Newswise — Nutritionists with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine are urging the top ten U.S. hospitals to ban the Atkins Diet. The nonprofit is hoping the institutions will follow the lead of England's Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, which just announced that it would ban the controversial diet from its menus. British hospital officials fear the diet, which was condemned by the government-funded Medical Research Council last week because of its link to kidney damage, is not safe enough for its patients.
PCRM will encourage a similar policy in letters next week to Johns Hopkins Hospital (Baltimore); the Mayo Clinic (Rochester, Minn.); UCLA Medical Center (Los Angeles); Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston); Cleveland Clinic; Duke University Medical Center (Durham, N.C.); the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center; Barnes-Jewish Hospital (St. Louis); the University of Michigan Medical Center (Ann Arbor); and the University of Washington Medical Center (Seattle).
"U.S. hospitals would be wise to emulate Britain's Norfolk and Norwich Hospital and protect their patients from the dangerous Atkins Diet," says PCRM nutrition director Amy Joy Lanou, Ph.D. "Hospitals that serve meat-heavy, fatty foods might be good at keeping their beds filled, but they're doing little to improve patient health. Research has clearly shown that high-protein, meat-heavy diets increase the risk of osteoporosis and kidney disorders and that low-fat vegetarian diets help prevent heart disease, diabetes, some cancers, and other health problems."
PCRM is in the process of reviewing food served at top hospitals across the country for a major report to be released next year. It's unclear at this point if any U.S. hospitals actually serve the Atkins diet.
A recently published study showed that a growing number of U.S. hospitals are allowing fast-food companies to operate in their cafeterias.
For more information about the health risks associated with high-protein diets, visit http://www.AtkinsDietAlert.org. Founded in 1985, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is a nonprofit health organization that promotes preventive medicine, especially good nutrition. PCRM also conducts clinical research studies, opposes unethical human experimentation, and promotes alternatives to animal research. PCRM's full-page ad (http://www.SafeDiets.org/ads.html) warning of the dangers of the Atkins Diet ran in U.S. News & World Report's recent "Best Hospitals" issue.
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