New Scientist 22 March 1973 GV
Less than -c:x months after ViidForlKele
A
the book has achieved an 1111",C@o
ented
saig of more than 750000 hai-6-covcr
copies. Litt, along With the J)U10liC aC-
claini, Dr A11kins has found himself
--reasingly a pariah in -establishment
les. Earlier ',his nionth, both the
a cllk W#g-
sitbjecL-I)aril)s3,ci(;Ic)."y-~s one of great
interest in student circles. While the
paranorinal still carries the taira of
charlatanry and slal@c inaglciansltip that
A has borne for nearly a docade, it is
respcctabl,@
00C10ye to
":_ 9
1.9aL Oave_-Ili
American Medical Association and the
New York County Medical Society-
the former the equivalent of the BINIA,
the latter a local body that in Lheory has
disciplinary authority over Dr@ALRins-
went on record with public statements
that denounced the diet as unrevou-
tionary, unbalanced, and possibly unsafe.
The Atkins diet is a high-prolcin, low-
carbohydrate combination that for the
first week denies users all access to
carbohydrates-fruits, juices and vcge-
tables -is well as cake and ice cream-
and- thereafter allows thoin'to cat only
small amounts of f avotirite vegetables and
fruits. At the same time, patients arc
encouraged to cat as much meat, eg-es,
butter and similar fatty prodUcLs, as they
wish. The purpose of the diet is to put
the body in a state known as 11-ctosis: in
this state, incornpletely nictabolised fats
leave the body via the broath and urine.
The, effect, Atkins claims, is to allow the
dieter whose self-control leaves a lot
to be desired to consunie many more
calories thaii lie would under a normal
reducing diet without the penalty of put-
ting on extra pounds.
Atkins states that lie has tried out the
diet successfully on morc th.@.n 10000
patients in his private practice, but
-edical authorities dispute both the
idity and safety of the rol@imcn, In an
-,usual intervention, the A7
@LVs Council
on Foods and Nutrition issued a state-
ment describing the diet as "g-rossiy un-
balanced" and "unlikely to p-.oduce a
practical basis for long-term wciglit re-
duction". One basic concern of the
Council was the unlimited consuniption
of foods rich in saturated fats and
cholesterol allowed by the diet. Such
consumption, the Council declared, can
increase the dieter's risk of sufterin.-, circu-
latory disease or heart attacks. A week
after this attack, the other shoo dropped.
The New York County '.-NIedical Society
issued its own rebuttal of thc! (ji(,t with
the comment that "Llic adverse coffeas of
a ketogenic diet include weakness, lack
Of starnina for prolon.ged exertion, loss
Of appetite, hyperlipiderna and hyperLri-
cemia with 1.1heir potentially harmful
effects on the body".
In reply Atkins pointed out that neither
body had reviewed Wc unpi@bljslzcd
records of h's own clinical invcszi@ations
of obese patients he had put on the, diet,
and added that the A,%@A and the Society
had not in fact studied any group of
patients that had faklilully followed the
diet. He also su-gcstod that in many
cases the diet le
d to f&Es in the levels
Of cholesterol in the dieter. Obviously
"I'l-C is. little comn-non %round betwoer,
ir. two S;d(-@s and, as in -,iany sc:1nriti:!c
r, on, z c )u -,:c is 7L in
ceneral stale of coniusio'n."1,'Vhat:i`-i'
S all
.1ut certain, though, is that obese ATrc,-,:
itti.
1@ns are s, n.- ducks for the next diet to
--ne along that offers thi with
4nroveVi)r
The other example of the scientific
becoming more
as a topic of
study in scientift laboraLorics. In early
March two physicists froni the Stanford
Research Institute presented a Columbia
University Physics D--parLincrit col-
loquium with a report on recent studies
involving two psychics.
The colloquium had all the trappin,gs
of a grand sciontific occasion. The hall
was crowded with physics professors, the
parapsychologv establishment of New
York, Journalists, mid graduates and
undlargraduaLes attract@d either by
genuine interest or cullisli curiosity
Murmurin."s of excitemumt ;rccied the
alopearance of the SRI nhysiclsts-llussol
Their presenta-
Targ and Ifirold Piuoff.
