Neal D. Barnard

Neal D. Barnard (born 10 July 1953) is an American animal rights activist, author, psychiatrist and founding president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM). Barnard is an advocate of whole food plant-based nutrition.

Barnard's views on reversing diabetes with a low-fat vegan diet have been criticized by diabetologists as misleading as Type 1 diabetes can not be reversed.

Early life and education
Barnard was born and grew up in Fargo, North Dakota. He received his medical training at George Washington University School of Medicine, where he began to explore vegan diets. He is board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, a fellow of the American College of Cardiology and a lifetime member of the American Medical Association.

Barnard is an activist for animal rights. He is associated with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and has written for their magazine Animal Times.

Career
Barnard founded Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) in 1985 to promote preventive medicine. By 2016, the Washington D.C.-based PCRM had 150,000 members, including 12,000 physicians, and reported revenues of more than $20 million. He appeared in the documentaries Super Size Me (2004), Forks Over Knives (2011), PlantPure Nation (2015), and What the Health (2017). Since 2003, Barnard has served as an adjunct professor of medicine at George Washington University School of Medicine. In January 2016, Barnard founded the Barnard Medical Center in Washington, D.C., which provides primary care with a focus on nutrition guidance.

In his active practice, Barnard works with patients with diabetes, obesity, and other conditions in clinical research protocols. He plays cello, guitar, and keyboards. He has been a member of the bands Pop Maru, Verdun, and Carbonworks. Alec Baldwin once called Barnard ‘Eddie Van Halen with a medical degree.’

In 2011, Barnard was inducted into the Vegetarian Hall of Fame of the North American Vegetarian Society during its summer conference, where he has occasionally spoken.

Diabetes
Barnard authorizes the 2009 book Dr Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes. It argues that a low-fat vegan diet can stabilize blood sugar and insulin function and minimize medication within weeks. Jim Mann has commented that "there is nothing new in the suggestion that a low-fat vegan diet, which helps to promote weight loss, can be very helpful for managing diabetes. My main concern, however, is that some of the claims made by the author are over-rated; in particular, to imply that Type 1 diabetes can be reversed is mischievous".

Elaine Rush stated that although the book does include some sound advice, "not all diabetes can be reversed and therefore the title of this book is misleading." She also suggested that Barnard's low-fat vegan diet would not be suitable for children or pregnant women without expert support.

Peter Lipson of Science-Based Medicine has criticized Barnard's views on low-fat vegan diets reversing type 2 diabetes as based on only one study, commenting "This is not a study on which to hang an entire medical philosophy". According to Lipton, weight loss is more important than a specific type of diet in determining improvement of diabetes and the idea that a particular diet is a panacea is untrue.

Awards

 * Lifestyle Medicine Trailblazer Award, 2016 from The American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM)
 * 6th Plantrician Project Luminary Award, 2019 - from The Plantrician Project

Personal
Barnard plays cello, guitar, and keyboards and has been a member of the bands Pop Maru, Verdun, and Carbonworks.