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ARTICLE: Yet another study has shown that the Atkins diet works
The burning question
October 23, 2003 *Yet another study has shown that the Atkins diet works. But even the scientist in charge is baffled about why the low-carb regime reduces fat more effectively than conventional low-calorie, low-fat eating plans, Robert Matthews reports.* An academic nutritionist at the University of Cincinnati, Dr Bonnie Brehm, is at the cutting edge of research into the biggest question to hit her field in decades: does the Atkins diet work? Most nutritionists faced with the torrent of anecdotal evidence for its effectiveness have simply parroted the mantra that more research is needed, while muttering darkly about possible long-term health effects. Brehm and her colleagues, in contrast, have spent the past few years actually doing the research and will unveil their findings at the American Dietetic Association's annual meeting next week. They have been studying the effectiveness of the Atkins diet in trials involving people classed as clinically obese, implying a weight of more than 92 kilograms (14 stone) in a person 175 centimetres (5 foot, 9 inches) tall. The latest results are in - and they appear to vindicate the late Dr Robert Atkins, whose diet books have sold 15 million copies over 30 years. According to Brehm, those following Atkins's low-carbohydrate diet for four months achieved twice the weight loss of those on a conventional calorie-controlled, low-fat diet. Furthermore, the team found no evidence of harmful effects from following the diet - at least during the study. These results are in line with those found in similar small studies now starting to emerge. As well as backing the claims made for the Atkins diet, these latest results seem to further undermine standard nutritional advice about the need to focus on cutting fat and calories. They are something of an embarrassment to Brehm, whose research is funded by the American Heart Association, which has long advocated calorie-controlled, low-fat diets. As a scientist, Brehm puts unearthing the truth above pleasing her paymasters - but it is this that causes most concern. She is having problems explaining her findings - and in the increasingly vociferous debate over the Atkins diet, that may well land her in trouble at next week's meeting. The scientific world is becoming increasingly polarised over the diet, with researchers such as Brehm being given a tough time over their apparent support for what some scientists regard as the nutritional equivalent of crystal therapy. At the heart of the controversy is the science behind the Atkins diet - first published 30 years ago - and whether it is really anything more than a collection of buzzwords. Conventional wisdom dictates that calories are the key to weight loss, and so those who lose weight must simply be consuming fewer calories than they burn up. Yet, according to Brehm, the obese people who lost weight on the Atkins diet ate and burned up essentially the same number of calories as those on the standard diet. What was very different was the proportion of body fat shed by each group, which mirrored their percentage weight loss. On the face of it, this backs the central claim of the Atkins diet: that a low-carb diet turns the body into a fat-burning machine. To trigger this effect, Atkins dieters are instructed to begin by eliminating all carbohydrates from their diet, forcing their bodies to get energy by burning up fat reserves instead. The result is supposed to be weight loss, plus the production of compounds known as ketones; the higher the level of "ketosis", the more fat is being burnt. That's the theory. Yet studies of the patients in Brehm's trial failed to reveal a connection between ketosis and fat loss. "We didn't see any correlation - all of our expectations were confounded," she says. "I'm hoping someone in the audience might have some answers." Brehm is confident that there is a reasonable, if not simple, explanation for her findings: "In the end, the energy in has got to match the energy out." Even more baffling is why there are still such enormous gaps in knowledge about how humans respond to diet. The past 20 years have seen obesity reach record levels in the developed world. This has led scientists to concede that the standard advice on nutrition and healthy eating has been an abject failure - yet the Atkins diet is still dismissed as a "fad" by the British Dietetic Association, with leading nutritionists insisting that there is insufficient scientific evidence to give it more credence. This lack of evidence has not deterred many in the medical profession from condemning the diet out of hand. Last week a poll of British doctors revealed that one in four would advise their patients to stay fat rather than try the Atkins diet - despite the proven life-threatening effects of obesity. Such attitudes might suggest that the scientific world is in the grip of cognitive dissonance over the Atkins Diet, preferring to ignore whatever evidence it does not like. Professor Eric Westman, a clinical trials expert at Duke University in North Carolina, and author of a study of the evidence for and against the diet, says, "It is making people re-examine dogma - and it's not always appreciated." According to his review, which is due to appear in Current Atherosclerosis Reports, studies show that the Atkins diet does produce weight loss over six months, and without