Fwd: Hi everyone, my name is Lindsay; I am working with the Nutrition & Metabolism Society. Just wanted to make sure you were aware of the petition sponsored by a member of the society. The petition asks the NIH to acknowledge existing science and fund research by experts in carbohydrate restriction.
The following is Dr. Feinman’s request:

Biomedical science needs your help. You can sign a petition at
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/get...perts-who-have or you can contact me directly at lovinglife1 [at ]gmail.com
that is a first step towards trying to bring rationality back to medicine.

The results from the ACCORD study were recently published in New England Journal of Medicine. Even to those of us used to the excesses of medical science, this is quite remarkable. The conclusions, as stated in the abstract, are
"As compared with standard therapy, the use of intensive therapy to target normal glycated hemoglobin levels for 3.5 years increased mortality and did not significantly reduce major cardiovascular events. These findings identify a previously unrecognized harm of intensive glucose lowering in high-risk patients with type 2 diabetes."

The intensive therapy is not described (certainly unlikely to include carbohydrate restriction) and, in fact, includes numerous different drugs in different combinations. Rather than identifying which of the treatments might cause the increased mortality, authors jump to the conclusion that lowering HbA1c is the culprit. This lack of scientific reasoning would not be accepted from an undergraduate student.

Scientists are stymied. Fighting with the NIH is, of course, generally not a career builder, and in any case, the number of people involved in the trial numbers in the hundreds and who will stand up alone to the writing committee? Only the public can help.

A first step is to sign the petition at thepetitionsigt . com or you can contact me directly at lovinglife1@gmail.com

Please help.

Richard Feinman
Professor of Biochemistry
SUNY Downstate Medical Center

Howdy, folks. Usually the announcment are posted by staff as you know; I approved this post, though, as the issue is one I agree with.

Lindsaya, you may want to follow up here with some links to further info about the Accord study to help folks understand what the deal with it was and why it's something to be concerned about.

Thanks!

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Here's a post about this from our blog feeds - More ACCORD - Weight of the Evidence

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