Posted on 09/05/2009 5:10:07 PM PDT by neverdem
BOSTON — Proponents of the Atkins low-carbohydrate/high saturated fat diet say that you can have your steak and eat it, too, and still lose weight.
But the adverse metabolic consequences are too heavy a price to pay, Australian investigators reported at a symposium sponsored by the International Atherosclerosis Society.
After 1 year, overweight and obese patients randomly assigned to the Atkins diet or to a low-saturated-fat, high-carbohydrate diet lost similar amounts of weight. But patients on the Atkins diet had a deterioration in flow-mediated arterial dilatation, a marker for cardiovascular disease, and higher levels of LDL cholesterol than at baseline, reported Dr. Peter Clifton of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization in Adelaide, South Australia.
“What I really want to know is, does the early elevation of HDL, which has been shown convincingly [with the Atkins diet], and lowering of triglycerides plus the lowering of blood pressure and glucose, outweigh the rise in LDL cholesterol that you see in some individuals in some studies?” said Dr. Clifton.
He and colleagues analyzed the effects of two diets on flow-mediated dilatation (FMD), a measurement of the ability of blood vessels to dilate in response to increases in blood flow. FMD is reduced in both cardiovascular disease and diabetes, but whether it improves with significant weight loss is unclear; if so, it might be related to either decreases in glucose or in LDL, Dr. Clifton said.
The study's aim was to evaluate the effects on markers of endothelial dysfunction and cardiovascular disease risk of a very-low-carbohydrate/high-saturated-fat diet, and an isocaloric high-carbohydrate/low-saturated-fat diet.
The outcomes were FMD and markers of endothelial dysfunction, including cellular adhesion molecules, inhibitors and promoters of fibrinolysis, adiponectin, glucose, insulin, C-reactive protein (CRP), lipids, and apolipoprotein B.
The study involved 70 men and women aged 16-60 years with body mass index between 27 and 40 kg/m2, and markers for the presence of the metabolic syndrome.
After 1 year, the 33 patients on the Atkins diet lost slightly more weight on average (14.5 kg), than did the 36 patients on the low-fat diet (11.5 kg), but this difference was not significant.
There was no diet-specific effect on blood pressure, glucose, insulin or CRP, but the Atkins diet was superior to the low-fat diet at decreasing triglycerides and increasing HDL. The Atkins diet also was associated with increases in LDL levels.
Overall, 49 patients (26 on the Atkins diet, 23 on the low-fat diet) underwent FMD assessment. Endothelial function decreased by almost half from baseline among patients in the Atkins diet, compared with no change among patients on the low-fat diet. “Overall, FMD deteriorated after 12 months on a high-saturated-fat Atkins diet, despite their fantastic weight loss and improvement in all those other things,” Dr. Clifton said. “Solely because the LDL increased, it outweighed all the other measures of weight loss. The other measures of endothelial function that we took actually improved except ICAM-1 on the Atkins diet, so there seems to be a separation of endothelial functions as expressed by nitric oxide and these other endothelial markers.
“This really calls into question that fantastic elevation of HDL [with the Atkins diet] as being a good thing or having anything much to do with cardiovascular health,” he added.
Dr. Clifton disclosed that he has coauthored diet books, but they do not include the information he presented.
The meat-heavy Atkins diet increased both HDL and LDL cholesterol.
The woman who is the moderator of the low carb diet forum at about.com has a rebuttal to this study. She makes some valid points about the flaws in this study.
At junkfoodscience blog at blogspot, Sandy cites some research that says that no diet in particular has ever been shown to be effective for diabetics long term.
There is so much more that is not known about diabetes than is known - you have to approach all claims with a healthy dose of skepticism. I wish there were some absolute answers.
Don't count on it. One of my neighbors had the procedure done at great expense and is still obese. If someone is determined to be fat, she's going to be fat even if she has to inhale the food through her nose.
You have to exercise to lose weight. Few people who lose weight are willing to impose the self-discipline on themselves to exercise three times a day to keep that metabolic rate up. They try to cut back on calories and diet in different ways, and it doesn't work. They should all go on South Beach (a modified version of Atkins) and exercise more, through aerobic, weight-training, and sport exercise (two of those three on each day, plus a long walk, hike, bike-ride, horseback ride, or swim).
PING
I could be all wrong about this, but I think that the B12 speeds up my metabolism. It is the only noticeable difference in my habits but I have lost perhaps 30 pounds since the end of March. I was 180 then. I haven’t weighed myself since but my clothes are much looser.
I began the injections because it is suspected I have a pernicious anemia or some type of B12 deficiency. I have been anemic and I’ve been very tired as well as showing a lot of other symptoms. As a guess, and in consultation with a nurse, I began with 1mg injections a day.
