Posted on 04/17/2007 2:03:10 PM PDT by freedomdefender
The beleaguered Atkins diet may get a breath of life from a new study that suggests the high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet regime leads to more effective weight loss with fewer negative health effects than three other weight loss strategies.
The study, which pits the Atkins diet against the Zone, Ornish and LEARN diets, appears in the current issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
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But the findings could be too little too late for the popular diet, which at one time changed the way Americans ate.
Proponents of Atkins say the study is only the latest piece of evidence testifying to the effectiveness of a diet that cuts carbs to a minimum.
"Clearly, this study shows that controlling carbohydrates is as or more effective than the low-fat, low-calorie approaches we've seen in the past," says Dr. Stuart Trager, author of "The All-New Atkins Advantage: 12 Weeks to a New Body, a New You, a New Life."
"The proof is now in the pudding," says Dr. Fred Pescatore, former medical director of the Atkins Center and best-selling author of "The Hamptons Diet," a guide on another low-carb regime.
"These findings are consistent with over a dozen papers in the past five years demonstrating the beneficial effects of carbohydrate restriction," says Dr. Eric Westman, associate professor of medicine and director of the Lifestyle Medicine Clinic at Duke University Medical Center. "I think low-carbohydrate diets should be first-line therapy for weight loss."
But will the new research be enough to save Atkins — or even restore it to its former lead position in the pack of new diet regimes? Many diet experts say no.
"Health is not measured as the combination of several cardiac risk markers and weight over the course of a year," says Dr. David Katz, director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University School of Medicine. "If it were, every patient getting chemotherapy would be 'healthy.'"
"Some heart indicators were better, but what about the mountains of evidence about high consumption of fruits and vegetables to promote overall health?" says Keith-Thomas Ayoob, associate professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine's department of pediatrics in Bronx, N.Y.
The JAMA study suggests that women on the Atkins diet not only lose more weight than those on the other diets studied, but that these women also maintain better cholesterol profiles and blood pressure levels.
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But Dr. Dean Ornish, creator of the Ornish diet and president of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute in San Francisco, says the conclusions from these findings are misguided.
"This is simply not true," he says. "If you read the study carefully, you will find that the authors reported that there was no significant difference in weight loss between the Atkins and Ornish or LEARN diets after one year.
"This directly contradicts their primary conclusion."
Other experts say the fact that the study only features results for up to one year makes such conclusions premature at best.
"The weight loss with Atkins maxed out after six months and really started regaining then, and somewhat faster than with the other diets," Ayoob says. "It would be interesting to see if, by 18 months or so, everything evened out."
"The public may not realize that keeping weight off for one year is no indication of permanence," says Carla Wolper of the Obesity Research Center at St. Luke's Hospital in New York City.
"It may be that more than two years of weight stability are required before one can feel safe with weight loss achieved."
And some say the shortcomings of the research reach beyond simple weight loss. In particular, there's a belief that the study downplays the wide spectrum of factors that contribute to heart health.
"Numbers don't lie, but they don't tell the whole story — by a mile," says Jackie Newgent, instructor at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City. "There are more than just a couple numbers that determine your overall health. And as cholesterol numbers and blood pressure levels improve, it doesn't mean other heart-health indicators improve."
Since heart concerns have remained at the center of the debate over low-carb diets since their inception, the study may do little to silence critics with these concerns.
In recent years, the Atkins diet has also found itself surrounded by a lean, mean pack of other diet regimens, most with their own best-selling books.
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Michael Roizen and Mehmet Oz's "You: On a Diet," one of the more recent wunderkinds of the growing diet genre, is now enjoying its 17th week on The New York Times best-seller list.
Other diets, low-carb and otherwise, likewise flood bookstore shelves — a phenomenon that threatens to lead to diet-reader fatigue as the choices become ever more diverse and, in many cases, complex.
So, what's a dieter to do?
In short, losing weight and keeping it off may be more a function of adopting an overall healthier lifestyle — and less about cutting whole classes of foods out of your diet.
"This is the message of this article — focus on lifestyle and environmental factors and don't worry about the macronutrient composition of the diet, particularly if you can achieve the NHLBI guidelines of a 5 to 10 percent weight loss," says Dr. George Blackburn, chair in nutrition medicine at Harvard Medical School. "I think that was my message for the past 20 years."
