Carbophobia!: The Scary Truth About America's Low-Carb Craze
Michael Greger, MD

I’m surprised that people actually believe that they could lose weight on a diet full of saturated fat and cholesterol. How is it that the Atkins diet has caught on the way it has?
The Atkins diet tells people what they want to hear, but what they want to hear is killing them.

In Carbophobia, you quote Dr. Atkins describing ketosis as being “as delightful as sunshine and sex.” What exactly is ketosis?
Ketosis is a pathological state into which your body falls when you starve your body of its preferred fuels, carbohydrates. Atkins followers are initially forced to live off so much grease that toxic byproducts like acetone and other ketones build up to such a level that they spill out into the breath, causing the characteristic Atkins “rotten apple breath.”

Considering how many people are on lowcarb diets or contemplating going on such diets, why don’t we hear more about the dangers in mainstream media?
Let’s take the case of the investigation by child health specialists of the death of the Missouri teen that was blamed on the Atkins diet. When her parents held a press conference to report, “Atkins killed our little girl,” it was reported in New Zealand and South Africa and other countries around the world, but out of the dozens of reports that made it into papers around the globe, only a tiny handful made it into the American press. Perhaps this is because Atkins is so litigious, seemingly ready to use their corporate lawyers to intimidate anyone who dares speak out about the dangers associate with their diet. In fact, I reprint a threat from the Atkins Corporation in one of the chapters of the book with a point-by-point rebuttal to their attempt to silence decades of research showing that low-carb diets carry serious health risks.

Does the falling popularity of the Atkins Diet make you optimistic?
More and more people are realizing that these low carb diets are not only unscientific and dangerous, but simply ineffective for sustained weight loss.

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