obvious health effects. Contrary to the claims of many nutritionists, there is even evidence that it may be healthier than the standard diet: despite its promotion of fat and eggs, studies suggest that the diet may boost levels of the healthy forms of cholesterol. Westman thinks that this unexpected effect may explain a long-standing mystery surrounding heart disease. In the late 1980s, researchers began investigating the unusually low rates of heart attacks and stroke among Eskimo communities in Greenland. Until now, the explanation was thought to lie in their diet of oily fish. Yet attempts to reduce heart disease using supplements of fish oil extracts proved disappointing. Westman says the studies of the Atkins diet point to another explanation: that the lo-carb diet forced on the Inuit by their environment gives them higher levels of healthy forms of cholesterol, which are proven to lower heart disease risk. Despite this, Westman cautions anyone with a medical condition against rushing onto a low-carb diet. "The problem is that it works too well," he explains. "The diet can cause insulin levels to drop by 50 per cent in one day, so diabetics could find themselves over-medicated. It's the same for those with high blood pressure." Even so, Westman believes that the results are impressive enough to warrant an intensive research effort on the Atkins diet: "We're in a period when we will learn a lot." It is not a prospect that thrills the entire nutritional science community. Westman has been vilified for conducting research with financial support from the Atkins Foundation - despite the fact that some vocal critics of the diet, such as Dr Susan Jebb, the head of nutrition at the UK Medical Research Council, have, in turn, received funding from bodies such as the Flour Advisory Bureau. Brehm has also run into resistance even over her research funded by the American Heart Association. "We had a tough time getting our results published - it took 18 months altogether," she says. "The big journals really couldn't handle it. But we're not endorsing the diet: it's just our results." What both sides do agree on is the paucity of scientific evidence on the long-term benefits and health effects of the Atkins diet. With the world-wide obesity problem now claiming an estimated 2 million adult lives a year, Brehm believes that the time has come to commit serious resources to studies of low-carb diets. As she says: "We need much more doing - and doing quickly." This is a sentiment endorsed by Professor Tom Sanders, the director of the Nutrition, Food and Health Research Centre at King's College, London - and a sceptic regarding the Atkins diet. "The evidence is that it's the calorie intake that counts," Sanders says. "But in the end, diets don't work because people don't follow them. We need large-scale, randomised and controlled trials of treatments of obesity running for one to two years." Those already embarked on such research suspect that it will take a great deal to overcome the visceral response the mere mention of Atkins provokes among academics. Says Brehm: "A lot of people just want to hold on to what they learned in college." The Telegraph, London -- Jim 231/194?/197 Atkins since 22 May '03 Gym since 1 sept '03 |
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ARTICLE: Yet another study has shown that the Atkins diet works
Why is this such a controversy? Whether or not there truly exists a
"Metabolic Advantage" as Dr. Atkins used the term, there is another very simple explanation. For some people, if not all people, it MUST be true that: Consuming 1,000 Kcal of Fructose is NOT metabolically equivalent to consuming 1,000 Kcal of Bacon grease. Why not???? I'll tell you why: 1. Not all foods have EXACTLY the same absorption in the gut. Most of the fructose calories will be used by the body, while a greater percentage of the bacon grease calories will end up in the toilet. 2. The energy USED by the body in metabolizing & processing is not EXACTLY the same for all foods. Again, my hypothesis is that sugary/starchy foods are much more easily processed by the body. Even a 1% difference in NET ABSORBED CALORIES (between a low-carb and a high-carb diet of equivalent GROSS calories) would be significant. I would bet it's much greater than 1%. If I'm wrong, then Atkins' "Metabolic Advantage" seems to be the only logical explanation for these results. |
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ARTICLE: Yet another study has shown that the Atkins diet works
"Jim Marnott" wrote in message . .. The burning question October 23, 2003 *Yet another study has shown that the Atkins diet works. But even the scientist in charge is baffled about why the low-carb regime reduces fat more effectively than conventional low-calorie, low-fat eating plans, Robert Matthews reports.