Dean Ornish Explains Why JAMA Dietary Study is Flawed

In a Newsweek online column, M.D. Dean Ornish explains why he disagrees with a new study that compared four diets, including his. Hear, hear!

Here are two excerpts:

1. March 6, 2007 - A study came out today in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) claiming that you can lose more weight on an Atkins diet than an Ornish, Zone, or LEARN (Lifestyle, Exercise, Attitudes, Relationships and Nutrition) diet and—ta dah!—(drum roll, maestro), it’s even better for your heart! I imagine that a lot of people are going to be saying, “You mean I’ve been eating fruits and vegetables for all these years for nothing when I could have been eating bacon and eggs? What was I thinking!”

2. [In the study of the Ornish diet] There was a direct correlation between how well people adhered to the diet and how much blockage there was in their coronary arteries. There were 2.5 times fewer cardiac events such as heart attacks, and 99 percent of these patients stopped or reversed the progression of their heart disease. These are actual measures of heart disease, not just risk factors such as changes in cholesterol levels. So, for the study that came out today in JAMA to say that the Atkins diet is just as good for your heart as an Ornish diet makes me a little crazy, since they didn’t measure heart disease, only risk factors.