Is France slowly becoming a BritL-;h
colony and will Frond., technology, in
some fields at "Clast, play "Indian" 'o
British maSters? Thc whole Moo of Gre.a
Britain taldng France over in cert! 'n
fields May sound boLli ludicrous ald
absurd, but the French -,lr,- taki;,.g it vacy
s c r i o u s I y. An orl-ganisation. call-ed
CACEPA, which kccps a wary eye un
French food technolo.gy, has dravm up a
report for French agricultural coopera-
tives makfng, it clear that if the presclit
penctration of British capital continucs
1 France will, eventually, just supply t'@ic
raNv materials from the fields, and the
British will carry out its transfo.rmattion
into superujarketable goods.
tion was certainly spectacular in a
scientific sense-a brief description of
experiments in which 'New York artist
and psychic I"no Swarin infitienced the
readings Of a' shielded raa@nctorneter
I , di
simply by thinking, followed by a film of
Israeli psychic (and sLa-,c magician) Uri
,cssion is i
Geller in action. Geller's pr@'
desiancd to raise the hacMcs of critics of
parapsycholo" , who ch-in] that scientists
'y
k@ ell
are simply too naive to cope with adopt
stage performers but, according to Targ,
he and his colleaque. took just about
every precaution imaginable-including Britain is not the only country within
consultin,,f with a professional magician- the Common 'Market v.-hich has sensicd
to make the experiments clicat-proof. For possibilities for expansion in food Loch-
too, are well in
example, they monitored Geller with a nolo,-,Y. The Dutch, L
rnagnetometer before and after every I evidence in France. But Britain letds
experiment, and conducted many of the with 63 per cent of commercial takcoA:rs
studies in double-blind fashion. Neverthe- against 26 per cent by the Dutch.
cent success Foreigners are now running &bo-at 20 per
less, Geller recorded 100
an a variety of studics that included cent of the French food industr".
reading figures concealed in double In 1972 forci.griers invested no IE@ss
-'@c French food
scaled envelopes, detecting hidden ob- than E52 million in -
jects in aluminium film cans, and causing ixidustries against Ell inillion five ye;irs
a laboratory balance to respond as if a a-o- this could be because French in.
V. I
force were being applied to it, estors are not prepare(,. to take a charice
The audience was generally friendly, i on their own food tecli;,,olo.@Y, which still
and questions were con@cerned more with remains stooped in traCii,@on and is Cer-
improyiny the experimental pi-ocedures tainly riddled with pre@u,!Iicc. Doniina-@ed
than withattackin, ' tho concep, of study- by the idea that Frencii cuisine tind
inrl psychics in the" laboratory. Targ was gastronomy hold a prollon'derant
LIS r d lic I
eqiually subdued in his conclusion: "We the average Frcnclini"@, 1'n i it' u t
do not claim that cit'nor man has psychic 1@ to reconcile himself to Lottled s,utccs. For
Powers," he said. "We draw no swceT)jn- example, tomato sauce is st:1111 almost
s -@urauts.
conclusions as to the nature of the c impossible to find in French rc@F-
phenomena or the need to call thern Frenchmen do not for
psychical, We have observed certain breakfast and have not yet b0C,)-,--c on-
pacriornena with the sulb;Kocts for which dea .red to pork pies, '6ut the
Ave have no sciontilic c-xplanation. All w markets stock thern ond sell t@'.Olr Ias
can say at this poinit is th6t: further they do dried soups, the popularity of
investintion is cloa:ly warranted." With which is ever increasin'E".
a caut'jous approach of this nature, it French opicures never go wittlinin '@00
could be that parapsycliolo,,.@y will finally yards of ii,supermarl.-cc but evea in this
undergo a "eruincly disinterested study country of coiinoisscur@, food habits are
its validiZy. Peter Gwynne clianeiii@ and packago3 nre roplacing !the
of
"fonds do veau" ivl'ich take hours to
prepz-.rc. 11cre, perhaps, is tho main
reason why Fronch fk,,,l tCC*11-,--,0,y is
'Xii
iz
and few will believe 'At, 'OUL thC
is clear.
The termination of t^hc Vietnam war iias
ance 'Is ' every
Releosq 2003/ -00999ANOW0630029-9r, :I
@O
other country, althoug, it not pat-Licularly