Doctor's statement in Mayo Clinic Proceedings reveals dark side of low-carb diets

Dieters' fatigue similar to chemotherapy side effects

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_relea...r-dsl030904.php

WASHINGTON-- In its current issue, the Mayo Clinic Proceedings has published a letter explaining that the reason low-carb dieters often lose weight and sometimes show improvements in their cholesterol, blood sugars, and blood pressures is because they are, in essence, sickened by the diet. John McDougall, M.D., an advisory board member of Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), explains in his letter that low-carb diets can throw people into a metabolic state called ketosis that also occurs during severe illness. This diet-induced condition resembles the common side effects of cancer chemotherapy with fatigue, nausea, and loss of appetite for many people.

People on low-carb diets who become ill enough to experience loss of appetite are taking in less fat and cholesterol, since they are consuming less food overall. It is this same mechanism that results in cholesterol levels falling in cancer patients; however, no doctor brags about weight loss and lower cholesterol caused by the toxic drugs used in chemotherapy.

Numerous studies show that many high-fat, low-carbohydrate dieters risk clogged arteries, heart attack, colon cancer, and kidney failure. Studies also show that even one fatty meal can increase the risk of a cardiac event immediately following the meal.

"A better approach," states Dr. McDougall, "is to encourage people to eat foods that promote both ideal body weight and health--those from a high–complex carbohydrate, low-fat diet. You can see this for yourself when you look at various populations worldwide. For example, people living mostly on high-carbohydrate rice and vegetable dishes in Asia are trim throughout their lives with almost no risk of heart disease, diabetes or our common cancers."

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For an interview with Dr. McDougall, or a copy of the letter appearing in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings, please contact Jeanne S. McVey at 202-686-2210, ext. 316, or jeannem~pcrm.org.

This is the ultimate junk science.

WOW they're really grasping now! Sad, isn't it?

I'm so impressed that the Mayo Clinic journal printed a letter to the editor with all these dubious claims in it! They must all be true!

And if you write your press release just right, it makes it sound almost like the Mayo Clinic actually agrees with this fallacious crap, isn't that fun? It's a way of borrowing some of the illustrious fame of the Mayo Clinic to push your own brand of made-up nutrition theories!

Index of this month's Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

And they're wondering why no one is interested in interviewing him, they need to advertise the "opportunity"

Wa'il

McDougall is another low fat diet doctor who published a book and I believe he had a radio show that was popular for quite some time.

The spartan fat-free diet gurus are having a hard time selling books nowadays, so they're getting desperate. They had their heyday as gods and paragons, but they're out of fashion.

Do you REALLY think Dr. McDoGood is so very concerned with our health? Does he lie awake at night worrying about us?

Or is he worried about his bank account, and his whole world view.

Think how exasperating and scary life must be for the PCRM dolts like Ornish, and Barnard, and MacDougall. It's the ultimate nightmare. What they ALWAYS hoped to be true simply isn't true. And the world is changing around them.

Nobody is buying their views, their books, or their nonsense. It must be VERY unsettling for them to be so ignored, and so out of favor.

Fatigue??? I have more energy than ever and require less sleep than before LC.

It gets harder and harder to trust medical authoroties.

But maybe I will stop my severe "illness"-diet and get fat and healthy again...

PCRM != medical authority.

PCRM = nutty group of PETA affiliates

Just so you know.

If low carbing leaves you with no energy explain this. On Wednesday at 11 pm I was at work (normally an 8 hour shift) I was asked to stay on untill 11 am (a 12 hour shift) at about 10am thursday morning I was asked to stay on untill 3 pm in the afternoon. I went home and was back at work at 11pm for the last night shift of the week. So with no energy and being like someone on chemotherapy I was able to do a 16 hour shift followed, with a gap of 8 hours, a normal 8 hour shift.

Well actually you have no energy but because your brain is deprived of those crucial carbohydrates, you are mad and only think you have energy. You should expect to have an "Alien" moment soon with your body caving in itself from the calcium depletion and your kidneys exploding out of your body. The only good news is that no one will be around to witness such an horrific event because you will have driven away all your friends and family with your overpowering B.O.

But that will only occur if you don't develop instantaneous artereosclerosis and succumb to an MI on the third day of induction.

Related article (almost exactly the same, even!):

Low-carb diets make you sick

ANI[ WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10, 2004 10:21:09 PM ]

WASHINGTON: A long-time myth remains shattered. Thanks to new research which reveals that low-carb dieters manage to lose weight and show perceptible change in their levels of cholesterol, blood sugars, and blood pressures, because they are absolutely sickened by it.

In the current issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, John McDougall, an advisory board member of Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), explains that low-carb diets can throw people into a metabolic state called ketosis, that also occurs during severe illness. This diet-induced condition resembles the common side effects of cancer chemotherapy with fatigue, nausea, and loss of appetite for many people.

He further observes that people on low-carb diets who become ill enough to experience loss of appetite are taking in less fat and cholesterol, because they are consuming less food overall.

Although the same mechanism results in cholesterol levels falling in cancer patients, no doctor brags about weight loss and lower cholesterol caused by the toxic drugs used in chemotherapy.

Numerous studies reveal that many high-fat, low-carbohydrate dieters risk clogged arteries, heart attack, colon cancer, and kidney failure. Experiments also reveal that even one fatty meal can increase the risk of a cardiac event immediately following the meal.

"A better approach is to encourage people to eat foods that promote both ideal body weight and health--those from a high-complex carbohydrate, low-fat diet. You can see this for yourself when you look at various populations worldwide," McDougall said.

People living mostly on high-carbohydrate rice and vegetable dishes in Asia are trim throughout their lives with almost no risk of heart disease, diabetes or our common cancers, he went on to say.

And another:

Doctors attack 'benefits' of low-carb diets

- 10/03/2004 - The reason low-carb dieters often lose weight and sometimes show improvements in their cholesterol, blood sugars, and blood pressures is because they are, in essence, sickened by the diet, writes a doctor in a science journal published this week.

John McDougall, an advisory board member of Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), explains in his letter to this month's Mayo Clinic Proceedings (vol 79, no 3, p431) that low-carb diets can result in a metabolic state called ketosis that also occurs during severe illness, resembling the common side effects of cancer chemotherapy such as fatigue, nausea, and loss of appetite. People on low-carb diets who become ill enough to experience loss of appetite are taking in less fat and cholesterol, since they are consuming less food overall. It is this same mechanism that results in cholesterol levels falling in cancer patients, he suggests.

The low-carb Atkins diet has seen a strong following in the UK over recent months, with an estimated 3 million people changing to the regime to lose weight. Although some suspect it is merely a fad, the diet has stolen sales from other weight management products in North America, including the leading brand SlimFast.

There is rapid development of ‘low-carb’ brands in the US, with some of these making recent entries to the UK.

However nutritionists and medical experts continue to debate the health aspects of the diet, with many citing evidence to show that high-fat, low-carbohydrate dieters risk clogged arteries, heart attack, colon cancer, and kidney failure. Studies also show that even one fatty meal can increase the risk of a cardiac event immediately following the meal, says Dr McDougall.

"A better approach is to encourage people to eat foods that promote both ideal body weight and health--those from a high–complex carbohydrate, low-fat diet,” he said.

“For example, people living mostly on high-carbohydrate rice and vegetable dishes in Asia are trim throughout their lives with almost no risk of heart disease, diabetes or our common cancers."