Science

• Frontline: Diet Wars: an NPR correspondent interviewed policy makers, nutritionists, physicians specializing in obesity and cardiovascular health, and the most famous names in the diet industry, including the creators of the Ornish diet and South Beach.  He put himself on one of these diets, he met Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, at the time when she was the face of Weight Watchers.  It provides a good, unbiased look at the recent history of obesity in the US, the theories and facts behind the different popular diets out there, and really showcases the fact that the experts on nutrition STILL disagree on what is the best way to lose weight and keep it off.  Of interest is the interplay between the feds and their public health policies in the 70s and 80s, the media and the weight loss industry - it is its own version of the iron triangle.

• Harvard School of Public Health Nutrition Source: includes William Willett's revised food pyramid, includes exercise at the bottom of the pyramid and cautions against eating "American staples", including processed meats, refined grains, potatoes and sugary drinks.  Not based on low carb, but it recognizes that healthy fats are as important as fresh vegetables and whole grains.  If this type of a revised food pyramid replaced the outdated version currently in place, it could revolutionize the way our children eat in public schools today, and help curb the childhood obesity epidemic.

• Study: The effects of a low-carbohydrate, ketogenic diet on the polycystic ovary syndrome: A pilot study, by John C Mavropoulos,William S Yancy, Juanita Hepburn, and Eric C Westman.

• Study: Resistance training in overweight women on a ketogenic diet conserved lean body mass while reducing body fat, by Pal T Jabekk,Ingvild A Moe,Helge D Meen,Sissel E Tomten, and Arne T Høstmark.

• Revealing the molecular relationship between type 2 diabetes and the metabolic changes induced by a very-low-carbohydrate low-fat ketogenic diet, by Judith Farrés, Albert Pujol, Mireia Coma, Jose Luis Ruiz, Jordi Naval, José Manuel Mas, Agustí Molins, Joan Fondevila, and Patrick Aloy.  This study identifies two complementary hypothesis of the functional relationship between the molecules involved in the insulin resistance pathway and the ketogenic diet: a) Elements of lipid metabolism may facilitate proper cellular localization of glucose transporter and recycling and b) Ketone bodies can alleviate certain inflammatory processes by blocking specific cytokines.

• Spanish Ketogenic Mediterranean diet: a healthy cardiovascular diet for weight loss, Joaquín Pérez-Guisado, Andrés Muñoz-Serrano, and Ángeles Alonso-Moraga.  This is a ketogenic diet, with minimum weekly requirements of fish consumption, min-max daily requirements of red wine consumption, minimum daily requierments of olive oil consumption
• "SKMD is an effective therapy for obesity without caloric restriction. This might be due to the fact that there is a synergic effect between the high protein ketogenic nature of the diet and its richness in MUFA and PUFA. We don't have data about the percentage of body fat and lean body mass lost. Nevertheless we think that there was a more selective fat loss because we didn't observe the flaccidity physical aspect that we have observed before with hypocaloric diets, and subjects had a physical aspect similar to a liposuction, since fat was removed from many different fat specific deposit areas, including the abdomen, thighs, hips, buttocks, waist, neck and upper arms."  (Emphasis added).