Farming lobby "pushed for warnings on Atkins diet" Sunday Telegrapgh
At least one journalist is taking note!
Farming lobby 'pushed for warnings on Atkins diet'
By Charlotte Edwardes
(Filed: 05/10/2003)
Nutritionists have accused US government health officials of issuing "groundless" warnings against the Atkins diet because they are influenced excessively by the farming lobby.
A high-powered committee of food specialists said that official warnings were driven by farmers who wanted to protect their sales of wheat. The nutritionists told an American Senate hearing last week that the public was being "misled" over what constitutes a healthy diet.
The hearing was called to revise official guidelines on diet. The seven-strong panel of specialists agreed that the principle of eating more protein and fewer carbohydrates - the foundation of the Atkins diet - would reverse the rapid increase in obesity in America and Britain. Two-thirds of Americans and half of Britons are overweight or obese.
The controversy in America follows the disclosure two months ago that a British nutritionist who was one of the diet's fiercest critics was in the pay of the flour lobby.
The nutritionists told the hearing in Washington that "low-fat" diets were devised by people linked to the grain and potato industry in an attempt to drive weightconscious consumers towards their products. In fact, the nutritionists said, these diets make people fatter.
Official guidelines drawn up 10 years ago by America's Department of Agriculture for use in schools and hospitals recommend six to 11 servings of carbohydrates, such as bread, pasta, sugars and potatoes a day (one serving is the equivalent of one slice of bread) and very few saturated fats.
Senator Peter Fitzgerald, who chaired the committee, said: "Putting the Department of Agriculture in charge of dietary guidelines is like putting the fox in charge of the henhouse."
Walter Willett, a professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, who was also on the committee that met for three hours on Tuesday, added: "Looking at some of the recommendations from the Department of Agriculture gives the idea that they've forgotten that we are feeding people, not horses."
The Atkins diet, which has 15 million followers in the United States and three million in Britain, stipulates a high concentration of protein and fat, such as eggs, meat and cheese, and a reduced intake of carbohydrates.
Among its devotees are Hollywood actors such as Jennifer Aniston, Renee Zellweger and Catherine Zeta Jones.
The diet has come under fire from officials on both sides of the Atlantic who claim that it can cause the onset of diabetes, cancer, kidney failure, bone disorders, constipation and other health complications.
Two months ago Dr Susan Jebb, one of Britain's leading nutrition experts, condemned the diet, saying that highprotein, high-fat, low-carbohydrate regimes were "a major health risk" and based on "pseudo-science".
She recommended exercise and a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet as the best solution to Britain's obesity crisis.
Later, however, Dr Jebb, who is the head of nutrition and health research at Britain's Medical Research Council (MRC), was found to have accepted a £20,000 grant for the MRC from the Flour Advisory Bureau - the lobbying and consumer arm of the National Association of British and Irish Millers - to conduct its research.
Other lobby groups have been more transparent in their criticism of the regime. Last week the Atkins diet was blamed for a slump in the sales of fish and chips. The National Fish Fryers' Association attacked the diet and called on the public to back traditional food.
A spokesman said: "It would be an absolute tragedy to see one of the UK's most important trademarks slip into a decline because of a shortlived diet fad. Not only are potatoes great for energy, they are low in salt, virtually fat-free, cholesterol-free and provide important vitamins and minerals."
Dr Stuart Lawrence Trager, the clinical assistant professor of orthopaedic surgery at Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia, who is also a consultant at the Atkins Centre for Complementary Medicine in New York, said that the myth that something "fat-free" was good was part of the problem and that the public needed re-educating. "People have been led to believe that all carbohydrates are good for them and that to eat an unlimited diet of them is healthy. People are told that fat is bad.
"They go home and eat low-fat crisps, cookies and muffins that may have hundreds of calories and be loaded with simple sugars but have very little fat. People think they can have fizzy drinks with tablespoons of sugar and unlimited bread. It's a mixed message and this advice contributes to obesity."
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