Study finds Atkins diet healthier than thought

The Seattle Times ^ | 11/20/02 | Daniel Q. Haney

[ppaul]

CHICAGO - Multitudes swear by the high-fat, low-carbohydrate Atkins diet, and now a carefully controlled study backs them up: Low-carb may actually take off more weight than low-fat and may be surprisingly better for cholesterol, too.

For years, the Atkins formula of sparing carbohydrates and loading up on taboo fatty foods has been blasphemy to many in the health establishment, who view it as a formula for cardiovascular ruin.

But now, some of the same researchers who long scoffed at the diet are putting it to the test, and they say the results astonish them. Rather than making cholesterol soar, as they feared, the diet actually appears to improve it, and volunteers take off more weight.

Still, the number of overweight people studied this way is small, and the research does not examine possible long-term ills or advantages, including how long people keep the pounds off.

So for now, the researchers say that much more research is necessary before the Atkins diet can be given an across-the-board endorsement, but at least they believe it is safe enough to take into much larger studies.

At least three formal studies of the Atkins diet have been presented at medical conferences over the past year, and all have reached similar results. The latest, conducted by Dr. Eric Westman of Duke University, was presented yesterday at the annual scientific meeting of the American Heart Association, long a stronghold of support for the traditional low-fat approach.

Westman, an internist at Duke's diet and fitness center, said he decided to study the Atkins approach because of concern over so many patients and friends taking it up on their own. He approached the Robert C. Atkins foundation in New York City to finance the research.

Westman studied 120 overweight volunteers, who were randomly assigned to the Atkins diet or the heart association's Step 1 diet, a widely used low-fat approach. On the Atkins diet, people limited their carbohydrates to less than 20 grams a day, and 60 percent of their calories came from fat.

"It was high fat, off the scale," he said.

After six months, the people on the Atkins diet had lost an average of 31 pounds, compared with 20 pounds on the heart association diet, and more people stuck with the Atkins regimen.

Total cholesterol fell slightly in both groups. However, those on the Atkins diet had an 11 percent increase in HDL, the good cholesterol, and a 49 percent drop in triglycerides. On the heart association diet, HDL was unchanged and triglycerides dropped 22 percent. High triglycerides may raise the risk of heart disease.

The volunteers' total amounts of LDL, the bad cholesterol, did not change much on either diet.

"More study is necessary before such a diet can be recommended," Westman said. "However, a concern about serum lipid (cholesterol) elevations should not impede such research."

No single study is likely to change minds on the issue, especially since an initial weight loss is hard to maintain on any diet. Some answers could come from a yearlong study being sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. That experiment, being directed by Dr. Gary Foster of the University of Pennsylvania, will test the Atkins diet on 360 patients.

Dr. Alice Lichtenstein, a nutrition expert at Tufts University, said she thinks too much is made of the amounts of carbohydrates and fats in people's diets as they try to shed weight.

"There is no magic combination of fat versus carbs versus protein," she said. "It doesn't matter in the long run. The bottom line is calories, calories, calories."

[ppaul]

It works.
And for many of us, it's the only regimen that has EVER worked.
Thank God for Dr. Atkins.
The "experts" maligned him for years.
Vindication is sweet.

[angkor]

Last week there was a post about a teenage girl who possibly had died from Atkins. I think maybe she was taking that hideous "ma huang" stuff (known to cause heart arythmia), and her death had nothing to do with Atkins.

Personally, I haven't been able to get the Atkins diet to kick-in (always 15 pounds quick, then flatline), but a friend of mine dropped 110 pounds from January to October.

[Mr. Peabody]

"There is no magic combination of fat versus carbs versus protein," she said. "It doesn't matter in the long run. The bottom line is calories, calories, calories."

BZZZZZTT! Another PhD gets it wrong!

[jigsaw]

"....but a friend of mine dropped 110 pounds from January to October.

That sounds more like a divorce!

[jcsmonogram]

Yep. Thank God for this diet and for Dr. Atkins' tenaciousness.

I've lost 45 pounds while eating bacon, cheese, eggs, steak at every meal, butter. I'm never hungry and I don't think about food, which is a change. Prior to Atkins, it's all I ever thought about. I'd be in a business meeting, a lot of money at stake, and I'd be thinking about where I was going to go for lunch. If I got near donuts, my eyes would roll back in my head like a shark and I'd eat 4 or 5 before I knew what happened.

