Nutritional Information from an Internet-based Support Group: Active Low-Carber Forum

[tamarian]

Our forum has been selected for a new study:

Title: Nutritional Information from an Internet-based Support Group: What can we learn from the Active Low-Carber Forums?

Funded by: Department of Biochemistry, State University of New York Downstate Medical Center

Lead Researcher: Dr. Richard Feinman, Phd.

Intro: the purpose of the study is to determine the eating patterns, attitudes and general dieting habits of members of the forum as an example of a group following a low carb lifestyle.

Purpose: Carbohydrate restriction continues to be of importance as a method for weight reduction and treatment for diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Scientific studies, however, are largely restricted to an abstract, experimental setting and there is a lack of information as to what people really do on low carbohydrate diets and how they feel about them. This survey is designed to help provide this information. The purpose is neither to support nor to criticise any diet but only to provide information.

Confidentiality: all information is confidential and will be reported as group data. In the final publication, posts from the forum may be quoted, with individual permission obtained in advance from the post author. In no case will members' names or any identifying information be published.

A major part of this study is an online survey available here on the forum:

http://forum.lowcarber.org/survey.php
Please make sure to fill out the survey carefully, and answer as many questions as possible. Once the survey is answered, it cannot be re-taken or changed.

[liz175]

I just tried to fill out the survey, and when I got to the last page and hit submit, it crashed on me. Did my survey get submitted?

[tamarian]

I just tried to fill out the survey, and when I got to the last page and hit submit, it crashed on me. Did my survey get submitted?

You mean your browser crashed? This is probably unrelated to the survey, just a bad timing for your browser to crash :)

Click on the survey link again, if it finds that you have already completed it, it will direct you to the results page. If not, it will let you complete the answers.

If your browser crashes again, please let me know, along with details about your browser and system.

Wa'il

[Nancy LC]

Very cool! I've filled mine out!

[leslieam]

I just clicked on the link for the survey and I got the Page Cannot Be Displayed screen. Any ideas as to why?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Dodger]

I've completed the survey, but when I click on the link again, I get a black page. Firefox on Windows XP.

[ItsTheWooo]

done and done :)

[tamarian]

O.k. guys, give it a try again, and let me know if this still happens.

Wa'il

[leslieam]

I got it just fine this time. Thanks!

[JAnn]

Done deal. I had no problems except on some of the questions they didn't have a selection that applied.

[Dodger]

It works now.

[KimNWI]

Done I think its cool our forum got selected!! :)

KimNWI

[mcsblues]

Done I think its cool our forum got selected!! :)

KimNWIAh, thats because Wa'il has friends in high places!;)

I do wonder about the point of the survey other than to show anecdotal evidence of the success of the low carb WOL. Is it specifically directed at the even less scientific Brown University National Weight Register?

Cheers,


Malcolm

[tamarian]

Ah, thats because Wa'il has friends in high places!;)

More like friends in low carb places. :)

I do wonder about the point of the survey other than to show anecdotal evidence of the success of the low carb WOL. Is it specifically directed at the even less scientific Brown University National Weight Register?

We might get further comments from Dr. Feinman later on. Keep in mind that the survey is only a part of the study.

Wa'il

[kathleen24]

Interesting read, that anecdotal evidence, esp. people's comments on the improvements in health. The choir is singing loud and clear, but it seems like only believers or the desperate are willing to listen. O well, said the voice singing in the wilderness. . .

[Mandra]

Done.


My only problem (should have commented in the box at the end), I think for those questions asking if we've maintained or lost for a year should have had the option "have not been on LC for a year yet" I wasn't sure how to answer those......

[Judynyc]

Done! ;)

Will we see the results of this?

[tamarian]

Will we see the results of this?

Yes, the results should be published in a couple of months or so, and we will have full access to the paper(s).

Update: I initially made the results viewable to those who filled the survey, but Dr. Feinman thought we should wait until the end to publish the results for several reasons: 1. If the results are discussed among members, this may influence other members who have not yet taken the survey, and 2) Someone may prematurely publish the results.

So for those of you who have seen the results already, please do not discuss them :)

Wa'il

[tamarian]

I got a response by email to this point:

I do wonder about the point of the survey other than to show anecdotal evidence of the success of the low carb WOL. Is it specifically directed at the even less scientific Brown University National Weight Register?

Malcolm,

The purpose is, in fact, to obtain anecdotal data. Most people on the forum have had success on low carb so that is not one of the points but we do want to know what the experience and opinions of this subgroup of the population is. We feel that one of the limitations of current research is that we don't have a window, anecdotal or otherwise, on what low-carb users do or think. There are some specific goals but generally, it is what the title says "what can we learn from the Active Low Carbers Forum." We are not sure what we will learn.

Traditionally, it is a priniciple that anecdotal evidence is good for hypothesis generation which can then be tested with carefully controlled experiments and this is one goal we have. We feel that more is possible if the results are stated accurately, that is, particular group precisely identified, opinions distinguished from measured facts, etc. As for the National Weight Registry which I think is from Colorado, it is one of the widely quoted studies and we want to see how it fits into the WOL of the particular group on the forum.

Richard Feinman.

[Dodger]

The National Weight Control Registry (NWCR) is a collaborative venture between Dr. James Hill of the University of Colorado and Dr. Rena Wing of Brown University and University of Pittsburgh.

[WIP]

All i get is the message "you have already taken the survey" but I don't get to the results page. :(

[WIP]

Neber mind, I just read the explanation... :)

[tamarian]

All i get is the message "you have already taken the survey" but I don't get to the results page. :(

Will be able to soon :)

http://forum.lowcarber.org/showpost.php?p=5499629&postcount=18

Wa'il

[ValerieL]

I got a page cannot be displayed error too.

Valerie

[mcsblues]

I got a response by email to this point:
Malcolm,

The purpose is, in fact, to obtain anecdotal data. Most people on the forum have had success on low carb so that is not one of the points but we do want to know what the experience and opinions of this subgroup of the population is. We feel that one of the limitations of current research is that we don't have a window, anecdotal or otherwise, on what low-carb users do or think. There are some specific goals but generally, it is what the title says "what can we learn from the Active Low Carbers Forum." We are not sure what we will learn.

Traditionally, it is a priniciple that anecdotal evidence is good for hypothesis generation which can then be tested with carefully controlled experiments and this is one goal we have. We feel that more is possible if the results are stated accurately, that is, particular group precisely identified, opinions distinguished from measured facts, etc. As for the National Weight Registry which I think is from Colorado, it is one of the widely quoted studies and we want to see how it fits into the WOL of the particular group on the forum.

Richard Feinman.

Wa'il, I'm even more impressed! Friends, influence and speed of response. :)

And the hypothesis generation makes a lot of sense. I'm sure if asked, the members here could provide a steady stream of direct suggestions for experimental research and verification of our personal experiences with the low carb WOL.

Cheers,

Malcolm

[tamarian]

I got a page cannot be displayed error too.

It should be o.k. now. Let me know if you still have problems with it.

Wa'il

[dane]

Done, and no complications, :)

I really like the fact that there's a comment box at the end. :thup:

[cajuda]

Done. :thup:

[egnue]

Didn't take long at all to fill out.

Done!!! Thanks for letting us be a part of it.

[Kristine]

And the hypothesis generation makes a lot of sense. I'm sure if asked, the members here could provide a steady stream of direct suggestions for experimental research and verification of our personal experiences with the low carb WOL.

A lot of us have never needed to be asked. ;)

http://instagiber.net/smiliesdotcom/contrib/ruinkai/screama.gif http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v29/blackandbrew/blahblah.gif

[Lessara]

I filled out the survey but when I submitted it, it said I did it already? I did? I don't remember doing it. Did it submit?

[Samuel]

I have already done it. Everything went fine.

[tamarian]

I filled out the survey but when I submitted it, it said I did it already? I did? I don't remember doing it. Did it submit?

Yes, it was submitted correctly. :thup:

Wa'il

[lavidaman]

I took the survey today and LOVED the questions that were asked. It will be interesting to find out the results, but I know this research will be done very professionally and thoroughly without bias. I helped spread the word about it today in this post at my blog: http://livinlavidalocarb.blogspot.com/2005/08/research-survey-open-to-active-low.html. GOOD LUCK!

[Keokagal]

Just completed. No probs. I've only been on Atkins 1wk, but was doing CALP for a month. Liked the opportunity to give opinion.

