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.
I don't know the accuracy, but they seem to reflect what I see in the mirror. You'll have to do your own google research to know for sure. Tanita seems to be the big name.
It works by shooting a little electric current through your body. That speed, measured against your height, sex and weight (you enter your height and sex manually when you set it up)gives a body fat percentage.
I recommend the scales that have settings for two or more people, otherwise you have to enter your sex and height manually each time.
I've been getting relief from eating cherries, but I've heard sweet black cherry juice will be more effective.
It's taken me a few days to find a store that sold it, but I just now drank my first big sixteen ounce glass of the stuff.
I'll let you know if it works!
This happened to me. I was using a modified Atkins when I was hospitalized, begging them not to use the typical IV - came out of the Hospital after 3 days, 5 pounds heavier, just from the darn IV's!! No one believed me. I went back to running, playing racquetball by myself, in order to hold my weight down, meanwhile no one understood the penalty for eating any carbs. It wasn't candy I was eating - watermelon, baked squash, baked potato, curried rice, bananas (!), anything high carb just wrecks my ability to lose weight or hold my weight at a steady number.
I have finally adjusted to the fact that I am extremely carbohydrate sensitive, and recognize that metabolisms just aren't all 'cookie cutter' - we are each so different. I have other endocrine difficulties which I am not going to go into here, but I do know one thing. If I eat the Atkins way, and exercise 5 times a week, I can lose weight, and hold my weight at a number I like. (I'm also not going to go into the crime that caused me gain this weight. Enuf said.)
Making this a twofer - "dead" - I've heard of black cherry juice being effective for gout, but I've never tried it, so I can't speak from experience.
I also take a small tablet called Colchicine that negates the purines in my body and lets me keep walking without pain. They cost about $5 for 100 of them - so since I don't have any prescription insurance, they are really affordable. You might find that they are cheaper than black cherry juice capsules, since sometimes the "natural" stuff costs more. Do not know anything about difference in effectiveness. I just know that Colchicine works for me.
Enthusiastic about their dieting, apparently.
Came across a similar diet about '73 but it had the name Monroe on it. Advocated meat only, raw eggs blended with orange juice for breakfast. One carb meal every 4 meals, or no carb meals at all. Eat all you want, just no carbs and don't mix carbs with meat. A pound a day, easily, no pain. One problem, your clothes get real loose. Maybe they printed only one copy of that book and I was the one who read it. Dr. Monroe died normally at 80 or so, but he claimed that Adam and Noah and Methusaleh and that crowd ate only meat and that's why they lived 900 years. Don't know about that part.
One cannot argue with success
What are you talking about? Dr. Atkins died last month from head injuries at the age of 72 and was in excellent health until then.
The Atkins program turned my whole family around. My children will not be part of the alarming numbers of children who have Type II diabetes.
The weight loss is almost incidental to us achieving lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol, and steering us away from hyperinsulinism.
Look around you. How many people do you know who have Type II diabetes? It ain't a pretty disease.
Have you found the chocolates that use sugar alcohol. They are fabulous! Just don't eat too many.
My favorite dessert is fresh strawberries sprinkled with Splenda and heavy whipping cream poured on top.
For a 1/4 cup of strawberries, you get a net carb count of 1.8 grams. Heavy cream has no carbs.
I love it!
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