I found this quote from Dr. Wortman's Blog about the behind-the-scenes
attack on low carb diets by food manufacturers to be interesting:

http://www.drjaywortman.com/blog/wordpress/about/

"The impact of the widening popularity of low-carb dieting began to be
felt among the food producers whose products were high in carbohydrate
content. There were news reports of declining sales of foods like orange
juice, bread, potatoes and pasta. This led to the development of direct
marketing strategies to reverse this trend by many sectors of the
agri-food industry. More ominous and perhaps telling of things to come,
however, was an announcement by the pasta producers after they held a
global meeting in Rome to discuss strategies to counter the threat of
low-carb dieting. Their spokesperson said they had decided against a
direct marketing campaign in favour of a plan to “work behind the
scenes”. This was interesting in light of the fact that, for every
report of a study that supported low-carb dieting, it seemed there would
be a negative report of some kind. Whenever something appeared in the
media, I would track down the source study to see what actually
happened. It became apparent to me that the research supportive of
low-carb tended to be solid and well executed while the studies that
were negative were not well done and often contrived. In spite of this,
they tended to get the same air time in the media. I sometimes found
that the media reports themselves skewed things against low-carb more
than did the study they were reporting on. I began to wonder if people
working “behind the scenes” were having a hand in this.

The eventual decline in popularity of low-carb dieting was clearly
influenced by confusing messaging directed at the public. On the one
hand, the results of good studies were being reported suggesting this
was a good way to lose weight and improve related conditions while, on
the other hand, most authoritative sources denounced the diet as
dangerous and not to be adhered to over any length of time. People were
told that it was not sustainable and that weight regain would be their
fate if they tried it. This was an easily self-fulfilled prophesy, of
course. As I had learned, it takes an effort of will to cut out all
those comfort foods and sweets to which we have become accustomed and it
is easy to succumb to the fear of harm, especially when authoritative
sources are telling you that you need carbs for your brain to function,
that your kidneys will suffer and that you increase your risk of heart
disease, osteoporosis and bad breath, something most people fear even
more than death itself. I think that “behind the scenes” efforts were
successful in propelling this misinformation and were ultimately
successful in protecting threatened economic interests by deflating the
trend toward low-carb dieting."

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Maybe an "aboriginal diet" will be met with greater public acceptance
than the much maligned Atkins Diet?