Posted on 05/21/2003 2:20:12 PM PDT by Johnny Gage
Two Studies Vindicate Atkins Diet
May 21, 2003 4:00 pm US/Central (AP) A month after Dr. Robert C. Atkins' death, his much-ridiculed diet has received its most powerful scientific support yet: two studies in one of medicine's most distinguished journals show it really does help people lose weight faster without raising their cholesterol.
The research, in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine, found that people on the high-protein, high-fat, low-carbohydrate Atkins diet lose twice as much weight over six months as those on the standard low-fat diet recommended by most major health organizations.
However, one of the studies found that the Atkins dieters regain much of the weight by the end of one year.
Atkins, who died April 17 at age 72 after falling and hitting his head on an icy sidewalk, lived to see several shorter studies that found, to researchers' great surprise, that his diet is effective and healthy in the short run.
Although those reports have been presented at medical conferences, none until now has been published in a top-tier journal. And one of the studies in the journal lasted a year, making it the longest one yet.
"For the last 20 years that I've been helping people lose weight, I've been trashing the Atkins diet -- without any real data to rely on," said Dr. Michael Hamilton, an obesity researcher who was not part of either study. "Now we have some data to give us some guidance."
Now, he said, he would neither trash it nor endorse it. "I'm going to say I don't know. The evidence isn't in," he said.
One study ran six months and was conducted by the Veterans Affairs Department; the yearlong study was led by Gary D. Foster, who runs the weight-loss program at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Atkins' diet books have sold 15 million copies since the first one was published in 1972. From the start, doctors branded the Atkins diet foolish and dangerous, warning that the large amounts of beef and fat would lead to sky-high cholesterol levels. In both studies, the Atkins dieters generally had better levels of "good" cholesterol and triglycerides, or fats in the blood. There was no difference in "bad" cholesterol or blood pressure. Dr. Frederick F. Samaha of the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center, who led the VA study, said both studies indicate that people do lose more weight on Atkins, "but the difference is not great."
The 132 men and women in the VA study started out weighing an average of 286 pounds. After six months, those on the Atkins diet had lost an average of 12.8 pounds, those on the low-fat diet 4.2.
The other study involved 63 participants who weighed an average of 217 pounds at the start. After six months, the Atkins group lost 15.4 pounds, the group on the standard diet 7.
But at the end of a year, the Atkins dieters had regained about a third of the weight. Their net loss averaged 9.7 pounds. The low-fat dieters had regained about one-fifth of the weight, for a net loss of 5.5 pounds.
The year-end difference was not big enough to tell whether it was caused by the diets, Foster said.
About 40 percent of the patients dropped out of each study. And while supporters of the Atkins diet say it is easier to stick with, people on the Atkins regimen were just as likely to drop out as people on the standard diets.
The important finding, Foster said, is that the Atkins diet appears to be a healthy short-term way to lose weight. Nobody has studied it long enough to tell whether it is a healthy way to maintain that loss, he said.
Collette Heimowitz, director of education and research at Atkins Health and Medical Information Services, said people there were not surprised by the weight loss and improved cholesterol.
"But I'm thrilled that serious researchers are taking a hard look at the program, so that health care professionals and physicians would find comfort in offering Atkins as an alternative to the one-size-fits-all hypothesis of low-fat, low-calorie," she said.
The studies did not convince Kathleen Zelman, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association.
"There's never been any denying that low-carbohydrate, high-protein diets such as Atkins do, absolutely, cause weight loss," she said. "But do they hold up over time and can you stay on them over time?"
From Foster's study, it does not look like it, she said.
Now, he said, he would neither trash it nor endorse it. "I'm going to say I don't know. The evidence isn't in," he said.
This guy still believes that second-hand smoke kills 40,000 people a year, despite all the evidence to the contrary.
With the exception of rice and cous-cous, I pretty much have cut out most of the high-carb foods in my regular diet. No more pies, cakes, candy, packaged snack foods, chips, etc. Since cutting this stuff out and doing my walking every day, my hunger for these foods have disappeared. I used to crave stuff like those peanut butter and cracker sandwiches that you see in the vending machines. I also craved things like those Goldfish snack crackers and Fig Newtons (thinking they were somewhat healthy). All those cravings have disappeared. Now I have just a banana for breakfast and a tin of sardines (or small bag of peanuts) for lunch on most days and I am not even hungry. In fact, I have to sometimes force myself to have that banana in the morning because I know I need to put something in my system after doing my 5AM walk. I'm just not hungry at all. It amazes me that I have cut my food intake (as measured in calories) by half while walking 6-8 miles per day.
I don't bother counting calories but I estimate I do not go very much over 1,200 to 1,500 calories a day (including the beer and coffee I drink) since starting the "modified" Atkins plan (along with the walking program). I walk three miles in the morning and about 4 miles at lunch.
I have been eating much healthier for about two full years now and my weight gain had stopped. But it wasn't until I cut carbs significantly that I started losing the weight. Now I am losing it rather rapidly.
I've seen these scales in sporting goods stores. I just assumed it was a gimmick to sell the scales for more money. Are these scales accurate? How do they figure out body fat? Are they worth the extra money?
Sorry, but people in the 300-400lb range are usually mental cases. BTW, there are enormous number of these porcine sickos on the loose right now, and I don't think they ought to be driving cars. They eat as they drive and fall asleep.
Hah! But seriously, I know several people who lost 40-60 lbs in 6 months. 15-20 lbs seems insignificant when you are 280.
Well, I'm sure that you, with your humble, self-aware, compassionate, caring, loving approach, will succeed where Dr. Atkins failed.
Dan
Dan
LOL.
I like what a friend said: "Salad is what food eats!"
Dan
Dan
(C8
Thanks!
Dan
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