Neal D. Barnard
Encyclopedia
Neal D. Barnard is an American physician, author, clinical researcher, and founding president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
(PCRM), an international network of physicians, scientists, and laypeople who promote preventive medicine, conduct clinical research, and promote higher standards in research. An advocate of low-fat vegan
diets, he has also conducted research into alternatives to animal experimentation
and has been active in the animal rights
movement. As of 2011, he is an adjunct associate professor of medicine at the George Washington University
School of Medicine and Health Sciences, serves as president of The Cancer Project, and heads the Washington Center for Clinical Research, a PCRM subsidiary..
Barnard is the author of several published research papers on vegan nutrition
and its impact on human health, and several books, including Breaking the Food Seduction (2003), Dr. Neal Barnard’s Program for Reversing Diabetes (2007), The Cancer Survivor’s Guide (2008). He is also a musician. On May 4, 2009, his composition, "Dream of the Black Horse," was played on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., at the conclusion of the Library of Congress's "Journey to Freedom" weekend about the Vietnamese boat people.
in a family of cattle ranchers and physicians. He received his M.D.
from George Washington University School of Medicine. He trained as a psychiatrist and is board certified
by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. For ten years he provided psychiatric services to the Calvary Shelter for Homeless Women in Washington, then shifted his focus to research the impact of diet on human health, and finding alternatives to the use of animals in research. He has published his research in several academic journals, including Lancet Oncology
and the American Journal of Cardiology, and is an invited peer review
er for the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
of the National Institutes of Health. He became vegetarian
in his first year of medical school and vegan
in the mid 1980s.
s to suppress growth in adolescent girls.
In 2003, he was awarded a US$350,000 research grant from the National Institutes of Health
to study the effect of a low-fat vegan diet on diabetes. The study results, published in Diabetes Care, found that "both a low-fat vegan diet and a diet based on American Diabetes Association
guidelines improved glycemic and lipid control in type 2 diabetic patients," but "these improvements were greater with a low-fat, vegan diet." With colleagues at PCRM, he developed an insulin ELISA
assay that utilizes monoclonal antibodies
from hybridoma
s maintained in media
free of animal products. The test proved as effective as methods that use animal products, and is now produced commercially by Millipore
.
In 2004 he formed The Washington Center For Clinical Research, a nonprofit subsidiary of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine that aims to conduct research into the role of nutrition in health. He is now an adjunct associate professor of medicine at GWU and is also a life member of the American Medical Association
.
. Nutritionist Marion Nestle
, while disagreeing with Barnard's vegan principles, wrote that he raises "provocative questions that deserve serious attention." Physician Dean Ornish
has called him "one of the leading pioneers in educating the public about the healing power of diet and nutrition." and Henry Heimlich
described his "tremendous influence on dietary practices in the United States." Salon praised his ability to promote a vegan diet "with such eloquence as to make the proposition sound almost inviting."
(PCRM). The organization is opposed to some medical and scientific practices that it considers harmful to human health, and promotes the health benefits of a vegetarian and vegan diet. PCRM is based in Washington D.C., where a staff of seventy operate within a $7.2 million budget. With PCRM, Barnard has successfully campaigned against live-animal teaching labs for medical students, something he refused to take part in himself when he was studying medicine. According to Salon.com, by 2001 over half of U.S. medical schools had stopped using live animals for teaching purposes, and by 2006, 85 percent of schools had abandoned the practice. Barnard also opposes the use of animals in biomedical research and promotes the use of alternatives.
In 1991, Barnard founded The Cancer Project, originally as a PCRM program. It became independently incorporated organization in 2004, with Barnard as president, aiming to educate the public on diet’s role in cancer prevention and survival by providing nutrition and cooking classes for cancer sufferers throughout the U.S.
Up until 2005, Barnard also sat on the board of the Foundation to Support Animal Protection (the PETA Foundation). PETA
and the Foundation donated over $850,000 to PCRM between 1988 and 2000. Barnard also writes a medical column for Animal Times, PETA's magazine. PCRM affirmed itself in 2005 as an "entirely independent organization" from PETA.
. The New York City medical examiner
's office said the report had been "inappropriately obtained" by a cardiologist, who said he had provided it to PCRM for research purposes only. Barnard said the cardiologist was aware the report would be released and justified it to expose the effect of the diet on Atkins' health.