Prior to Atkins, my cholesterol was 271, now it's 181. My triglycerides were 148, now they're 69. My good cholesterol has improved and my bad cholesterol and gone down.

My doctor has fought me every step of the way. Maybe this report combined with seeing my success firsthand will make her open her mind a bit.

Jeff

[Route66]

'My doctor has fought me every step of the way.'
>>>>>>>>>>>>
Mine did too,at first.
But now after years and years of maintaining my weight loss, great bloodwork results and a complete reversal of a lot of other health problems, my doctor now recommends a low carbohydrate diet.

[chilepepper]

As someone struggling with weight for 50 years, ditto to that.

Diets were generally a failure, all the weight regained a few months or weeks after completion. I do recall periods in my life in which I would invent my own diet which would seem to work... in retrospect, these were Atkins like! Yet the anti-Atkins propaganda had worked and I never even considered the full Atkins diet until about four years ago... damn the experts for keeping me fatter for those twenty years!

[eddiespaghetti]

My doctor has fought me every step of the way. Maybe this report combined with seeing my success firsthand will make her open her mind a bit.

One's health is too important to be left solely to doctors.

[arielb]

Before you can say "vindication" not only do we need to see a larger study but also we need to see its effects on cancer and kidneys

[ppaul]

Ping.

[North Coast Conservative]

I lost weight on the regimen, and completely control my Type II diabetes with this way of eating. No more glucophage for me, and all I had to do was eliminate the carbs in my diet. My HbA1c is 5.5, and my triglycerides are 36. You can't tell me it doesn't work, because I KNOW IT DOES.

In God We Trust.....Semper Fi

[kmiller1k]

You may want to look into a book titled The Schwarzbein Principle. It is a similar diet to Atkins (protien and fat) but allows some carbs when combined with fat and protien. The principle in a nut shell is that what we ingest affects not only the relief of hunger but our various hormone levels and their attendant effect on our well being. Especially for women as we have many areas wherein hormones are especially delicate and can wreak havoc on our emotional and physical health.

[Sender]

I may have to try the Atkins diet. God knows, my favorite foods are steaks, bacon, eggs, milk etc. Giving up these to eat celery is, for me, not an option. Hmm, a diet made up of my favorite foods...my only complaint would be giving up potatoes and breads, but hey, I may give it a try.

[PLK]

those on the Atkins diet had an 11 percent increase in HDL, the good cholesterol

I have been on the low Carb diet on and off for approximately one year. I lost 20#, regained 10# during a time when I had a foot injury and could not do my usual 12-15 miles/week jogging. I am very happy with it - at my last physical, my HDL levels were fantastic, the doctor was quite impressed, and although my cholesterol was 204, she said my high HDL's made the cholesterol level pretty much irrelevant.

Just finished a lite lunch of garden salad smothered in rich, creamy Ranch dressing and large chunks of cheese. Yummy. No tasteless fat-free dressings or boring raw veggies for me. Tonight I will fry that great lookin' New York strip steak waiting in my fridge in a generous dollop of real butter. Can't wait.

[ConservativeDude]

I'm ok on weight and total cholesterol. But I need to raise HDL. I also want to stay young, as it were....so much I want to accomplish that I need to still be very strong at 65 and older. I am going to investigate.

But I find wading through the info cumbersome. Where do I start?

[PLK]

I may have to try the Atkins diet. God knows, my favorite foods are steaks, bacon, eggs, milk etc.

Can't have milk, heavy cream is O.K., but milk contains too much sugar in the form of lactose. Sorry. But you can have all the cheese you want. Go for it.

[ConservativeDude]

Is it just as simple as no carbs, no sugars, no fruits?

How much is 20 grams a day?

How about potatoes once a week?

Where can I get answers to these?

[kaktuskid]

Carbs should come from green vegetables, nuts, and berries.

[ConservativeDude]

Can't have milk, heavy cream is O.K., but milk contains too much sugar in the form of lactose. Sorry. But you can have all the cheese you want. Go for it.

Where do we get the low down on these nuances?

[ConservativeDude]

No orange juice? That is supposed to raise HDL. confusion here.