Tuesday August 7, 2001

Press Release

SOURCE: Sears Laboratories

New Harvard Medical School Diet Validates Much of the Zone Diet; Sears Laboratories Hails Development Six Years After Publication of 'The Zone'

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Six years ago, Dr. Barry Sears dared to question the validity of the USDA Food Pyramid in his #1 New York Times best seller, The Zone. Now, in a major shift, scientists in a joint publication of Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health have finally joined forces with Dr. Sears to sharply criticize the long-standing USDA Food Pyramid as ``wrong,'' ``based on shaky science'' and inadequately tested.

The new Harvard Medical School book, Eat Drink and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Living (Simon & Schuster, 2001), further embraces another once controversial aspect of Dr. Sears' designation of rice, potatoes, bread and pasta as ``bad'' carbohydrates because of their ability to stimulate insulin release. It should be noted that those same ``bad'' carbohydrates are the foundation of the USDA Food Pyramid.

The new Harvard book also confirms Dr. Sears' previous debunking of the myth that all fats are ``bad''. Harvard now recommends increasing the intake of ``good'' monounsaturated and omega-3 fats in the diet just as Dr. Sears did six years earlier.

As these long held nutritional policies beginning to crumble, Dr. Sears hopes that other aspects of his Zone dietary science will also similarly be adopted as the new nutritional standards for the future. As an example, recent studies at Harvard Medical School and other universities have validated the positive health benefits of Dr. Sears' recommended protein-to-carbohydrate ratio, and the critical need to balance the omega-3 and omega-6 fats in the diet. Although these aspects were not commented on in Eat Drink and Be Healthy, Dr. Sears is optimistic that it will only be a matter of time before they, too, are accepted as self-evident.

SOURCE: Sears Laboratories

Works for me!