Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #117921

Amy Joy Lanou, PhD, Simon Chaitowitz, and Neal D. Barnard, MD. Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, 5100 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC 20016, 202-686-2210 ext. 354, alanou@pcrm.org

Concern about the potential harmful effects of high-protein, high-fat, carbohydrate restricted diets is widespread among health professionals. These diets skew nutritional intake toward higher-than-recommended amounts of dietary cholesterol, fat, saturated fat, and protein, and very low levels of fiber and other protective dietary constituents, and put individuals at risk of compromised vitamin and mineral intake. When followed over the long term, these dietary patterns are associated with increased risk of colorectal cancer, cardiovascular disease, impaired renal function, osteoporosis, and complications of diabetes. In order to warn individuals about the potentially harmful effects of carbohydrate-restricted diets, a non-profit organization, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) has conducted an educational campaign over two years that has utilized a devoted website featuring an “an adverse events” registry, a series of public service announcements, limited amounts of controversial paid print and web advertising, opinion editorials, letters to the editors of papers around the country and to government officials, a series of reports and press releases, and a press conference featuring doctors and people who had suffered adverse consequences from being on a carbohydrate-restricted diet, among other efforts. Through the “adverse events” registry, PCRM has collected over 1000 reports from individuals who feel that they have suffered health consequences from carbohydrate-restricted diets and this data is under review by the Centers for Disease Control. Today, the popularity of these risky diets is declining. Economical ways to utilize communications technologies to shift health-related behaviors will be discussed.

Learning Objectives:

• 1. Identify 6 effective methods for disseminating important health information using the Internet and mass media on a modest budget
• 2. Explain how a website can be used to interactively encourage a specific behavior change and to generate useful data documenting risks of a potentially risky health behavior
• 3. Discuss the potential long and short-term dangers of low-carbohydrate diets for weight loss
• 4. Brainstorm message or organization specific innovative communication methods for conveying behavior change messages

Keywords: Communication Technology, Nutrition

Related Web page: www.atkinsdietalert.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation