Posted on 03/06/2004 6:43:27 AM PST by traumer
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Americans are eating more fat and cholesterol as "low-carb" diets grow in popularity, but people do not seem to be losing weight and they are putting their health at risk, U.S. researchers said on Friday.
If the trend continues toward more fat and fewer vegetables and grains, Americans could suffer more heart disease, already the No. 1 killer in the country, they warned.
"It is pretty clear from marketing data ... that over the past two years there have been specific trends toward more fat intake in the diet. If that is true, that would then suggest that there are tough times ahead with regard to disease risk," said Dr. Randal Thomas of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
Several studies being presented at an American Heart Association (news - web sites) meeting on nutrition and heart disease showed the same thing -- Americans eat too much overall, they eat too much fat, and they do not eat enough fruits, vegetables and high-fiber foods. Reporters were briefed on the San Francisco meeting in a telephone news conference.
Thomas and colleagues at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, found that fat and especially cholesterol intake has gone up over the past five years among 1,200 area residents surveyed for the study.
In 1999, 70 percent of those surveyed were trying to eat less fat in their diets. The share fell to 65 percent in 2003. Daily cholesterol intake rose from 294 milligrams a day in 1999 to 331 in 2003.
Only 29 percent of the residents -- whom Thomas says are representative of the U.S. public -- met government recommendations of getting no more than 30 percent of calories from fat.
"Reasons for this trend are unclear but may include the aggressive marketing of dietary plans that recommend the liberal use of saturated fat and cholesterol in the diet," Thomas said in a report to the meeting.
FAT-RICH DIETS
Such fat-rich plans are led by the Atkins diet, which recommends overloading on protein and fat to cause a metabolic condition called ketosis, in which the body sheds water.
While some of these diets have been shown over the short term to help some people lose weight and to lower cholesterol, the Heart Association says there are no long-term studies and it does not recommend the diets.
On the other hand, greater intake of fat and cholesterol is known to worsen heart disease, Thomas said. "What this (study) shows is some troubling trends," he told reporters in a telephone briefing.
"I think any diet that recommends increasing the amount of saturated fat poses a risk. There may be good things about the diet ... but any diet that recommends increases in saturated fat could be increasing the risk in the population."
And they may not help people lose weight, suggested a study by Linda van Horn of Northwestern University in Chicago and colleagues.
The study assessed more than 4,000 people in the United States, Britain, Japan and China, asking them to write down everything they had eaten over two 24-hour periods.
"Lo and behold, what we did find is that without exception, a high complex-carbohydrate, high-fiber, high vegetable-protein diet was associated with low body-mass index (the standard measure of healthy weight)," Van Horn said.
"The more animal protein a person ate, the higher his or her weight" she said.
Dr. Robert Eckel of the University of Colorado, the Heart Association's spokesman on nutrition, said people should aim to eat plenty of fruits, vegetables and high-fiber grain foods, reduce fat consumption, and exercise.
"There are no good foods and bad foods. It is the overall diet that we are interested in," he said.
Kids don't like the homoginized, so at least I get to keep that around. It has the texture and flavor of old-fashioned creamy milk like you might get at Uncle's dairy...if you ever had that opportunity. My kids can't take it because it's thick, not that translucent-blue sugar-water they drink. Bleh.
This is just getting peoplemto write down what they eat. The people who ate more meat were not necessarily follwing Atkins or any other plan. If you eat meat and fat still eat even a normal amount of carbs for an American, you are not going to get any benefit. Yes. The guys who eat three hamburgers for lunch and a 24 oz porterhouse steak with baked potato for dinnier is not going to be thin, unless he runs marathons.
As Rush said, the reason Atkins works is because it supresses appetite. I love the fact that I can watch my wife and kids eat sweets or other high carb treats, and I do not yearn to have any high-carb stuff myself.
We should expect continued attacks against the Atkins Nutritional approach, because it hurts the sales of many foods. Soda companies and snack companies are very rich and powerful, and I would not be surprised to find Congressional hearings featuring many damaging witneses against Atkins.
Boy, tha'll die *hard*! A calorie is a unit of measurement, but what it measures is not always the same chemical compound. The body is a machine that burn, breaks down, different things differently.