, released to theaters in mid-2011, traces the research work of Barnard, T. Colin Campbell
and Caldwell Esselstyn
. Barnard also features on the film A Delicate Balance - The Truth
. He has a companion video to his book, Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes.
and keyboards, and sings—and has released several recordings, including a CD with American and Vietnamese musicians, called Verdun (2004). Previously, he played in the fusion jazz group Pop Maru, and also played with the jazz group Quartet. On May 4, 2009, his composition, "Dream of the Black Horse," was played on the National Mall in Washington, DC, at the conclusion of the Library of Congress’ Journey to Freedom weekend events commemorating the Vietnamese boat people.
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., which promotes a vegan diet, preventive medicine, alternatives to animal research, and encourages what it describes as "higher standards of ethics and effectiveness in research." Its primary...
(PCRM), an international network of physicians, scientists, and laypeople who promote preventive medicine, conduct clinical research, and promote higher standards in research. An advocate of low-fat vegan
Veganism
Veganism is the practice of eliminating the use of animal products. Ethical vegans reject the commodity status of animals and the use of animal products for any purpose, while dietary vegans or strict vegetarians eliminate them from their diet only...
diets, he has also conducted research into alternatives to animal experimentation
Animal testing
Animal testing, also known as animal experimentation, animal research, and in vivo testing, is the use of non-human animals in experiments. Worldwide it is estimated that the number of vertebrate animals—from zebrafish to non-human primates—ranges from the tens of millions to more than 100 million...
and has been active in the animal rights
Animal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
movement. As of 2011, he is an adjunct associate professor of medicine at the George Washington University
George Washington University
The George Washington University is a private, coeducational comprehensive university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States...
School of Medicine and Health Sciences, serves as president of The Cancer Project, and heads the Washington Center for Clinical Research, a PCRM subsidiary..
Barnard is the author of several published research papers on vegan nutrition
Vegan nutrition
Vegan nutrition refers to the unique set of advantages and challenges that are part of vegan diets. The American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada regard the vegan diet as appropriate for all stages of the life-cycle, though they caution that poorly planned vegan diets can be deficient...
and its impact on human health, and several books, including Breaking the Food Seduction (2003), Dr. Neal Barnard’s Program for Reversing Diabetes (2007), The Cancer Survivor’s Guide (2008). He is also a musician. On May 4, 2009, his composition, "Dream of the Black Horse," was played on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., at the conclusion of the Library of Congress's "Journey to Freedom" weekend about the Vietnamese boat people.
Background
Barnard grew up in Fargo, North DakotaFargo, North Dakota
Fargo is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat of Cass County. In 2010, its population was 105,549, and it had an estimated metropolitan population of 208,777...
in a family of cattle ranchers and physicians. He received his M.D.
Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...
from George Washington University School of Medicine. He trained as a psychiatrist and is board certified
Board certified
Board certification may refer to:* Board certification, for physicians in an area of medical specialization.* Nursing board certification, for nurses who obtain additional specialty training....
by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. For ten years he provided psychiatric services to the Calvary Shelter for Homeless Women in Washington, then shifted his focus to research the impact of diet on human health, and finding alternatives to the use of animals in research. He has published his research in several academic journals, including Lancet Oncology
The Lancet
The Lancet is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal. It is one of the world's best known, oldest, and most respected general medical journals...
and the American Journal of Cardiology, and is an invited peer review
Peer review
Peer review is a process of self-regulation by a profession or a process of evaluation involving qualified individuals within the relevant field. Peer review methods are employed to maintain standards, improve performance and provide credibility...
er for the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases , of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, conducts and supports research on many of the most serious diseases affecting public health...
of the National Institutes of Health. He became vegetarian
Vegetarianism
Vegetarianism encompasses the practice of following plant-based diets , with or without the inclusion of dairy products or eggs, and with the exclusion of meat...
in his first year of medical school and vegan
Veganism
Veganism is the practice of eliminating the use of animal products. Ethical vegans reject the commodity status of animals and the use of animal products for any purpose, while dietary vegans or strict vegetarians eliminate them from their diet only...
in the mid 1980s.