I immediately saw (immediately meaning within a week!) a lessening of the symptoms, most notably the “fungus-in-the-brain” feeling and the bouts of dizziness. So, I increased the dosage. At one point I’ve injected as much as 6 mg. a day. That was at the end of May and through the middle of June. I had a set-back from two bouts of malaria. Malaria parasites eat up red blood cells and they just had a feast on all my young tender cells!
I’m sorry. This is a long answer to your short question.
I do inject myself. I had been shown how to inject waaaaaay back in ‘93 and I watched a video on the internet about it in April as a refresher. I’ve been injecting since about my third day on the treatment. I didn’t have energy enough to track down a nurse every day.
I am fortunate that I live in a country where I can purchase many drugs that I need easily. B12 is one. In the US you must have a doctor’s prescription and sometimes docs are hard to convince. Unfortunately, living next to the jungle as I do, sometimes supplies run out. I’ve had to scale back my injections and ration what I have. I have an order coming from Jakarta and it should be here in a week. I honestly do not know what I’d do if I lived in the states. Something expensive, I bet.
Atkins still died, and was overweight to boot.
FWIW, I have lost my weight w/o exercise. Basically, I don’t have enough energy yet to exercise. My caloric intake per day is about 600 to 1000 calories a day. Pre-B12 I had no weight loss. Post-B12, the weight is finally coming off.
I just recently added some responsibilities which tire me out significantly. If I had not added those, I would probably be swimming again.
Not everyone is able to exercise, but they can still lose weight.
Not cardio-related.
Cheers!
IANAD, but I suspect you’re wrong. It’s the high glucose levels which play havoc with the kidneys, and reducing them is more important than eating less protein.
Do you really think so with the extreme genetic modification going on? Aren’t you concerned about those extra bits of DNA mucking up your own? At least if you are eating animal meat, the animal can only be somewhat genetically modified without killing it. No such thing as non GM food, while they may not have used GM seed, pollination takes care of that.
Interesting. Thanks for the ping.
Which is not uncommon! Remember Rachel Carson's Silent Spring which led to the banning of DDT. There are many other examples of Progressives getting their way through pretend health issues.
Where are you finding the grass-fed meat? What I’m finding locally is grass-fed until roughly 100 days before butchering, when during that time they are corn-fed.
We have a local health food store that carries locally raised grass fed beef, pork....the big stores carrie SOME frozen things.
When you first start a low carb diet your body loses excessive amounts of potassium. That rendered me almost unable to work. The problem clears itself up after about a month. I corrected it by taking potassium pills. I didn’t follow any particular diet, just eliminated carbs. I used a carb counter and avoided all foods that had more than a couple of carbs. The weight lose was rapid and the results gave me incentive to stick with it. I lost thirty pounds in 10 weeks. Since achieving my goal weight I avoid carbs at breakfast and lunch but eat a pretty normal supper. In all phases of the diet my appetite was, and is, much smaller. Even now the portions I eat are much smaller than before. On top of every thing else my cholesterol went from 210 to 160. It works for me and I highly recommend it.
Thanks for the advice.
False dichotomy. It's not an either-or. Reducing both is important with damaged kidneys. There are other ways to reduce glucose levels besides the Atkins diet, ways that don't poison the kidneys with protein by-products. The Atkins diet is for healthy kidneys only.
BTW, my source is a dietitian at a kidney transplant center. What's yours?
You’re right, I was mistaken. Atkins is a bad idea if your kidneys are already damaged. Gotta fix the nephropathy first ...
Overall, 49 patients (26 on the Atkins diet, 23 on the low-fat diet) underwent FMD assessment. Endothelial function decreased by almost half from baseline among patients in the Atkins diet, compared with no change among patients on the low-fat diet. "Overall, FMD deteriorated after 12 months on a high-saturated-fat Atkins diet, despite their fantastic weight loss and improvement in all those other things," Dr. Clifton said.The Atkins Diet isn't "a high-saturated-fat" diet. This guy should have whatever credentials he's managed to acquire revoked.
If only there was a way to do that. When the kidneys get damaged, it's permanent. They don't heal or recover, ever.
The only hope is to delay a transplant by stopping whatever was destroying them. Most often, that's diabetes and high blood pressure, both of which can be controlled. The kidneys can then limp along for quite awhile.
On the contrary, here’s a couple of links...
“...high-dose thiamin (vitamin B1) may be a valuable therapeutic agent in the treatment of diabetic nephropathy”
http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/supplements/thiamin-and-diabetic-nephropathy/
http://www.springerlink.com/content/51l034044218455j/?p=c5bea8fb1ebd4a62bedc8ac4726e797f&pi=3
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