The nutritionist-dieticians I happen to know (anecdotal) are all overweight, one is morbidly obese, and none of them can cook a meal worth eating! Yet they are hysterical on the health risks of Atkins, all the while planning their knee surgeries (poor joints can't support all that weight) and huffing and puffing up one flight of stairs, and I suspect they're going to be looking at Type II diabetes within five years...seems to me that at the worst, there are some health trade-offs that are a rational decision.
Low carb milk just appeared on my local grocery dairy case. The carton says low carb milk drink, so I don't think its 100% milk. I saw the price($2.99 per half gallon) looked at the carton but didn't look at the ingriedients, since it is too expensive for me.
I've get most of my calcium from cottage cheese, which also is full of protein, but reletively low in carbs.
ahh...and one of my favorite shopping stores to boot. A win-win.
Thanks.
Indeed--but believe me, you won't drink much at a time! This is not the watery stuff that children gulp down by the pint.
With one of those locarb shortbread cookies by Snackwell--a nice treat.
A cheat once in a while is ok. But you cheat every couple of days and your weight will go up. And a lot of people cheat.
I'm not sure if this speaks to the benefits of Atkins or their poor diets. As you say, this is anecdotal. I'm sure there are healthy weight nutritionists-dieticians that may also be "hysterical on the health risks of Atkins". Cholesterol count is one measurement of health, but it is not the only measurement. Everything in balance.
As a personal trainer, I am constantly searching for good, unbiased studies on diets and I don't want short term ones. I want 5+ years. I want follow-up with the participants. These, unfortunately, are difficult to find on Atkins participants which I find odd since Atkins has been around for such a long time.
But when they ask, and since I've lost weight they want to know--then I'll tell them. I'll also tell them that nobody loved bread and taters more than I did--and I still can only have a taste of a potato. I'm not one of those locarb eaters that can have many carbs--I'm somewhere between 40-80 a day Too many 80's--and I have to do some days of just 20.
I know people that swear they've tried, but I know they can't stop with the twinkies and pretzels. I leave desserts strictly alone--but I don't have any scrawny portions of steak or salmon, and heap up the steamed veggies and spread a real pat of butter on them.
About the only thing that can annoy me about the claims against Atkins is that we only eat bacon. The fact is, once you give up on the sugar all kinds of things start to taste very sweet--fresh vegetables and greens, for instance. But sugar-eaters are so dulled to their senses that they can't even taste what's sweet.
I had a minor injury during this time, and did not exercise. I get moderate exercise, but hardly what would impress. Two or three times a week at a gym. I have found that while exercise can help and has benefits, it is useful for most non-athlete women (men do better) as the main means of weight control. However, when I was very young, exercise was more effective and I could eat as I pleased.
There were, anecdotally, other surprising bennies. I lost the mid-morning hungries and the mid-afternoon sleepies. I believe the texture of my hair, nails and skin improved.
I have lost all sugar urges. Even when the kids make chocolate chip cookies and fill the house with the smell, I am satisfied with one bite. Some of my cultural "soul food" comfort foods were harder to give up--red beans and rice, cornbread--but I have a little now and then as a treat.
Interesting process. But, except for here, I don't evangelize. Dieters can be bores, but I figure if you click on a thread, you get what you ask for.
No doubt. I've never been a big milk drinker since I was a kid. I guess the price just turned me off. I didn't eat cottage cheese at all, either, until I started a modified low carb diet about about 2 months ago. I've lost 15 lbs, but only need to lose 20, so I knew it would be a slower process. I haven't cut out all carbs. I have about two slices of bread a day(one at breakfast, one at dinner). I eat a whole wheat diet bread(when they say diet bread, it means it is sliced thinner). The whole wheat means I get some fiber. One has to check the label to make sure it says,"whole wheat flour", instead of "enriched wheat flour". The bread has 9 carbs per slice and is priced at about $2.49 per loaf, instead of the Atkins brand bread with the same amount of carbs at $4.00 per loaf.
Have been eating more fish, chicken, and turkey. Beef once in awhile and hard boiled eggs. Also more veggies and fruits and drink lots of water.
I have more energy and don't have the hunger pangs as much. As an example, had to go to an Olive Garden for a family function. Before the diet I would have ate a basket of their breadsticks, instead this time I had one. Also left a 1/4 of the pasta of a pasta and chicken dish on the plate(I ate all the chicken). Again before hand I would have eaten all the pasta, but my stomach was more than full.
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