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Dr. Linda Stern, who led the study, said it confirmed that any diet that cuts calories will work.

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However, the low-fat dieters lowered their cholesterol levels more, reducing their risk of heart disease.

I've seen this posted before. I think the key here is that the only way any diet works is if the person sticks to it and is willing to make a real life change.

Many low carbers refer to low carbing as WOL, way of life. The successful low fat dieters I have met made the same decision. They have made lower calorie/lower fat eating their life, not something you start today and quit 6 months later, or when you have reached your goal weight.

Congrats though to all who have lost on low carb or low fat! At least they are doing something about it!

Adkins has been working for me for years. I love it. McDonalds has a double cheeseburger w/o a bun, are anything else I don't want. Walmart sells low carb ice cream $2.98 for a half gal. Made by Breyer I think, I love it. Sometimes I eat a half gal a day. Gain no weight.

Smart Cos are really getting in on the Atkins. Its here to stay. I haven't bought any bread for years. No french fries either. I don't miss them anymore. Walk a mile a day by the way. Its good for us.

As I have my blood checked each year the lab writes a note telling me how good my check up is.

Not bad for an old man who had heart attacks and operation a few years ago. I hope God blesses Dr. Atkins in a very special way.

Not noted in this study is the fact that if you already have a low cholesterol count, it's probably going to stay low no matter which type of diet you use.

One of the reasons you might have a good cholesterol count is that you already include nuts in your diet.

USDA, for unknown reasons, includes nuts with meat in the food pyramid.

Another unaccountable element in all this is that the American Diabetes Association still recommends that diabetics include large amounts of complex carbohydrates such as potatoes, pasta, and processed wheat in their diets even if it's quite apparant such a diet will kill them.

I've given up on all the nonsense and faced the facts that for a number of reasons my ancestors handed down to me the gene set best adapted to the Paleolithic diet. It only has 3 food groups, and NO complex carbohydrates are in there.

Simply imagine yourself out on the Long Hunt. Sometimes you get meat, and other times you find unripe, hard, green fruit (with little sugar or starch). Nuts and seeds are available, but you may have to chase away the animals to get enough of them. Finally, when times get tough out on the trail you get reduced to fresh greens, and maybe stems and leaves that can be softened over a fire.

There's no bread, noodles, rice, cornmeal, refined sugar in the Paleolithic diet. Such things are quite unnatural for the us.

Sigh. Two successful years on locarb. What is it with the hysteria over cutting out sugars and starches, and replacing with protein and lots of green veggies? The fatso dieticians worry about their franchises, I guess.

My wife and I have been on the Atkins diet for 13 weeks and have both lost around 25 pounds. I have reached by ideal weight, my wife has about 20 more pounds to go. No problems so far.

Margaret Thatcher cautioned against being in the middle on an issue, because you can get slammed from either direction; nonetheless, I'm firmly in the middle in the low carb vs. low fat debate.

There are "good carbs" and "bad carbs," and "good fats" and "bad fats." Endeavor to consume the "good" and shun the "bad" and you'll be on the right course.

"Good carbs" are those which are more slowly digested (due largely to the presence of fiber) and therefore don't spike your blood sugar, which can cause a litany of short- and long-term problems. Consume reasonable amounts of whole wheat bread (caution: read the label and be sure it's 100% whole wheat, and not just "wheat bread" or "multi-grain bread" including "enriched" flour as an ingredient); whole wheat pasta (an acquired taste; I now prefer it, but it took a while); brown rice; other whole grains; beans of all kinds. Avoid (without getting obsessive about it) white flour, white rice, and other refined grain products such as (for us Southerners) grits. And especially avoid carbs which are not only simple, but concentrated: sugar, honey, syrup, molasses, etc. Even "natural" sugars such as those found in fruit can be a problem. In my opinion (I'm a mere amateur; I assume no liability if you follow my advice and wake up dead tomorrow), the benefits (fiber, vitamins, minerals) of whole, uncooked fruit such as apples, pears, bananas, etc. outweigh the disadvantages of the sugars they contain. But consider limiting or eliminating fruit juices, whose sugar levels are higher and are more rapidly assimilated.

"Good fats" -- which should be limited due to their calories -- are those with positive effects on cholesterol levels. They include olive oil and oil/fat from fish (especially deepwater ocean fish). Avoid meat fat to the extent possible (an occasional steak won't kill you, but make it a small, well-trimmed one); butter; most margarines (as bad as butter if not worse); just about anything fried or sauteed; and (a very difficult one for me) most cheeses.

Eat your veggies, especially -- green, orange, or yellow, raw or steamed or otherwise lightly cooked without fat -- in generous quantities. Add a judicious amount of wine (red preferred) and an occasional beer (not necessarily a low-carb one), and you've got a plan you should be able to not only live with, but actually enjoy, for the long term. It's worked for me.

"A year later, both groups had lost about the same amount of weight -- 11 to 19 pounds for the low-carb group and 7 to 19 pounds for the low-fat group. "

This report is a crock. I lost that much weight in 2 weeks on South Beach.I am now down 45 pounds in 4 months.
My cholesterol is down 70 points and my triglycerides down 139 points. The Dr. took me off the cholesterol lowering medication, something I could never achieve by watching fat intake.

It sounds like this group went from eating 200 grams of carbs a day to 180 grams and calling it "low Carb" dieting.