Two Studies Vindicate Atkins Diet

WCCO News Online ^ | 5/21/03 | A/P

[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.

[the Real fifi]

It works for me. Online you can find many recipes for lowcarb sweets and baked goods and there are a number of companies--synergy diet--also online that make a number of great products--tortillas, cakes, candies, pastas, shakes , which are low carb and help make up for those things you cannot eat on the high protein diet.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

My problem is even a little bit of sweets triggers me to binge. If I never eat anything sweet I am better off.

[the Real fifi]

Try their tortillas..they also have sugarless jams, etc. If there is no sugar in the product you won't trigger those cravings..they even have a sugarless nutella substitute my son is crazy about..and my local grocery is now carrying Atkins premium ice cream--yummy , filling and only 5 carbs per serving.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

About the worst thing you can do to a human body is go on the Atkins diet.

[ODC-GIRL]

both my hubby and I have pretty much stood still on our weight loss after about 7 months. Anyone else experience this? We haven't gained it back, but haven't lost any more either.

Try adding a good calcium supplement, the citrate kind, it should help. For those with a sweet tooth, try pudding made the low-carb way: Sugar free pudding mix made with half and half instead of milk, it's like eating mousse and is much lower in carbs that if made with milk. I lost 35 pounds in two months and have kept it off for over a year. Though I did gain a few pounds during Operation Iraqi Freedom as I couldn't tear myself away from the TV and the computer long enough to exercise and eat properly. It's back off now.

[Maven]

Potatoes don't go away, I have lost the craving for bread but a potoato with sour cream (shivers)

Here's a moderately low carb way around that:

Bake the potatoes, then cut in half and scoop out all the innards until you have just the potato skins. Fill the skins with whatever low carb filling you want (sour cream is fine).

The skin from one moderately-sized baked potato nets just over 21 carbs (and that's actually two servings). A whole baked potato is well over 50 carbs.

Maven

[Maven]

Since March 1st, I've been dropping an average of 3 pounds per week. I don't feel hungry like I thought I would. I think the walking makes you less hungry.

You and I had some back-and-forth (in the nicest possible way) not too long ago.

The reason you're not hungry is that you're getting an adequate amount of fat in your diet now, and fat is a wonderful appetite depressant. Also, when you cut down on the carbs, you get off the sugar rollercoaster that causes cravings to eat.

Congrats!

Maven

[Maven]

I have done pre-gastric by-pass counseling and all of them have the 'Atkins Diet' on their list of failed weight loss plans. They all lost massive amounts of weight, but gained it back over the years.

I hope you haven't yet gone through with the bypass, and I hope that if you haven't, you'll forego it all together. What they don't tell you is that the five-year mortality rate for weight loss surgery is 30%. Yes, I'm serious - after just five years, three out of ten people will die from complications of the surgery. And, even among those who don't die, a considerable number of them will gain the weight back anyway (with the lovely side effects of constant diarrhea and vomiting).

Take it from someone who's had to lose about 250 pounds - low carbing DOES work. I've lost about 190 pounds in just over five years. YOU CAN DO IT.



Maven

[Maven]

Once I achieve long-term results, I'll say a lot more about my "modified" Atkins plan. I just think the Atkins diet is too strict. With some regular and vigorous exercise, I believe the Atkins plan can be modified to something more reasonable that people will have no problem sticking to the rest of their lives.

The best "low carb" option for you is probably Sugar Busters, which allows for consumption of whole grains, etc.

Maven

[Mr. Mulliner]

another Atkins ping

[Maven]

What's really crazy is that he has cast the world's staples in a negative light: oats, rice, wheat and potatoes. These should be over 50% of most people's daily diets (without butter/sour cream). The rest should be fruits/vegetables.

If I ate like that, I'd probably be well on my way to going blind or losing a limb. Not everyone can metabolize sugars and starches.

Do a little research on the health differences between hunter-gatherer peoples and agrarian ones. You'll be shocked.

Most dieticians would probably think meat at 10% is too high;

Most dieticians I've run into have been brainwashed by the government's so-called pyramid. They couldn't find their butts with both hands, a Thomas Guide and a GPS receiver.

I make a concession and go crazy on week-ends BBQing fish, chicken, steak, pork, etc., but I know not to do this more than 2 times per week.

Well, that just means MORE MEAT FOR ME!!!!!!!

Maven

[RIGHT IN SEATTLE]

Slip on a shitty street in NYC and never wake up.

[Maven]

What's so unnatural about a diet rich in eggs, cheese, natural and animal fats, meat, veggies, fruit, and soy based baked goods.

Nothing unnatural about that at all!

Well, except for the soy-based stuff. That's just nasty tasting. Soy flour is Satan's flour, I always say.

Try using nut flours instead - baked goods come out a lot tastier. Here's one of my recipes for a basic coffee cake (or muffins):

MYRA'S BASIC COFFEE CAKE/MUFFINS

2 cups almond flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 butter, melted
1 cup of Splenda
5 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon flavored extract of your choice (orange, lemon, etc.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8x8 baking pan. For muffins, grease a 12-muffin pan.

Combine baking powder and almond flour, mixing well; set aside. Mix together the butter and splenda, and let cool for a bit. Add the eggs, one at a time, to the butter/splenda mixture, mixing well after each addition. Add the vanilla and other extracts. Mix in the flour mixture, blending well. Pour into the baking pan, and bake for about 1 hour or until the top is light to medium brown. For muffins, bake for about 30 minutes.

Makes 16 servings of coffee cake, about 2 grams of carb per serving. For muffins, makes 12 servings, about 3 grams carb per serving.

NOTE: Almond flour can be purchased in some supermarkets, health food stores or online (I prefer almondsonline.com). Or, you can easily make your own - grind or process blanched almonds until they form a fine meal. Be careful not to overdo it, or you'll wind up with almond butter. Four ounces of almonds makes about 1 cup of almond flour.

OPTIONAL: You can add 2 tablespoons of chopped dried, unsweetened cranberries or blueberries. I've found that orange-cranberry and lemon-blueberry are great combinations. Adds less than half a carb per serving.

Maven

[Maven]

The answer would be for someone to invent sweets with zero carbs.

I get that chocolate craving every afternoon! I give in too often and blame it on hormones

Try some L-Glutamine for sugar cravings. Not the capsule form - get the bulk. Let about a teaspoon of L-Glutamine melt under your tongue. It tastes a bit like cookie dough.

Maven

[I got the rope]

Why don't you elaborate? I've been doing low carb (60-90 grams/day) for two months and I've gone from 230 to 210 lbs.
Blood pressure is down, Cholesterol looks good, Glucose is good. Refined sugars, vegetarian diets, transfats and flour are killing us and making us fat. You would rather that we eat like this:
http://www.dpi.qld.gov.au/beef/3445.html

[I got the rope]

Wow. Thanks for the post...do you have anymore.

[Tuscaloosa Goldfinch]

My husband had an attack of gout about 4 years ago. The health food store said he should take a black cherry juice concentrate. He didn't take it -- his attack was mild and he hasn't been bothered with it since. Anyway, that might help if you want to try something natural instead of prescription.

[WKB]

Does anybody know how this diet affects diabetics?

[Maven]

Wow. Thanks for the post...do you have anymore.

Yep. What are you interested in?

Maven

[Maven]

Does anybody know how this diet affects diabetics?

If you're a Type II, it will help enormously.

I suggest reading "Dr. Berstein's Diabetes Solution" for more information.

Maven