[Sue777]

When and where might we be able to view the results of the survey?

Sue

[tamarian]

When and where might we be able to view the results of the survey?

When: It would be hard to give a date, since it will depend on reaching a significant number of results. So the more members fill out the survey, the sooner the results will become available.

Where: They will be available at the same link for the survey.

Wa'il

[DebN2005]

Has anyone else taken the survey? What do you think? This is what I told them in my comments field. If you haven't filled out the survey I encourage you to do so. It will help everyone in the end, including you.
**************

Thanks for putting together this survey. Low Carb has gotten an un-earned bad name. I've been on numerous diets in my lifetime and always gained back the weight. This is an eating plan that I will stick with for the rest of my life. Why? Because it takes into account that occasionally I want to eat something that other diets prohibit. This plan also stresses eating skills like taking 20 minutes to eat and then seeing how full you are. This plan also provides the support of cookbooks and recipes that are far more tasty than any other I've tried. They stress fresh ingredients especially fresh spices. Taste is key. Balance is key. This is not a diet to me this is the way I will eat for the rest of my life.
This Low Carber forum has been instrumental in helping me to stay on track. I've used the tools on it to plan my meals and track my carbs to stay in a certain range. The members help and encourage each other in ways that I've not experienced before even with well known diet companies. There's a weath of information available including nutrition news and recipes. I'm very glad they are here to help me when I need it.

Comments about the survey: Question#2 is a bit weighted in that it doesn't provide for people who have not been on the diet for a year. I couldn't have kept 30 pounds of for a year yet because I've only been on the plan for 8 months.
Quesition #11 in that segment there's no choice for "I don't eat fish". I do eat walnuts to get the omega-3 nutrients that the fish would have provided.

[AFwife]

Yup! I filled it out!

[mrfreddy]

Comments about the survey:

Quesition #11 in that segment there's no choice for "I don't eat fish". I do eat walnuts to get the omega-3 nutrients that the fish would have provided.

yeah, I think I had a similar problem with this, I eat a lot of grass fed beef, which has plenty of the good fat, just like fish....

[SadLady]

I had a problem filling out the survey. After the first page, when I thought I was going to go into another page, it just gave me the results and told me I was done, so I don't think I filled out the whole survey.

[tamarian]

I had a problem filling out the survey. After the first page, when I thought I was going to go into another page, it just gave me the results and told me I was done, so I don't think I filled out the whole survey.

You should be o.k.

In the first day, the survey was divided into 3 pages. But this caused problems on some browsers, as repoerted by some earlier in this thread, so we removed the page separators, and it became a single page.

Wa'il

[ReginaW]

I just wanted to stop in and say I am soooo sorry for my gaffes in my blog (Weight of the Evidence) for the research survey this forum is hosting - I've since corrected the links and the forum name in my article and re-released it at LowCarbNewsline and Common Voice to properly appear in the Google cache of news items!

This is a great online forum and I hope you'll all accept my apologies for my originial goof!

Regina

Our forum has been selected for a new study:



A major part of this study is an online survey available here on the forum:

http://forum.lowcarber.org/survey.php
Please make sure to fill out the survey carefully, and answer as many questions as possible. Once the survey is answered, it cannot be re-taken or changed.

[tamarian]

I just wanted to stop in and say I am soooo sorry for my gaffes in my blog (Weight of the Evidence) for the research survey this forum is hosting - I've since corrected the links and the forum name in my article and re-released it at LowCarbNewsline and Common Voice to properly appear in the Google cache of news items!

This is a great online forum and I hope you'll all accept my apologies for my originial goof!

Regina

Welcome aboard Regina, and thanks for the correction :thup:

Wa'il

[TarHeel]

Is there any way we can access the results of the survey? Meaning simply what we here have reported, not all the results...Just wondering how many of us have responded, etc.

Kay

[TarHeel]

Sorry, I see this question has been asked and addressed previously. I'll wait.