* An academic nutritionist at the University of Cincinnati, Dr Bonnie Brehm, is at the cutting edge of research into the biggest question to hit her field in decades: does the Atkins diet work? Most nutritionists faced with the torrent of anecdotal evidence for its effectiveness have simply parroted the mantra that more research is needed, while muttering darkly about possible long-term health effects. Brehm and her colleagues, in contrast, have spent the past few years actually doing the research and will unveil their findings at the American Dietetic Association's annual meeting next week. They have been studying the effectiveness of the Atkins diet in trials involving people classed as clinically obese, implying a weight of more than 92 kilograms (14 stone) in a person 175 centimetres (5 foot, 9 inches) tall. The latest results are in - and they appear to vindicate the late Dr Robert Atkins, whose diet books have sold 15 million copies over 30 years. According to Brehm, those following Atkins's low-carbohydrate diet for four months achieved twice the weight loss of those on a conventional calorie-controlled, low-fat diet. Furthermore, the team found no evidence of harmful effects from following the diet - at least during the study. These results are in line with those found in similar small studies now starting to emerge. As well as backing the claims made for the Atkins diet, these latest results seem to further undermine standard nutritional advice about the need to focus on cutting fat and calories. They are something of an embarrassment to Brehm, whose research is funded by the American Heart Association, which has long advocated calorie-controlled, low-fat diets. As a scientist, Brehm puts unearthing the truth above pleasing her paymasters - but it is this that causes most concern. She is having problems explaining her findings - and in the increasingly vociferous debate over the Atkins diet, that may well land her in trouble at next week's meeting. The scientific world is becoming increasingly polarised over the diet, with researchers such as Brehm being given a tough time over their apparent support for what some scientists regard as the nutritional equivalent of crystal therapy. At the heart of the controversy is the science behind the Atkins diet - first published 30 years ago - and whether it is really anything more than a collection of buzzwords. Conventional wisdom dictates that calories are the key to weight loss, and so those who lose weight must simply be consuming fewer calories than they burn up. Yet, according to Brehm, the obese people who lost weight on the Atkins diet ate and burned up essentially the same number of calories as those on the standard diet. What was very different was the proportion of body fat shed by each group, which mirrored their percentage weight loss. On the face of it, this backs the central claim of the Atkins diet: that a low-carb diet turns the body into a fat-burning machine. To trigger this effect, Atkins dieters are instructed to begin by eliminating all carbohydrates from their diet, forcing their bodies to get energy by burning up fat reserves instead. The result is supposed to be weight loss, plus the production of compounds known as ketones; the higher the level of "ketosis", the more fat is being burnt. BZZZZT. The part about "higher ketosis" is flat out wrong. Sigh. That's the theory. Yet studies of the patients in Brehm's trial failed to reveal a connection between ketosis and fat loss. "We didn't see any correlation - all of our expectations were confounded," she says. "I'm hoping someone in the audience might have some answers." Yeah, because ketosis is merely a confirmation that you are burning fat for fuel, not a magic bullet. Brehm is confident that there is a reasonable, if not simple, explanation for her findings: "In the end, the energy in has got to match the energy out." Even more baffling is why there are still such enormous gaps in knowledge about how humans respond to diet. The past 20 years have seen obesity reach record levels in the developed world. This has led scientists to concede that the standard advice on nutrition and healthy eating has been an abject failure - yet the Atkins diet is still dismissed as a "fad" by the British Dietetic Association, with leading nutritionists insisting that there is insufficient scientific evidence to give it more credence. This lack of evidence has not deterred many in the medical profession from condemning the diet out of hand. Last week a poll of British doctors revealed that one in four would advise their patients to stay fat rather than try the Atkins diet - despite the proven life-threatening effects of obesity. Such attitudes might suggest that the scientific world is in the grip of cognitive dissonance over the Atkins Diet, preferring to ignore whatever evidence it does not like. I find it kind of funny, in a way. Knowing the way the scientific process works, and the peer-review raking-over-the-coals that happens behind the closed ranks the communities face the public with, I know that this is business as usual, only right out in the non-understanding public's view-- who are going to look on this as a mark against the establishments' reputation and respect and not see that this is standard operating procedure. The scientific/medical communities are shooting themeselves in the foot and they don't even know it. Professor Eric Westman, a clinical trials expert at Duke University in North Carolina, and author of a study of the evidence for and against the diet, says, "It is making people re-examine dogma - and it's not always appreciated." According to his review, which is due to appear in Current Atherosclerosis Reports, studies show that the Atkins diet does produce weight loss over six months, and without obvious health effects. Contrary to the claims of many nutritionists, there is even evidence that it may be healthier than the standard diet: despite its promotion of fat and eggs, studies suggest that the diet may boost levels of the healthy forms of cholesterol. Westman thinks that this unexpected effect may explain a long-standing mystery surrounding