UK: Scary stories and scarier tactics..

On the first page of today's OBSERVER (Sunday 21 September) there is a
quite shocking headline: OFFICIAL: ATKINS DIET CAN BE DEADLY.

The article, signed by the Health Editor Jo Reville follows:
"The first official warning about the dangers of the Atkins diet has
been issued by the Government amid concern about the rising number of
people opting for the high-fat, high-protein regime. The Food Standards
Agency, which is responsible for all the Government's nutritional
guidance, has published a statement alerting the public to the health
risks of lo-carb diets, including Atkins, claming that they are linked
to heart disease, cancer and even obesity (more ranting omitted)."

The article affirmed that this statement was published in the home page
of the FSA, so I went to check to see what it says at:
http://www.foodstandards.gov.uk/

In fact, there isn't such a thing as an official statement, nor any
kind of statement at all. Only thing I was able to find, was an ASK THE
EXPERT link (which can be accessed clicking the face of a laughing
young lady, that I suspect was laughing for the kind of joke she was
saying...)
Apparently, this expert, is willing to answer questions to the public
on any nutritional or food related topic. The question of today was:
Are low-carbohydrate diets healthy?

I don't wont to waste my time copy-pasting such a bunch of rubbish and
invite you to read by yourself, if you wish,

http://www.foodstandards.gov.uk/heal...rt/healthyeati
ng/starchy

It doesn't say, of course, anything in the terms reported by the Health
Editor (??) of above. Actually, all the answer is a rather bland
combination of prejudices, preconceptions and plain bull***t.

However, there are two sentences that deserve to be reported:

1)"This type of diet also tends to be unrealistic and dull, and not
palatable enough to be tolerated for a long time. "

Quite rich to be said in a country where the kind of food the majority
of families put on their tables is rather dull and repetitive. I have
few friends that live practically on a diet of baked beans on toast and
baked beans on jacked potatoes, with the occasional chinese
take-away...

2) High-fat diets are also associated with obesity, which is currently
increasing in the UK. People who are obese are more likely to develop
conditions such as diabetes and some cancers.

This is the most stupid and misleading thing it can be said.
THANKS TO A LOW-CARB DIET I WAS ABLE TO ELIMINATE ALL THE EXTRA WEIGHT
AND SO WERE MANY HUNDRED OF THOUSANDS, IF NOT MILLIONS, OF PEOPLE WITH
OUR WOE!!!

The Food Standards Agency employs rather dubious tactics to get its message
across (or its commercial bosses)
Nine months ago I received an e mail from them advising me what I should eat.
This was quite unsolicited, and presumably they had got my e mail address from
this newsgroup. When I e mailed them to complain about this,they replied that
they had received an enquiry from my e mail address professing to come from me
and asking for their advice!
Talk about Big Brother watching you--they must be scared.

Jomlever spake thusly:
The Food Standards Agency employs rather dubious tactics to get its
message across (or its commercial bosses)
Nine months ago I received an e mail from them advising me what I should
eat. This was quite unsolicited, and presumably they had got my e mail
address from this newsgroup. When I e mailed them to complain about
this,they replied that they had received an enquiry from my e mail
address professing to come from me and asking for their advice!
Talk about Big Brother watching you--they must be scared.

Did they take you off their list or are you still getting stuff from them?

--
Remove BLINDERS to email me.
Audio Bible Online:
http://www.audio-bible.com/

Oh good grief.....

Totally agree with you Mac....

BTW there ws a mention of Atkins on LBC this morning.... about how
boring it is to eat steak and eggs for two weeks and no
carbohydrates.....from a Doctor/expert on dietary issues.....

I've given up getting angry with these people.

Dil

On Sun, 21 Sep 2003 15:37:00 +0100, Macondo
wrote:


On the first page of today's OBSERVER (Sunday 21 September) there is a
quite shocking headline: OFFICIAL: ATKINS DIET CAN BE DEADLY.

The article, signed by the Health Editor Jo Reville follows:
"The first official warning about the dangers of the Atkins diet has
been issued by the Government amid concern about the rising number of
people opting for the high-fat, high-protein regime. The Food Standards
Agency, which is responsible for all the Government's nutritional
guidance, has published a statement alerting the public to the health
risks of lo-carb diets, including Atkins, claming that they are linked
to heart disease, cancer and even obesity (more ranting omitted)."

The article affirmed that this statement was published in the home page
of the FSA, so I went to check to see what it says at:
http://www.foodstandards.gov.uk/

In fact, there isn't such a thing as an official statement, nor any
kind of statement at all. Only thing I was able to find, was an ASK THE
EXPERT link (which can be accessed clicking the face of a laughing
young lady, that I suspect was laughing for the kind of joke she was
saying...)
Apparently, this expert, is willing to answer questions to the public
on any nutritional or food related topic. The question of today was:
Are low-carbohydrate diets healthy?

I don't wont to waste my time copy-pasting such a bunch of rubbish and
invite you to read by yourself, if you wish,

http://www.foodstandards.gov.uk/heal...rt/healthyeati
ng/starchy

It doesn't say, of course, anything in the terms reported by the Health
Editor (??) of above. Actually, all the answer is a rather bland
combination of prejudices, preconceptions and plain bull***t.

However, there are two sentences that deserve to be reported:

1)"This type of diet also tends to be unrealistic and dull, and not
palatable enough to be tolerated for a long time. "

Quite rich to be said in a country where the kind of food the majority
of families put on their tables is rather dull and repetitive. I have
few friends that live practically on a diet of baked beans on toast and
baked beans on jacked potatoes, with the occasional chinese
take-away...

2) High-fat diets are also associated with obesity, which is currently
increasing in the UK. People who are obese are more likely to develop
conditions such as diabetes and some cancers.

This is the most stupid and misleading thing it can be said.
THANKS TO A LOW-CARB DIET I WAS ABLE TO ELIMINATE ALL THE EXTRA WEIGHT
AND SO WERE MANY HUNDRED OF THOUSANDS, IF NOT MILLIONS, OF PEOPLE WITH
OUR WOE!!!

Did they take you off their list or are you still getting stuff from them

No, I've never had anything since, it was a one off, for which they apologised,
but they wouldn't admit that they'd fabricated the whole story. Was anyone else
treated to some of their "good advice" ?

"Jomlever" wrote in message
...
Did they take you off their list or are you still getting stuff
from them

No, I've never had anything since, it was a one off, for which they
apologised,
but they wouldn't admit that they'd fabricated the whole story. Was
anyone else
treated to some of their "good advice" ?

Ya know, I think maybe I got one of those several months ago. I
figured they/or whoever sold it to them, harvested my email off the
group, since I started recieving all kinds of diet related spam around
the same time. I thought it kind of odd that I'd be getting advice
from a UK agency, since I'm in the US.

revek