> How did a diet with lots of carbs (Ornish) reduce insulin levels more than > the low-carb diets? I don't think that the study methodology is particularly strong: * participants advised to follow the diet "to the best of their ability for two months," and, for the following 10 months, "to whatever extent they wanted." * the study "evaluated only the food program, not any additional lifestyle modifications such as meditation or exercise,". This is another way of saying that the researchers failed to account for the role of meditation and exercise in weight loss or improvements in blood lipid markers. * "the drop-out rate for each diet was 22% at two months and by 12 months half of the volunteers assigned to Atkins or Ornish had dropped out, as had 35% of those assigned to Weight Watchers or Zone diets". Insulin levels were measured in only 50% of the original group supposedly following the Ornish diet. This group represents the most motivated. * only 20 people supposedly followed the Ornish diet for 12 months (Atkins=21, Weight Watchers=26, Zone=26). This is a relatively low number of participants; I'm surprised that results were generally statistically significant. Rob