Research
He conducted a study with Georgetown University in 2000 regarding the role of diet in menstrual disorders, and in 2005 another on the effects of a low-fat vegan diet on weight loss and insulin sensitivity. In 2002 he published a study on the use of oral estrogenEstrogen
Estrogens , oestrogens , or œstrogens, are a group of compounds named for their importance in the estrous cycle of humans and other animals. They are the primary female sex hormones. Natural estrogens are steroid hormones, while some synthetic ones are non-steroidal...
s to suppress growth in adolescent girls.
In 2003, he was awarded a US$350,000 research grant from the National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health are an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and are the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research. Its science and engineering counterpart is the National Science Foundation...
to study the effect of a low-fat vegan diet on diabetes. The study results, published in Diabetes Care, found that "both a low-fat vegan diet and a diet based on American Diabetes Association
American Diabetes Association
The American Diabetes Association is a United States-based association working to fight the consequences of diabetes, and to help those affected by diabetes...
guidelines improved glycemic and lipid control in type 2 diabetic patients," but "these improvements were greater with a low-fat, vegan diet." With colleagues at PCRM, he developed an insulin ELISA
ELISA
Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay , is a popular format of a "wet-lab" type analytic biochemistry assay that uses one sub-type of heterogeneous, solid-phase enzyme immunoassay to detect the presence of a substance in a liquid sample."Wet lab" analytic biochemistry assays involves detection of an...
assay that utilizes monoclonal antibodies
Monoclonal antibodies
Monoclonal antibodies are monospecific antibodies that are the same because they are made by identical immune cells that are all clones of a unique parent cell....
from hybridoma
Hybridoma
Hybridoma technology is a technology of forming hybrid cell lines by fusing a specific antibody-producing B cell with a myeloma cell that is selected for its ability to grow in tissue culture and for an absence of antibody chain synthesis...
s maintained in media
Growth medium
A growth medium or culture medium is a liquid or gel designed to support the growth of microorganisms or cells, or small plants like the moss Physcomitrella patens.There are different types of media for growing different types of cells....
free of animal products. The test proved as effective as methods that use animal products, and is now produced commercially by Millipore
Millipore Corporation
EMD Millipore, also known as Merck Millipore outside the United States and Canada, was founded in 1954, listed among the S&P 500 since the early 1990s, is an international biosciences company, known widely for its micrometer pore-size filters and tests...
.
In 2004 he formed The Washington Center For Clinical Research, a nonprofit subsidiary of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine that aims to conduct research into the role of nutrition in health. He is now an adjunct associate professor of medicine at GWU and is also a life member of the American Medical Association
American Medical Association
The American Medical Association , founded in 1847 and incorporated in 1897, is the largest association of medical doctors and medical students in the United States.-Scope and operations:...
.
Books
Barnard has written more than a dozen books about nutrition that have collectively sold over two million copies. He is also the editor-in-chief of the Nutrition Guide for Clinicians (2007). In Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes he writes that the disease can be reversed in three steps: Set aside animal products; keep vegetable oils to a minimum, including olive oil; and favor foods with a low glycemic indexGlycemic index
The glycemic index, glycaemic index, or GI is a measure of the effects of carbohydrates on blood sugar levels. Carbohydrates that break down quickly during digestion and release glucose rapidly into the bloodstream have a high GI; carbohydrates that break down more slowly, releasing glucose more...
. Nutritionist Marion Nestle
Marion Nestle
Marion Nestle, Ph.D., M.P.H., is the Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University, in the department that she chaired from 1988 through 2003. Her degrees include a Ph.D. in molecular biology and an M.P.H. in public health nutrition, both from the...
, while disagreeing with Barnard's vegan principles, wrote that he raises "provocative questions that deserve serious attention." Physician Dean Ornish
Dean Ornish
Dean Michael Ornish, M.D., is president and founder of the nonprofit Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, California, as well as Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco....
has called him "one of the leading pioneers in educating the public about the healing power of diet and nutrition." and Henry Heimlich
Henry Heimlich
Dr. Henry Jay Heimlich , an American physician, has received credit as the inventor of abdominal thrusts, more commonly known as the Heimlich maneuver, though debate continues over his role in the development of the procedure...
described his "tremendous influence on dietary practices in the United States." Salon praised his ability to promote a vegan diet "with such eloquence as to make the proposition sound almost inviting."
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
In 1985, Barnard founded the Physicians Committee for Responsible MedicinePhysicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., which promotes a vegan diet, preventive medicine, alternatives to animal research, and encourages what it describes as "higher standards of ethics and effectiveness in research." Its primary...
