Key paragraphs:

The ADA is far from the only obstacle to widespread adoption of a low-carb diet. Absent a national health education initiative that links carbohydrates to the diabetes epidemic, low-carb clinicians will be a voice in the wilderness. It can be challenging for many people with diabetes to forgo the breads, sweets, pastas and starches that form the basis of many diets. And given the dearth of healthy eating options on the shelves of many American supermarkets, some clinicians I spoke with, each of whom was dedicated to their patients’ wellbeing, said it was more effective to simply prescribe their patients pharmaceuticals.

“The low-carb diet can resonate,” a retired endocrinologist told me. “But of all the patients I had who adopted low-carb diets, very few were from lower socio-economic classes.”

Tackling diabetes not only requires pharmaceutical regulation and restraint, but much tighter controls on the food industry and junk food.