Results from a 20-year study by the Harvard School of Public Health show that a low-carb diet doesn't increase the risk of heart disease -- that risk being the bugaboo used by opponents of Atkins and the South Beach diet. This is more good news for me, as I have been on a low-carb diet (on-and-off) for nearly a year (and have lost 24 kilos).

Other news is that there is a diabetes epidemic waiting to happen in the developing world and amongst indigenous peoples. Why? Because they have adopted "Western" diets. What does that mean? It means refined carbohydrates in abundance. Corn syrup. Sugar. Empty calories. A surge in insulin-related problems due to carbohydrate-induced blood sugar instability. The typical sugar / carb-filled Western diet is extremely unhealthy and, low-carb advocates say, a literal recipe for a diabetes disaster.

I never could see how eating nutritionally empy white bread, pasta, rice, pop tarts and pot noodles could be healthier than eating meat, fish and vegetables with some berries and nuts thrown in... Sure there may be healthier diets than Atkins, but they are so restrictive that people can't stick to them -- so they have little practical use.