heart disease. In the late 1980s, researchers began investigating the unusually low rates of heart attacks and stroke among Eskimo communities in Greenland. Until now, the explanation was thought to lie in their diet of oily fish. Yet attempts to reduce heart disease using supplements of fish oil extracts proved disappointing. Westman says the studies of the Atkins diet point to another explanation: that the lo-carb diet forced on the Inuit by their environment gives them higher levels of healthy forms of cholesterol, which are proven to lower heart disease risk. Despite this, Westman cautions anyone with a medical condition against rushing onto a low-carb diet. "The problem is that it works too well," he explains. "The diet can cause insulin levels to drop by 50 per cent in one day, so diabetics could find themselves over-medicated. It's the same for those with high blood pressure." Even so, Westman believes that the results are impressive enough to warrant an intensive research effort on the Atkins diet: "We're in a period when we will learn a lot." It is not a prospect that thrills the entire nutritional science community. Westman has been vilified for conducting research with financial support from the Atkins Foundation - despite the fact that some vocal critics of the diet, such as Dr Susan Jebb, the head of nutrition at the UK Medical Research Council, have, in turn, received funding from bodies such as the Flour Advisory Bureau. Brehm has also run into resistance even over her research funded by the American Heart Association. "We had a tough time getting our results published - it took 18 months altogether," she says. "The big journals really couldn't handle it. But we're not endorsing the diet: it's just our results." What both sides do agree on is the paucity of scientific evidence on the long-term benefits and health effects of the Atkins diet. With the world-wide obesity problem now claiming an estimated 2 million adult lives a year, Brehm believes that the time has come to commit serious resources to studies of low-carb diets. As she says: "We need much more doing - and doing quickly." This is a sentiment endorsed by Professor Tom Sanders, the director of the Nutrition, Food and Health Research Centre at King's College, London - and a sceptic regarding the Atkins diet. "The evidence is that it's the calorie intake that counts," Sanders says. "But in the end, diets don't work because people don't follow them. We need large-scale, randomised and controlled trials of treatments of obesity running for one to two years." Those already embarked on such research suspect that it will take a great deal to overcome the visceral response the mere mention of Atkins provokes among academics. Says Brehm: "A lot of people just want to hold on to what they learned in college." Other than that one error, this is a fantastic article,. It doesn't cover just the highlights (and get half of them wrong). I'm sure the good doctor would have considered it an excellent piece. I just wish he was still alive to see it. revek --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.528 / Virus Database: 324 - Release Date: 10/16/2003 |
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ARTICLE: Yet another study has shown that the Atkins diet works
"cheesegator" wrote in message ... Why is this such a controversy? Whether or not there truly exists a "Metabolic Advantage" as Dr. Atkins used the term, there is another very simple explanation. For some people, if not all people, it MUST be true that: Consuming 1,000 Kcal of Fructose is NOT metabolically equivalent to consuming 1,000 Kcal of Bacon grease. Why not???? I'll tell you why: 1. Not all foods have EXACTLY the same absorption in the gut. Most of the fructose calories will be used by the body, while a greater percentage of the bacon grease calories will end up in the toilet. 2. The energy USED by the body in metabolizing & processing is not EXACTLY the same for all foods. Again, my hypothesis is that sugary/starchy foods are much more easily processed by the body. Well, yeah. Consider that we introduce rice cereal as the first solid food in a baby's diet. Why? Because it is easily digestible. Then fruit. Protien is last on the list. Now think about the implications in that. Even a 1% difference in NET ABSORBED CALORIES (between a low-carb and a high-carb diet of equivalent GROSS calories) would be significant. I would bet it's much greater than 1%. I doubt it is so high, myself, for 'average' folks, and I have heard that sort of differential factoring is accounted for in the calculations of caloric loads of different foods (for average folks). Of course, for us overweight people, we have visual evidence that our bodies react differently to food than 'average' folks. revek --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.528 / Virus Database: 324 - Release Date: 10/16/2003 |
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ARTICLE: Yet another study has shown that the Atkins diet works
cheesegator wrote:
