1. Origin and original form
    Controversy 

2. Contemporary forms

3. Criticism

4. Notes

5. References

6. Further reading

7. External links

The Rice Diet started as a radical treatment for malignant hypertension before the advent of antihypertensive drugs; the original diet included strict dietary restriction and hospitalization for monitoring. Some contemporary versions have been greatly relaxed, and have been described as fad diets.

Origin and original form

The Rice Diet Program was founded in 1939 by Dr. Walter Kempner (1903-1997), a refugee from the Nazis, who was at that time associated with Duke University.^[1]

Kempner's implementation was very strict, but also careful - patients were hospitalized for several weeks at the beginning of treatment. The initial treatment was stopping all medication and putting the patient on a diet consisting of "white rice, sugar, fruit, fruit juices, vitamins and iron, and provided about 2000 calories, 20 grams of protein, and 700–1000 ml of liquid as fruit and fruit juices. Sodium content was extremely low, about 250 milligrams per day, and chloride content about 100 milligrams per day."^[1] If results were good, after several months small amounts of lean meat and vegetables were added to the diet.

Kempner obtained remarkable results, and he was invited to present them at a meeting of the New York Academy of Medicine in 1946. His presentation survives and "presents clear and unambiguous evidence, including blood pressure charts, retinal photographs, chest radiographs, electrocardiograms and laboratory results, documenting the benefits of his diet."^[1]{{efn-ua|name=Results|"In Kempner’s original cohort of 192 people, 25 patients died. Of the remaining 167, 60 patients did not substantially improve their blood pressure values. However, 107 patients showed significant improvement (from 200/112 mmHg to 149/96 mmHg) with the diet. Heart size decreased in 66 of 72 patients. Serum cholesterol was reduced in 73 of 82 patients. Retinopathy was reduced or disappeared completely in 21 of 33 patients. We must keep these results in context with the times, during which the life expectancy of anyone with malignant hypertension was 6 months."^[2]}}

Kempner described his diet as "a monotonous and tasteless diet which would never become popular.... Kempner's only defense of its use was the fact that “it works,” and that the diet was preferable to the alternative of certain death"^[1]

Controversy

Kempner admitted in statements before his death that he whipped patients who avoided his rice diet. In 1993, a former patient Sharon Ryan sued him.^[3] Ryan accused Kempner of keeping her as a "virtual sex slave" for many years, an allegation he denied.^[3] The lawsuit ended with a confidential settlement.^[4]

Contemporary forms

Kempner retired from the Duke Faculty in 1974, but consulted until 1992. The commercialization of drugs to treat hypertension reduced both demand for the program and the need to make it strict in order to prevent death. In 2002 the program became independent of Duke University, and in 2013 the Rice House Healthcare Program opened in Durham, North Carolina.^[1] The Rice House Healthcare Program is an inpatient facility where people are put on a diet akin to the original diet and are monitored.^[5]

The rice diet has influenced some contemporary advocates of the plant-based diet. For example, physician John A. McDougall has commented regarding the research of Walter Kempner that "all who have followed in his footsteps, including Nathan Pritikin, Dean Ornish, Neal Barnard, Caldwell Esselstyn, and myself, owe homage to this man and his work."^[6]

The rice diet has been popularized in a softened form through several modern books. Judy Moscovitz in her book The Rice Diet Report, allows fruit, vegetables and various carbohydrates.^[7] Kitty and Robert Rosati authors of The Rice Diet Solution describe their diet as a "low-sodium, good-carb, detox diet". It is based on the consumption of carbohydrates such as whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and beans.^[8]

Criticism

The modern version of the rice diet has been categorized as a fad diet with possible disadvantages including a boring food choice, flatulence, and the risk of feeling too hungry.^[9]

Most people cannot follow the rice diet over extended periods, as it is too restrictive. Loren Cordain has commented that "the tenets of the Rice Diet are inconsistent with the best science of the 21st century".^[10]

Nutritionist Yvette Quantz has suggested that although the rice diet has some good short-term benefits in the long term it does not provide "enough calories or protein for most people to sustain."^[11]

Notes

References

Further reading

• The Rice Diet Report, Judy Moscovitz (1988)
• Heal Your Heart, The New Rice Diet Program, Kitty Gurkin Rosati (1996)
• The Rice Diet Cookbook, Kitty Gurkin Rosati (2007)
• Walter Kempner and the Rice Diet: Challenging Conventional Wisdom, Newborg Barbara (2011)

External links

• The Rice Diet Solution at WebMD
• The Rice House Healthcare Program home page

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