We Need Your Help, Please!

[laversano]

Hi everyone, my name is Lindsay; I am working with the Nutrition & Metabolism Society. Just wanted to make sure you were aware of the petition sponsored by a member of the society. The petition asks the NIH to acknowledge existing science and fund research by experts in carbohydrate restriction.
The following is Dr. Feinman’s request:

Biomedical science needs your help. You can sign a petition at
To the NIH - Please acknowledge existing science ! - The Petition Site
that is a first step towards trying to bring rationality back to medicine.

The results from the ACCORD study were recently published in New England Journal of Medicine. Even to those of us used to the excesses of medical science, this is quite remarkable. The conclusions, as stated in the abstract, are
"As compared with standard therapy, the use of intensive therapy to target normal glycated hemoglobin levels for 3.5 years increased mortality and did not significantly reduce major cardiovascular events. These findings identify a previously unrecognized harm of intensive glucose lowering in high-risk patients with type 2 diabetes."

The intensive therapy is not described (certainly unlikely to include carbohydrate restriction) and, in fact, includes numerous different drugs in different combinations. Rather than identifying which of the treatments might cause the increased mortality, authors jump to the conclusion that lowering HbA1c is the culprit. This lack of scientific reasoning would not be accepted from an undergraduate student.

Scientists are stymied. Fighting with the NIH is, of course, generally not a career builder, and in any case, the number of people involved in the trial numbers in the hundreds and who will stand up alone to the writing committee? Only the public can help.

A first step is to sign the petition at
To the NIH - Please acknowledge existing science ! - The Petition Site
Please help.

Richard Feinman
Professor of Biochemistry
SUNY Downstate Medical Center

[DorianH]

Very convincing petition. Do you have a link to read the actual ACCORD study in its entirety?

[IvanC]

Hi, Dorian -
Here is the link to the published study:

NEJM -- Effects of Intensive Glucose Lowering in Type 2 Diabetes

Also, you may be interested in the lead articles on the Nutrition & Metabgolism Society's home page. Nutrition & Metabolism Society - Home


The one by Dr. Westman of Duke University, & Dr. Mary C. Vernon is
specifically a perspective on the ACCORD Study
( Nutrition & Metabolism | Full text | Has carbohydrate-restriction been forgotten as a treatment for diabetes mellitus? A perspective on the ACCORD study design )

I hope this helps!