I am familiar
with his politics, but it doesn't mean what he said on the news spot
was false. He was careful to stress that cause and effect is
impossible to declare 100% in the case of an individual in medicine,
and that he is waiting for more data to prove him correct, through
studies that monitor large numbers of people.

His collection of 188 people is not really significant, at least to
me. I would be much more convinced by the results from a formal study
like the link to the upcoming CCARB one I posted earlier.

His POV that the Asian diet is wonderful for long-term health is
valid. And, one important lifestyle factor that helps Asians of course
is that they are, on the norm, MUCH more physically active than
Westerners. This is changing as the countries adopt more of a Western
diet and cushy way of life... But there's no arguing that if I rode my
bike everywhere and lived on rice, tofu and vegetables, with the
occasional fish, I would not be fat! ;-)

Personally, I'm all for a vegetarian diet if people are healthy on it,
more power to them! But I feel that Atkins could be the answer for me.
Lab results won't lie... and in 2 months, I'll have some hard data to
see if I'm right or wrong :-)

Sarah Jahn

I like the way you talk. (slingblade)
I'm not so generous in my analysis of him. I believe he, with the
help of that poor excuse of a news outlet (cbs), is a dangerous zealot
and will cost many thousands of obesity related deaths. CBS should be
very, very ashamed by such a biased report.

Good luck with the lab results.

"Sarah Fox Jahn" wrote in message
...
I don't think he LIES per se, but he certainly has a biased
viewpoint
of diets.

We'll have to agree to disagree, then.

http://www.consumerfreedom.com/activ....cfm?ORG_ID=23

I fine the "black eye" section to be very interesting.

revek

"revek" wrote in message
...

"MeMe" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 20 Nov 2003 11:32:38 -0600, "revek"

The only one I know of is the girl who died in Missouri almost 4
years
ago. When did this one happen, and can you point me to the
article?

www.cbsnews.com

I asked for an article-- preferably a medical article-- on the
supposed dead English girl with an abnormal heart **caused by
Atkins**
. I'm not hunting up this vegetarian opinion piece for you.

I apologize for my tone. I assumed.

revek (flashing on the fruggie wars)

MeMe wrote in message . ..
Get off Atkins Now!!.

So says Doctor Barnard of the morning CBS News show after discussing
3 cases of abnormal hearts of Atkins dieters - one leading to the the
death of a 16 year old.

It is also on the cbs web site.

Meme


http://www.consumerfreedom.com/activ....cfm?ORG_ID=23

TC

His POV that the Asian diet is wonderful for long-term health is
valid.

Must be all those fried foods they eat!

Cookie

"Sarah Fox Jahn" wrote in message
...
On 20 Nov 2003 11:17:43 -0800, (Tony Lew)
wrote:
[much snipped of my prior post]
Neil Barnard is the founder and head of the deceptively-named
"Physician's Commitee for Responsible Medicine" which is neither a
committee of
physicans nor concerned with "responsible medicine". Most of their
members are not doctors, and their definition of "responsible
medicine"
appears to be promoting a vegan diet and battling animal testing.
They are, in fact, a PETA-affiliated vegan group. If Barnard already
lies to me with name of his group, why should I believe anything else
he says?

I don't think he LIES per se, but he certainly has a biased viewpoint
of diets. (It's true that PCRM is a large membership organization,
like PETA, but it is advised by a committee of medical professionals,
as described on http://www.pcrm.org/about/index.html.) I am familiar
with his politics, but it doesn't mean what he said on the news spot
was false. He was careful to stress that cause and effect is
impossible to declare 100% in the case of an individual in medicine,
and that he is waiting for more data to prove him correct, through
studies that monitor large numbers of people.

His collection of 188 people is not really significant, at least to
me. I would be much more convinced by the results from a formal study
like the link to the upcoming CCARB one I posted earlier.

His POV that the Asian diet is wonderful for long-term health is
valid. And, one important lifestyle factor that helps Asians of course
is that they are, on the norm, MUCH more physically active than
Westerners. This is changing as the countries adopt more of a Western
diet and cushy way of life... But there's no arguing that if I rode my
bike everywhere and lived on rice, tofu and vegetables, with the
occasional fish, I would not be fat! ;-)

Personally, I'm all for a vegetarian diet if people are healthy on it,
more power to them! But I feel that Atkins could be the answer for me.
Lab results won't lie... and in 2 months, I'll have some hard data to
see if I'm right or wrong :-)

Sarah Jahn