My mother (a new convert!) saw a news show which she says made the statement that Ornish and some other low fat guru(McDougall?) are in a sense partially responsible for the diabetes epidemic.

Has anybody else seen this broadcast?

In the last issue of Time magazine in the milestones section they had a blurb for Swami Satchidananda who passed away at 87, of whom Ornish is a devotee. So it seems to me that Ornish's science is biased by his religious beliefs.

Why is this a body blow for Ornish?

Who cares what his religious beliefs are? His science is either right or wrong regardless of his religious beliefs.

I think Sir Frumble's point is that it seems possible and indeed likely that Ornish's approach to nutrition is not as scientifically objective as it should be.

If he practices a religion that forbids meat, and is devoted enough to that religion to be a devotee of a a swami, how could he be objective about the health benefits of a meat based diet?

A true scientist has no bias, and will evaluate ALL of the evidence equally, without pre-conceived conclusions. Does this sound like Ornish to you?

MrFreddy is correct in explaining what I was trying to say about Ornish and his religous beliefs infuencing his science. He states it much better I did.

As for the body blow part, that referred to the newcast that laid blame on Ornish for the diabetes epidemic. Since the media frequently portrays the low-fat vs low carb debate as a battle between Ornish and Atkins, the newscast seemed like a bad blow for Ornish.