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.
Berries will be in season soon, and good tomatoes.
One thing I saw on TV that I started doing this month--I buy three heads of different kinds of lettuce, take the heads apart (don't tear) and put them through your wash/spin salad gadget, then spread them out on paper towels. I place another layer of towels and roll it all up, and then put that paper roll in a plastic bag, not letting the leaves touch the plastic. Kept in the frig, it's a fresh, cold, crisp salad any time you want. Lasts a week, with just a little oxidation of the leaves.
I'm 45 years old, male, 5' 5" tall, currently 150 lbs. For the last ten years I suffered from acute gout. Every three months or so I would get so crippled up I could hardly move for a week at a time. I religiously followed all the doctors diet limitations with no success.
Then eight months ago I was diagnosed with diabetes and all my research (even though I was otherwise active and healthy)pointed to the weight ( I was 15 lbs overweight) and exercise. In desperation ( I didn't want to stay on meds for the rest of my life) I risked the prospect of further aggravating my situation with the gout and went on the Atkins diet. Today I'm 15 lbs lighter, lowered my already lower than avarage cholestorol, off all the meds and haven't had even a twinge of the gout (knock on wood)the entire time. A very important sidenote is that I also took up tennis to add to the cardiovascular aspect of the normal exercise I get from work and other normal activities.
Oh yeah...my only cheating comes in the form enjoying a good quantity of low carb BEER!
I'm sure my doctor wouldn't approve of any of the actions I have taken (with the exception of the tennis), however he IS amazed how losing only 15 lbs could cure both medical conditions. As long as things remain the same, I'm swearing off the processed sugars, and keeping the carbs down.
Dead, I don't know anyone who has had gout worse than I used to get it. (Toes, ankles, knees, elbows and even one time in the large knuckle of my left hand). Started 10 years ago when I was 35 years old. Look at my post 365 on this thread. Maybe it will help you, or maybe I'm only lucky. One thing I'm sure of though (and you won't find any medical information that will tell you this)...don't ingest processed sugars with any meal that you are consuming any alcoholic beverages unless you LIKE getting the gout. (If this helps you, you owe me a beer!)
Right now, my gout is almost all gone, unless I'm on my feet for too long. Drinking alot of water helped, and I really think drinking a quart or so a day of black cherry juice really helped. Now I need to lose some weight (more like 40 than 15, unfortunately.)
Of course it could come back at any time, and I don't have to tell you how painful this thing can be.
I bookmarked this thread, and will come back to it if I need a more radical solution. Thanks for the advice. (and I will stay away from processed sugar when I have a little booze!)
No Way am I putting my "sex" in some machine that "shoots a little electric current through your body".
That is a HIGH carb plan.
LOL, 200g a day is pretty high carb if the object of the diet is to keep blood sugar down. And low fat, too. You must have been MISERABLE. I know carbs make me hungrier than if I hadn't eaten at all.
I pulled out my food plan and saw that an ideal dinner for controlling blood sugar was 4 oz. of protein (fat trimmed from it of course), a LARGE baked potato with freaking margarine, a vegetable with margarine and skim milk. Then for my after dinner snack I was supposed to have a banana, crackers and more skim milk.
Does anything leap out at you? Like maybe the fact that I was being told to eat trans fats (margarine), foods that make your blood sugar skyrocket (potato and banana) and refined carbs (the crackers)? And this was all in a few hours!
This is Katie being too lazy to log in herself.
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