(PCRM). The organization is opposed to some medical and scientific practices that it considers harmful to human health, and promotes the health benefits of a vegetarian and vegan diet. PCRM is based in Washington D.C., where a staff of seventy operate within a $7.2 million budget. With PCRM, Barnard has successfully campaigned against live-animal teaching labs for medical students, something he refused to take part in himself when he was studying medicine. According to Salon.com, by 2001 over half of U.S. medical schools had stopped using live animals for teaching purposes, and by 2006, 85 percent of schools had abandoned the practice. Barnard also opposes the use of animals in biomedical research and promotes the use of alternatives.
In 1991, Barnard founded The Cancer Project, originally as a PCRM program. It became independently incorporated organization in 2004, with Barnard as president, aiming to educate the public on diet’s role in cancer prevention and survival by providing nutrition and cooking classes for cancer sufferers throughout the U.S.
Up until 2005, Barnard also sat on the board of the Foundation to Support Animal Protection (the PETA Foundation). PETA
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is an American animal rights organization based in Norfolk, Virginia, and led by Ingrid Newkirk, its international president. A non-profit corporation with 300 employees and two million members and supporters, it claims to be the largest animal rights...
and the Foundation donated over $850,000 to PCRM between 1988 and 2000. Barnard also writes a medical column for Animal Times, PETA's magazine. PCRM affirmed itself in 2005 as an "entirely independent organization" from PETA.
Criticism of the Atkins diet
As president of PCRM, Barnard has been at the forefront of criticism of the high-fat Atkins diet. He runs a website advising of potential health consequences, and warning of the possibility of legal liability for doctors who prescribe the diet. In 2004, he approved the release by PCRM of a medical report on the death Robert AtkinsRobert Atkins (nutritionist)
Robert Coleman Atkins, MD was an American physician and cardiologist, best known for the Atkins Nutritional Approach , a popular but controversial way of dieting that entails close control of carbohydrate consumption, emphasizing protein and fat intake, including saturated fat in addition to...
. The New York City medical examiner
Medical examiner
A medical examiner is a medically qualified government officer whose duty is to investigate deaths and injuries that occur under unusual or suspicious circumstances, to perform post-mortem examinations, and in some jurisdictions to initiate inquests....
's office said the report had been "inappropriately obtained" by a cardiologist, who said he had provided it to PCRM for research purposes only. Barnard said the cardiologist was aware the report would be released and justified it to expose the effect of the diet on Atkins' health.
Films
The documentary feature film Forks Over KnivesForks Over Knives
Forks Over Knives is a 2011 American documentary film directed by Lee Fulkerson, an American independent filmmaker. The film examines the "profound claim that most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting our present menu of...
, released to theaters in mid-2011, traces the research work of Barnard, T. Colin Campbell
T. Colin Campbell
T. Colin Campbell is an American biochemist who specializes in the effects of nutrition on long-term health. He is the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University, and the author of over 300 research papers...
and Caldwell Esselstyn
Caldwell Esselstyn
Caldwell Blakeman Esselstyn Jr., M.D., is an American physician, author, and former Olympic rowing champion.-Biography:...
. Barnard also features on the film A Delicate Balance - The Truth
A Delicate Balance - The Truth
A Delicate Balance – The Truth is a documentary created by Aaron Scheibner, released on 13 November 2008, outlining the effects of diet on health and the environment...
. He has a companion video to his book, Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes.
Musical interests
Barnard is also a musician—he plays the electric guitarElectric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
and keyboards, and sings—and has released several recordings, including a CD with American and Vietnamese musicians, called Verdun (2004). Previously, he played in the fusion jazz group Pop Maru, and also played with the jazz group Quartet. On May 4, 2009, his composition, "Dream of the Black Horse," was played on the National Mall in Washington, DC, at the conclusion of the Library of Congress’ Journey to Freedom weekend events commemorating the Vietnamese boat people.
Further reading
- Neal D. Barnard, M.D.
- Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
- The Cancer Project
- Atkins Diet Alert
- Neal Barnard is interviewed by Dr Oz, how to reverse diabetes with a vegan diet, Oprah.com, accessed February 5, 2010.
- Freston, Kathy. Veganist: Lose Weight, Get Healthy, Change the World. Weinstein Publishing, 2011; for Neal Barnard on diabetes, see p. 73ff.