Atkins Study Flawed

Newsweek has published an article by Dr. Dean Ornish. It's a critique of a new study analyzing the Atkins diet, a Mediterranean diet and a low-fat diet.

The article is three pages long, but here are some of the interesting points:

n Ornish finds flaws with the study, which was funded in part by the Atkins Foundation.

n The low-fat group's fat intake, which followed guidelines from the American Heart Association, wasn't nearly as low as Ornish recommends.

n The Atkins group was "counseled to choose vegetarian sources of fat and protein and to avoid trans fat." However, in a traditional Atkins diet meat is highly recommended.

n In Ornish's own studies researchers found "reversal of coronary heart disease after only one month, even more reversal after one year, and still more improvement after five years."

n Ornish also found that his diet could stop or even reverse early prostate cancer.

n Ornish contends that people who eat a meat-based diet need a high HDL cholesterol level to rid their body of meat's cholesterol. But in vegans, he maintains, the HDL level doesn't need to be as high because they don't have as much "garbage" to get out of their bodies.

I encourage you to read this article. You're the only one who can take care of your body.

(Image courtesy of PETA.)