Australian diet plan slammed

Australia's most popular diet plan — and the government science institute that backs it — is under fire for recommending excessive meat consumption and for its links with the meat and livestock industry.

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia's largest independent, scientific, industrial research body, touts the diet, published in book form as The CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet, as beneficial for all. But according to an editorial in Nature (2005;438:1052) „the published research indicates that it is superior to a high carbohydrate diet only for a sub-population of overweight women with symptoms of metabolic dysfunction.” It states that marketing of the book as „scientifically proven” was „decidedly unsavoury” and criticized Australia's national research agency for attaching its name to the book.

Leading Australian nutritionists Rosemary Stanton and Dr. John Tickell recently wrote an open letter to Prime Minister John Howard, expressing concern that the diet contains too much meat and asking him to review the book.

The CSIRO diet recommends 800 grams of red meat a week and up to 300 grams of meat daily; the Australian Government's Guide to Healthy Eating recommends 65 to 100 grams of lean red meat 3 to 4 times a week.

The Meat and Livestock Industry Australia partly funded the research that supports the dietary recommendations.

Responding to the debate the Australian Health Minister Tony Abbott backed his government's guidelines on the National Health and Medical Research Council Web site.

The CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet has sold more than 550 000 copies in Australia (outselling Harry Potter and The Da Vinci Code), and 100 000 copies in the UK and New Zealand. It will soon be released in the US, Canada, India and South Africa.