(Another) attack on Dr. Atkins

The Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) is launching an ad campaign that will begin appearing this week. The ads warn doctors that if they prescribe unhealthy diets, they may be liable for their patients’ resulting health problems. The ads also encourage patients to launch lawsuits against doctors who have advised them to use diets that they feel have compromised their health.

The primary culprit, according to PCRM, is Dr. Robert C. Atkins, the author of “Dr. Atkins’ New Diet Revolution.” And while it’s nothing new for the Atkins diet to come under criticism, to my knowledge, this is the first attempt to criminalize it.

The president of PCRM, Dr. Neal Barnard, says that the ad campaign is designed to “get purveyors of bad diets to back off and provide healthier diets.”

The arrogance of that comment is pretty astounding – as if Dr. Barnard alone has the last word on what constitutes a healthy diet.

I can only imagine what Dr. Barnard’s reaction must have been last month if he read the New York Times Magazine cover story titled “What if It’s All Been a Big Fat Lie?” As I’ve mentioned before (“Taking a Brody” 7/10/02), this article addressed the debate over the low-carbohydrate/high-fat diet promoted most famously by Dr. Atkins, and showed how many doctors and researchers in the nutrition establishment have come around to Dr. Atkins’ point of view. The article has been followed by a flood of media attention; you can barely turn on the TV without seeing a story on the truth behind the high protein diet. That could mean that Dr. Barnard’s ad will end up in the middle of a Dateline NBC story on just how beneficial the Atkins diet really is, probably right between ads for McDonald’s and KFC.

To Your Good Health,

Jenny Thompson
Health Sciences Institute