Neal D. Barnard is a medical doctor, author, clinical researcher, and president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), a national network of physicians and lay supporters that supports preventive medicine. He also initiated the Cancer Project, a program for cancer prevention, research, and nutritional assistance to cancer patients. Barnard is an outspoken advocate of low-fat, vegetarian diets.

Barnard grew up in Fargo, N.D. He received his M.D. from George Washington University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C. He is now an adjunct associate professor of medicine at GWU and is also a life member of the American Medical Association.

Barnard's work has appeared in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the Journal of American Medical Association, and the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, among other scientific and medical journals. He has written numerous books about nutrition for lay readers. These include The Power of Your Plate (1990), Eat Right, Live Longer (1995), and Breaking the Food Seduction (2003).

One of Barnard's most high-profile causes is his opposition to low-carb diets. In media interviews, books, and on the web, he has expressed the opinion that low-carb diets pose a serious threat to public health. For example, he has written that low carb diets have "convinced millions of people to buy into two dangerous notions: that avoiding carbohydrates is the key to weight loss, and that high-fat, high-cholesterol foods pose essentially no risk."

References

• Barnard, Neal D. (2004). The controversy over Dr. Atkins' health (http://www.pcrm.org/magazine/gm04SpringSummer/gm04SpringSummer01.html). Good Medicine, XIII (2–3), pp. 6–8.

External links

• Neal D. Barnard, M.D. (http://www.nealbarnard.org/)
• Interview with Dr. Neal Barnard by Salon.com (http://dir.salon.com/people/conv/2001/03/12/barnard/index.html)
• Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (http://www.pcrm.org/)
• The Cancer Project (http://www.cancerproject.org/)
• Atkins Diet Alert (http://www.atkinsdietalert.org/)