"A healthy diet is the same as it ever was," Katz says. "Focus on health, and the long term, and your weight will take care of itself."
"It's not about demonizing whole food groups," Ayoob says. "It's about how much and how often, and learning to strike a balance between what we know we need, and what we don't want to live without."
And for diet book authors on both sides of the debate, an armistice in the "diet wars" would be a positive outcome by any measure.
"I'm tired of these diet wars," Ornish says. "It's not low-fat versus low-carb. It's both. An optimal diet is low in total fat and low in refined carbohydrates, emphasizing whole foods such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains."
"The future needs to be about getting away from this 'beauty pageant' mentality of what diet is best," Trager says. "It needs to be about incorporating the best practices of each approach to make lifestyle changes more achievable and improve adherence."
That's the problem with Atkins in a nutshell. I've never tried that diet because I prefer to use commonsense eating habits along with exercise to stay in shape. However, I have known too many people who have tried it and lost weight, but because it it is an unnatural way of eating they weren't able to continue it "for the rest of their life". Those that I know who used the Atkins diet plan ended up not only gaining their weight back, but ended up weighing more than they did when they started the diet.
Certainly it may not be the healthiest.
There are other reasons why the Atkins diet can be harmful and downright dangerous. I would suggest that people research the dangers of this sort of diet before trying it and consult with their doctor.
Thank you both. You exploded some myths/ignorance that I was holding about Atkins.
That’s a lot of help. You went to quite a bit of trouble. Thank you.
interesting. thanks. congrats on your success.
Drives me nuts too.
I have been following the Fat Fallacy plan by Will Cower which, if you don’t mind the Donald Rumsfeld jabs, has some decent principles. It is based on the French way of eating.
It’s pretty much Atkins with beans and baguettes. A lot of all natural, nonprocessed food, avoiding High Fructose Corn Syrup, etc.
My mom asked my how I “lost the weight.” I started with the 5 servings of fruit and vegetables, moved to the 1 or 2 grains, mentioned the full fat dairy.....
She perked up. “Full fat dairy?!?” Of course that is only one piece that fits in a larger picture. Without the veggies and the behavior modification, I would have lost the weight.
Keeping the carbs low works for me.
Ever notice how they never give citations for these, erm, “dozens of scientific papers?” LOL
Beleaguered by the disease industry perhaps.
It's the only weight loss diet that doesn't destroy your body.
Eat less. That will cause you to lose weight.
You have to recognize that the disease industry makes billions off of diabetes.
Low carb milk?
Is that intended to be funny? Milk is a huge, high glycemic carb load.
The thing about *diets* is everyone pretty much has an agenda. I like the way I feel on Atkins, altho I admit it’s sometimes difficult to stick to when everyone else is eating tastey things I grew up eating that are full of white flour and sugar.
I am most concerned about corn sweeteners in everything, in addition to all of the other refined carbs. The Neanderthin diet is probably the best one, but it’s just too darned difficult.
susie
Your nickname is VERY high in carbs..... ;)
susie
Actually the bigger the weight loss target the better off you are going for eat less excercise more. Large quantities of weight lost quickly tends to not allow the skin to reshrink, which causes wierd baginess that usually needs plastic surgery to correct, eating less and excercising more is a slow steady weight loss regimen that lets your skin shrink. Also because of the long haul nature of that kind of weight loss you’re more likely to have the real behavioral change you need to not yo-yo. I dropped 65 pounds eating less and excercising more, took two years (well OK I too most of fall and all of winter off in between waves) and have kept it off, it was a total rewrite of my life style so even when I’m not trying to lose weight I just don’t eat all that extra food. The other nice part about going straight for your calorie balance is you don’t have to stop eating anything, you just eat less, I had lasagna and cheesecake at one early point in my new regimen, the real stuff too not low anything, lost 3 pounds that week. Show me another diet where you can have Carnegie Deli cheesecake for desert with no guilt and keep your positive results.
Learn to eat healthy smaller portions no processed foods no refined sugar no simple carbs...with smart eating habits over a couple of yrs you can obtain your ideal weight....now that's healthy...
Atkins works and we carnivores love it ping!
Have you tried the Crispy Cream diet?
Actually, it is the very most natural, healthy way of eating. It's just not compatible with restaurant junk.
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