PCRM 2005: The Year in Review |
 Good Nutrition
In 2005, PCRM’s nutrition experts worked hard to educate
both the public and the medical profession, providing information
and cutting-edge scientific research on good nutrition. Amid alarming
obesity statistics and confusing fad diets, PCRM’s work helped
millions of individuals take control of their health.
Battling Childhood Obesity
With nearly a third of American children battling weight problems,
the issue of childhood obesity filled the news in 2005, and PCRM
tackled the problem head on—providing helpful information
for parents and educators about how a healthy vegetarian diet can
help kids slim down. A popular new PCRM public service announcement
featuring member doctors coming to the aid of a junk-food-eating
child pointed thousands of viewers to the PCRM Web site www.kidsgethealthy.org,
a clearinghouse of nutrition information.
 Continuing efforts to
encourage schools to offer more fruits, vegetables, and low-fat,
cholesterol-free vegetarian entrees, PCRM once again recognized
the nation’s healthiest school lunch programs
with the Golden Carrot Awards. PCRM gave the top award to Poughkeepsie
Day School in Poughkeepsie, New York, which offers a homemade vegan
soup each day.
Meanwhile, PCRM’s Cancer Project provided free vegetarian
Food
for Life cooking classes for thousands of Americans.
Educating Medical Students and Other Physicians
One major project of 2005 was the development of PCRM’s Nutrition
Guide for Clinicians to arm future doctors with the most
current information on good nutrition. The guide will be distributed
free of charge to all medical students in the United States and
Canada in 2006. A comprehensive new Web site focused solely on
nutrition information will provide online support for medical
students, physicians, and patients.
PCRM’s top-notch nutrition
staff—which includes dietitians
Amber Green, R.D., Trulie Andkerberg-Nobis, M.S., R.D., Susan Levin,
M.S., R.D., Dulcie Ward, R.D., and associate director Tim Radak,
Dr. P.H., R.D.—represented PCRM at numerous medical and health
conferences in 2005, including those held by the American Academy
of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Family Physicians, and the
American Society of Preventive Oncology.
Exposing Food Industry Politics
 When food industry interests promoted some not-so-sound nutritional
advice to the American public this past year, PCRM was there to
set the record straight. In April, the U.S. Department of Agriculture
released a confusing new food guide dubbed “My Pyramid,” which,
despite the large amount of evidence of the harm these products
can cause, heavily promoted meat and dairy products. PCRM immediately
issued a statement criticizing the new guide, and PCRM nutrition
director Tim Radak, Dr.P.H., R.D., was quoted in The Wall Street
Journal and dozens of other media outlets.
PCRM also countered
an absurd dairy industry campaign that claims that yogurt, milk,
and cheese help dieters lose weight. In June, PCRM filed a lawsuit
against dairy giants—including Kraft
and Dannon—and the National Dairy Council and other industry
groups. The lawsuit accused the defendants of false advertising
for making claims about dairy and weight loss based on one study
by a researcher who had accepted more than $1.7 million in grants
from the National Dairy Council. Other researchers were unable
to confirm the findings, and some found that dairy products cause
weight gain. PCRM scored a victory for consumers when Kraft announced
in August it was pulling its weight-loss ads.
Advancing Clinical Nutrition Research
 Meanwhile,
PCRM continued to study the benefits of a low-fat vegetarian diet
in its own clinical research, publishing papers in respected journals,
and releasing a number of reports on the availability of healthy
food in various venues across America.
PCRM’s nutrition team spent much of the year collaborating
with the University of Toronto and George Washington University
on a landmark diabetes study funded by the National Institutes
of Health. The study tests whether a low-fat vegan diet helps patients
control their disease better than the omnivorous diet currently
recommended by the American Diabetes Association.
In September, the American Journal of Medicine published
the results of a PCRM clinical research study on weight loss. Conducted
in conjunction with the Georgetown University Hospital and George
Washington University, PCRM’s study showed that women on
a low-fat, high-carbohydrate vegan diet lost more weight than meat-eating
dieters who followed a more typical low-fat regimen.
Publishing
Ground-Breaking Clinical Reviews
In March, PCRM senior
nutrition scientist Amy Joy Lanou, Ph.D., published important new
findings about milk in the respected journal Pediatrics. Her
review of more than 50 published studies found that evidence does
not support the notion that drinking milk “builds strong
bones” or that milk is the best source of dietary calcium.
Another
major paper by PCRM, published in Nutrition Reviews,
showed that a vegetarian diet can prevent and regulate high blood
pressure.
In 2005, PCRM continued to survey venues across America
for healthy food choices. In addition to its annual review of
airport food, PCRM conducted a nationwide survey of 40 hospital
cafeterias and issued a report in September showing that while
more hospitals are offering fruit and whole-grain products, most
have a long way to go before their food can be considered health
promoting.
Given the chronic disease epidemics facing our country,
raising awareness about the links between diet and disease is
more important than ever. With our talented staff, dedicated
volunteers, and loyal supporters, PCRM is poised to help millions
more people discover the benefits of vegetarian diets.
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