Accusation #3:
AtkinsFacts.org Relies on "Mere Opinions"
In the face of this substantial medical evidence, most claims on your website constitute either exaggerated or scientifically undemonstrated statements, mere opinions from medical professionals or organizations...
"Mere opinions" from medical professionals or organizations? This is exactly the tack the tobacco industry took. When the American Cancer Society and others condemned smoking, the tobacco corporations said that the smoking-lung cancer link was "mere opinion."[833] Now that the American Cancer Society has similarly warned against low-carb diets, your response seems the same. The tobacco industry also called the smoking-disease link "exaggerated"[834] and "undemonstrated"[835] as well.
The official published statements of medical organizations are not "mere opinion." The American Medical Association uses 56 citations to back up its condemnation of the Atkins Diet. The American Heart Association uses 54 in its warning about low-carb diets . The Chair of Harvard's nutrition department uses 35. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reviews 198. The American Dietetic Association used 16 in its warning about the Atkins Diet. To dismiss the reasoned, independent, objective evaluations of these organizations as "mere opinions" is to devalue the scientific process.
I think it is reasonable to hold the "mere opinions" of the American Cancer Society, the American Institute for Cancer Research, the American Kidney Fund, the American Obesity Association, the American Association of Diabetes Educators, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, the Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Clinic, Cornell, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, Tufts, the University of California at Davis, the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center, and Jean Mayer, probably the most widely acclaimed nutritionist in American history, as more compelling than the "mere opinions" of Atkins Nutritionals, Inc.
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