[Research] Atkin's Study Dispute

[RobinN]

"...a recent observational study comparing animal and plant-based diets. The cohort study, which was published last week in the Annals of Internal Medicine, studied long-term mortality rates among groups of men and women from two earlier studies who were put on different versions of ‘animal-based’ and ‘plant-based’ diets for a period of time. There is so much wrong going on here that I’m not even sure where to start- but there are two major reasons why Ornish’s article is so wrong and misleading (and, dare I say dishonest?).

http://abundantbrain.com/2010/09/why-dean-ornish-is-wrong/


The study that is being disputed:
http://www.annals.org/content/153/5/289.abstract

The Huffington Post's article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-dean-ornish/an-atkins-diet-increases-_b_707005.html

 

[Endless]

I don't know about the animal-based diet that is extremely high in meat, like the Atkins diet. I haven't researched that at all so I don't have an opinion one way or another. I think the atkins part of the article is the part Robin is objecting to.

The article IS right about the plant-based diet. Thousands of studies over the last 50 years have confirmed that people who eat plant-based diets have lower rates of heart disease, some types of cancer, and type 2 diabetes. In fact the mortality rate due to ischemic heart disease is 26% lower among vegans. Overall end death rates aren't as far apart from each other, probably due to the excellent care we get nowdays for cardiac and diabetes. Me - I'd rather go without the diseases in the first place. The research has been so replicated and so reliable, it's not debated much anymore. In addition to the physical benefits, some research has shown lower rates of depression for those with a vegan diet. I haven't seen as much replication in the depression studies, so I think the jury is still out on that one.

Here are links to a study that combined the results of many studies of thousands of people:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10479225
http://www.veganhealth.org/articles/dxrates

People have to make sure they eat a balanced diet if they don't eat meat, but they should be doing that anyway no matter what type of diet they follow. It's not good to just rely on pills alone.

 

[RobinN]

I didn't mean to put any personal tone to my post.

I was just passing on the information, that I think we all know, but rarely is it called what it is. Sometimes we place far too much importance on such "studies". They tend to be gospel, even when flawed.

 

[Endless]

Not personal at all... just getting the facts out there.