In the last three years, 16 scientific studies have been published in peer-reviewed journals or presented at professional conferences that support the safety and efficacy of the Atkins Nutritional ApproachTM (ANA).

Included in this list is the work of Dr. Eric Westman at Duke University, who found nearly twice the amount of weight loss after six months by individuals who followed a low carbohydrate diet as compared to those who followed a low-calorie, low-fat diet. Another study was supported by the American Heart Association and conducted by Dr. Bonnie Brehm at the University of Cincinnati. Brehm found twice the weight loss and also twice the body fat loss in participants after six months on a low carbohydrate diet as compared to another group on a high carbohydrate diet. Also included in this list is the study conducted by Dr. Fredrick Samaha and others that showed more than twice the weight lost, a five-fold improvement in triglycerides and increased insulin sensitivity in overweight women following the ANA, compared to those following a low-fat diet.

And then there is the National Institute of Health-funded multi-center study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, that also showed a greater decrease in triglyceride concentration and greater increase in HDL in participants following a low carbohydrate approach than those following a low-fat approach.

The list goes on: Within the past two months widely publicized studies conducted at Tufts University and Harvard University also confirmed the safety and efficacy of Atkins. As the ANA has been validated by study after study, more and more health professionals have acknowledged its effectiveness for weight control and reduction of risk factors for heart disease and Type 2 diabetes, among other diseases.

As more and more people turn to the Atkins controlled lifestyle, it becomes an increasing threat to those groups that have another agenda. A case in point is the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM). Despite its misleading name, this organization is actually an animal rights organization that promotes a vegan lifestyle. In an effort to push its own political and philosophical agenda, PCRM is exploiting the legitimate concern about the crises of obesity and diabetes in this country. And in doing so, it is knowingly disregarding the scientific evidence, claiming that the Atkins program is a health risk and even making the outrageous claim that it can be life threatening.

There is absolutely no logic and no science to support any association between claims of individuals experiencing adverse health events and the ANA, no more and no less than there is logic or science to support an association between the thousands of people who die from heart disease or kidney failure after decades of following a low-fat diet.

Unfortunately, certain elements of the media that feed on sensationalism have reported these inaccuracies, rather than exposing and condemning PCRM's deeply irresponsible misuse of information to suit their own ends at the expense of the well being of the American public. Moreover, it is shocking that it would shamelessly exploit people who have struggled with serious health issues, which may be rooted in years of poor health habits, including obesity, to make their fallacious claims.

The Atkins Nutritional Approach is firmly grounded in science. We only wish that this group of radical vegans masquerading as concerned and “responsible” physicians be held to the same standards to which all scientists should adhere.