Kay

[tamarian]

There will be an update coming from Dr. Feinman, but

Just wondering how many of us have responded

This one I can answer. Right now we have 1,556 responses, and counting. Keep 'em coming folks :)

Wa'il

[Pegandpal]

I wish I had mentioned that I have enjoyed the availability of some new l/c products, and that they've made things a lot easier for me. I'm sorry to see so many of these products being discontinued,too. These are certainly a help to diabetics, and a boon to those of us choosing to adapt this WOL. How do we make our voices heard about product issues? I have contacted the companies, but it's too late.
I'll be interested in the survey results.

[Paleoanth]

I did the survey but since I don't eat meat, I just put that my consumption of beef, chicken, pork..... had not changed since becomming an lcer. I laughed as I did that.

[finnz]

All done.

Couldn't resist a bit of a dig in the comments box at how certain media and health professionals have distorted the diet facts.

[tamarian]

Message from the researchers: We are very grateful to the members of the low carbers’ forum who replied to our questionnaire. We received more than 2, 000 answers. We are in the process of writing an article that we hope to publish in a journal of family medicine. The process of writing a scientific paper and having it reviewed can be a lengthy process and protocol dictates that extensive details of data and data analysis not be made public before peer review. We felt, however, that the broad outlines of the results should be made available to the people who made it all possible and we describe here the general drift of the results.

Perhaps the most encouraging result is that more than half of the group who responded had consulted a physician before or during their diet and more than half of these people reported that the physician or health professional was supportive of their diet. About 30 % reported that the physician “did not have an opinion but were encouraging after seeing results.” Only 7 % indicated that “they were discouraging even after I showed good results.” This suggests that practicing physicians are more open minded than official agencies and media experts. It is for this reason that we hope to publish the results in a journal that is read by family physicians. The last question was a free form narrative question where we weren’t sure what kind of responses we would get. Most of the responses turned out to be enthusiastic and somewhat detailed or personalized endorsement of some kind of low carbohydrate diet. This is, of course, not surprising since the forum is a support group for low carb dieting but we feel that the narratives provide a human angle on the problem that is missing from more academic reports.

Some other results:
Almost half of respondents had lipid values measured and most reported improvement in all measures of lipid profile including total cholesterol and LDL. This is somewhat unexpected since total cholesterol and LDL do not reliably improve in a low carb diet but less than 12 % had LDL values that went up. More usual is the result that only 4 % had triglycerides that went up.

In terms of things that were important to low carb dieters, the first two were, not surprisingly, “avoiding sugar” and “avoiding starch.” Unexpected was that number 3 was “drinking water.” We don’t know why this was so or what people had in mind and would be glad to hear any opinions. The fourth most important was “eating vegetables” which is probably not surprising to active low carb dieters but may be important to people unfamiliar with the diet. Along the same lines, among the foods where consumption “increased greatly (at least double usual consumption)” most responders indicated green vegetables and lettuce/salad greens. About one fifth of responders indicated, in the category of “increased greatly:” beef, butter and bacon, the three B’s of critics of low carb diets although about a third ate “about the same” amount of these foods as before their diet.

In the question of foods “that you consistently crave,” about one quarter of responders did not have any cravings, although slightly more than this number said bread was the thing they craved.

Again, we are grateful to members of the forum for participating and will provide more information as our paper progresses.

Regards, RF

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Richard D. Feinman, Professor of Biochemistry
Co-editor-in-chief, Nutrition & Metabolism
SUNY Downstate Medical Center
Brooklyn, NY

[ReginaW]

I can't wait to see the final results published!

[tamarian]

The results can now be viewed at the same link.

Wa'il

[Paleoanth]

Very interesting! I see that this forum is what most people that took the survey rely on for information. Cool.

[Nancy LC]

I'm not seeing the results, just the questionairre again.

[Dodger]

The results are in the questionaire. The percentages for each answer are shown.

[tamarian]

The paper has been published:

http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=311433

[Nataraja]

just curious, but if the results were fully published in oct of '06, why are we still being prompted to fill this survey out in sept. of '08? just for fun? Or are new responses still being tabulated somewhere.

[tamarian]

just curious, but if the results were fully published in oct of '06, why are we still being prompted to fill this survey out in sept. of '08? just for fun? Or are new responses still being tabulated somewhere.

Just for fun, or curiosity, but new responses are automatically tabulated by the survey software.

Wa'il

[Nataraja]

Ahhh... got it! I thought it meant the answers were no longer being kept track of as well. thanks for the response!