For Shame

Today, another first!  When I got onto a yahoo page, I saw that "low carb diets" were trending.  Curious, I clicked on the link to see what Yahoo would give me.

Well, I'll have ta say, I guess they really ARE a bunch of yahoos!  Wedged between two versions of the now-famous twin-doctor-brothers-eating-really-bad-diets (bro-science at its best?) story was a link to "Grain News".

Did you know that the newest low carb news is that diets are fads?  Yep, read it on the internet.  I wonder how much Grainnet has been paying for all this bread placement.  A quick look at what yahoo thinks are the top links were decidedly hostile to low carb, including the famous WebMD article that has been making the rounds in the lowcarb-o-sphere recently.

If you haven't yet seen it, here is the laughable post on WebMD.  It is so bad, it is even funny.  Now don't go and close that link yet, because there will be a quiz later.

Careful readers might remember that WebMD was investigated for it's chummie ties to the pharma industry, especially with its treatment of depression in their posts, and the tie-ins with a major sponsor.  (Read about it here!)   Looks like WebMD is still at it.

I don't know about you, but when I went on to the WebMD link, Belviq ads were all over the place.  On the right side, down on the left, with all sorts of helpful links to convince people to take the weight loss drug if for some reason that low carb fad diet thing isn't working.

Page 2 offered up a huge ad for Tradjenta, a drug that will help people reduce HbA1c if for some reason that low carb fad diet thing isn't working.

Now I am sure these are perfectly fine drugs, with wonderful clinical trials blah blah blah.  One way to increase sales is to get some pseudo-scientific site spoon out lots of mis-information about some fad diet that will probably induce weight loss and/or reduction in HbA1c, enough mis-information so most folks won't even try the fad diet.

For shame! 

OK, so here's the quiz.

1.  What are the effects of a low carb diet?
a.  weight loss
b.  reduction in HbA1c
c.  better mood
d.  less allergies
e.  all of the above

2.  What are the negative side effects of a low carb diet?
a.  bad breath
b.  constipation
c.  vegans won't eat lunch with you
d.  your kidney's will explode
e.  we do not know.  The diet hasn't been adequately studied by Harvard.

3.  What are the side effects of taking the drug Belviq?
a.  bradycardia
b.  painful erections lasting for more than 4 hours
c.  depression or thoughts of suicide
d.  valvular heart disease
e.  all of the above

4.  What are the side effects of Tradjenta?
a.  pancreatitis
b.  sore throat
c.  weight GAIN
d.  muscle or joint pain
e.  all of the above