Weighing in on Warshaw

This site has never been much about diet or food, and certainly not about diabetes -- and I'm not exactly the food and nutrition blogger of this family -- but I find myself compelled to put in my own two cents on the matter of the recent article in Diabetes Health, written by Hope Warshaw, a "diabetes expert" who has written several books published by the American Diabetes Association. In a nutshell, Warshaw claims that using a very low-carbohydrate diet to treat type II diabetes is "old dogma", and recommends that diabetics consume 45-65% of their daily caloric intake in the form of carbohydrates, as per USDA "MyPlate" recommendations.

The "low-carb blogosphere" (LCB) has, as many have pointed out, been abuzz about this article since it appeared two weeks ago. I will link below to every response that I know of, but first, I want to share (or re-share) one of the first things that jumped into my mind when I read her advice that diabetics should consume lots of carbohydrates ("healthy" ones, of course), and cover their inevitable blood glucose increases with medication. If you have not yet read the article, you should go and do so now -- and be sure to read through the comments section.

That thing of which I was reminded is a flyer produced by the Nutrition and Metabolism Soceity that Dana brought back from the NMS conference last spring. (I am going to put the plug for NMS right up front here, because if you are honked off about this -- and I think you should be -- then the most important and effective thing you can do right now is to go join this organization.) You can see an image of the flyer here, but the text is really what is important. Side one states:

Every 10 seconds a person dies from diabetes-related causes.

Diabetes is a disease of carbohydrate intolerance.

Who gives carbohydrates to diabetics?

Side two:

The ADA (American Diabetes Association) says...

"Your digestive system turns carbohydrates into sugar quickly and easily."

"Carbohydrate is the food that most influences blood glucose levels."

"The more carbohydrates you eat, the higher your blood glucose goes."

"And the higher your blood glucose, the more insulin you need to move the sugar into your cells."

"The food pyramid is an easy way to remember the healthiest way to eat. The food you need most is at the bottom."

"At the bottom of the pyramid are bread, cereal, rice and pasta. These foods contain mostly carbohydrates."

"You need six to eight servings of these foods per day."

(Quoted from the ADA website 2007.)

WE DON'T GET IT EITHER.

Well, I took a look at the top-level donors to the ADA, and I think I'm starting to get it: all drug companies, plus one medical supply company. A corporation's first priority is to its shareholders -- they are legally obligated to maximize shareholders' returns. That's just the way it is; whether it's good or bad depends on the situation. The more people who need a company's products, the higher the profits. Companies hire advertisers to convince consumers that they need a certain product, like a shiny new car, or some "new improved" dog food. How do they get more people to need more diabetes medication? Having a best-selling "diabetes educator" advising diabetics (knowingly or otherwise) to eat lots and lots of "healthy" carbs certainly doesn't hurt that cause.

The NMS flyer really says it all. Since nobody else had mentioned it, I thought I would do the honors. In fact, I first brought it up during the recording of Jimmy Moore's Low-Carb Conversations, on which I will be a guest, along with Kim Eidson. The episode will "air" this Friday, so be sure to tune in!

What Others Are Saying

As I mentioned, I am far from the first to write about this latest brouhaha (brouhaha???), so I want to end with a whole slew of links to articles written by far better low-carb bloggers than I will ever be.

Top line must go to my wife, Dana Carpender, who explains How To Enrage the Low Carb Community. (If you would rather listen than read, Dana covers much of the same material in her recent podcast, Hope Warshaw Makes No Sense.)

Tom Naughton has been doing some very amusing head-to-desk banging on this whole issue. (Sorry, Tom! We are entertained by your self-abuse!)
Stand Up and Say "Nuts!"
"Nuts!" to the Nutty Diabetes "Expert"
Hope Warshaw's Pepsi Challenge

Fred Hahn asks, Is There Any Hope for Diabetes?

Following on the pun, Jimmy Moore poses the question, Where is the 'Hope' for Diabetics, Ms. Warshaw? (and lists several other articles pulled from the LCB that I have not gotten around to reading... yet).

Amy Dungan (Healthy Low-Carb Living) pulls off the emperor's clothes, and exposes the ADA's industry funding, in Pot, Meet Kettle.

Like myself, Hank Garner (Low-Carb Journey) does not normally write this kind of blog. But, also like me, he "just had to say something," and says it quite well in his post, Diabetes Mismanagement.

"Other Dana" Seilhan (the Low-Carb Curmudgeon) passes along the so-called experts' go-ahead to "Eat nothing but S'mores all day, as long as you have good A1C." (Warning: Other Dana can get a bit "crunchy" with the language -- not exactly "safe for kids." Read her anyway!)

Every single one of these articles is well worth your time to read, and each comes at the issue from a more-or-less different perspective. As for me, it's time for breakfast!