Healthy magazine is the magazine by Holland and Barrett which comes out every two months. In the Jan/Feb edition, it had a series of articles on weight loss and diets. Normally I find the magazine fairly balanced. But the "special report" in this edition moved me to send them the following e-mail:

"I was most disappointed in your special report on weight loss in the Jan/Feb edition of your usually reliable and informative magazine. You invited a dietician to comment on some recent weight-loss trends. Frankly, it would have been more credible if she had bothered to educate herself about the "trends" she was allegedly commenting on

Talking about the Atkins diet, she commented: "The diet cuts out all fruit and veg in the first fortnight for a start". Anyone who had bothered to read Dr Atkins New Diet Revolution would know immediately that this is an outright falsehood. For the first two weeks "shock tactics" Induction period, carbs are indeed limited to 20g per day. But it is expressly stated that this allows for two salads and one generous helping of vegetables. Clearly your "expert" has not bothered to do the most basic research before giving you her so-called "expert" opinion

I for one find that, since following a low-carb diet, I am eating more vegetables than I ever did when I lived on "low-fat" food as endorsed by the food industry and the mainstream experts, under whose "expertise" it is an indubitable fact that the populace has grown fatter and fatter.

I have very much enjoyed your magazine over recent years, and find it sad to see your usually high standards reduced to this level of ignorance and incorrect information."