:: Why is this such a controversy? Whether or not there truly exists a :: "Metabolic Advantage" as Dr. Atkins used the term, there is another :: very simple explanation. :: :: For some people, if not all people, it MUST be true that: :: :: Consuming 1,000 Kcal of Fructose is NOT metabolically equivalent to :: consuming 1,000 Kcal of Bacon grease. :: :: :: Why not???? I'll tell you why: :: :: 1. Not all foods have EXACTLY the same absorption in the gut. Most :: of the fructose calories will be used by the body, while a greater :: percentage of the bacon grease calories will end up in the toilet. Do you have a cite for this? I'm not saying it isn't true, but I've never read anything convincing on this. I do know, however, that when I eat lots of fat -- stuff floats :: :: 2. The energy USED by the body in metabolizing & processing is not :: EXACTLY the same for all foods. Again, my hypothesis is that :: sugary/starchy foods are much more easily processed by the body. :: :: Even a 1% difference in NET ABSORBED CALORIES (between a low-carb :: and a high-carb diet of equivalent GROSS calories) would be :: significant. I would bet it's much greater than 1%. :: :: If I'm wrong, then Atkins' "Metabolic Advantage" seems to be the only :: logical explanation for these results. I like your notions better than the metabolic advantage. I just don't know if they are true. |
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ARTICLE: Yet another study has shown that the Atkins diet works
revek wrote:
:: "Jim Marnott" wrote in message :: . .. ::: The burning question ::: ::: October 23, 2003 ::: ::: *Yet another study has shown that the Atkins diet works. But even ::: the scientist in charge is baffled about why the low-carb regime ::: reduces fat more effectively than conventional low-calorie, low-fat ::: eating plans, Robert Matthews reports.* ::: ::: An academic nutritionist at the University of Cincinnati, Dr Bonnie ::: Brehm, is at the cutting edge of research into the biggest question ::: to hit her field in decades: does the Atkins diet work? ::: ::: Most nutritionists faced with the torrent of anecdotal evidence for ::: its effectiveness have simply parroted the mantra that more ::: research is needed, while muttering darkly about possible long-term ::: health effects. ::: ::: Brehm and her colleagues, in contrast, have spent the past few years ::: actually doing the research and will unveil their findings at the ::: American Dietetic Association's annual meeting next week. ::: ::: They have been studying the effectiveness of the Atkins diet in ::: trials involving people classed as clinically obese, implying a ::: weight of more than 92 kilograms (14 stone) in a person 175 ::: centimetres (5 foot, 9 inches) tall. The latest results are in - ::: and they appear to vindicate the late Dr Robert Atkins, whose diet ::: books have sold 15 million copies over 30 years. ::: ::: According to Brehm, those following Atkins's low-carbohydrate diet ::: for four months achieved twice the weight loss of those on a ::: conventional calorie-controlled, low-fat diet. Furthermore, the ::: team found no evidence of harmful effects from following the diet - ::: at least during the study. ::: ::: These results are in line with those found in similar small studies ::: now starting to emerge. As well as backing the claims made for the ::: Atkins diet, these latest results seem to further undermine standard ::: nutritional advice about the need to focus on cutting fat and ::: calories. ::: ::: They are something of an embarrassment to Brehm, whose research is ::: funded by the American Heart Association, which has long advocated ::: calorie-controlled, low-fat diets. ::: ::: As a scientist, Brehm puts unearthing the truth above pleasing her ::: paymasters - but it is this that causes most concern. She is having ::: problems explaining her findings - and in the increasingly ::: vociferous debate over the Atkins diet, that may well land her in ::: trouble at next week's meeting. ::: ::: The scientific world is becoming increasingly polarised over the ::: diet, with researchers such as Brehm being given a tough time over ::: their apparent support for what some scientists regard as the ::: nutritional equivalent of crystal therapy. At the heart of the ::: controversy is the science behind the Atkins diet - first published ::: 30 years ago - and whether it is really anything more than a ::: collection of buzzwords. ::: ::: Conventional wisdom dictates that calories are the key to weight ::: loss, and so those who lose weight must simply be consuming fewer ::: calories than they burn up. Yet, according to Brehm, the obese ::: people who lost weight on the Atkins diet ate and burned up ::: essentially the same number of calories as those on the standard ::: diet. What was very different was the proportion of body fat shed ::: by each group, which mirrored their percentage weight loss. On the ::: face of it, this backs the central claim of the Atkins diet: that a ::: low-carb diet turns the body into a fat-burning machine. ::: ::: To trigger this effect, Atkins dieters are instructed to begin by ::: eliminating all carbohydrates from their diet, forcing their bodies ::: to get energy by burning up fat reserves instead. The result is ::: supposed to be weight loss, plus the production of compounds known ::: as ketones; the higher the level of "ketosis", the more fat is ::: being burnt. :: :: BZZZZT. The part about "higher ketosis" is flat out wrong. Sigh. :: ::: That's the theory. Yet studies of the patients in Brehm's trial ::: failed to reveal a connection between ketosis and fat loss. "We ::: didn't see any correlation - all of our expectations were ::: confounded," she says. "I'm hoping someone in the audience might ::: have some answers." :: :: Yeah, because ketosis is merely a confirmation that you are burning :: fat for fuel, not a magic bullet. :: ::: Brehm is confident that there is a reasonable, if not simple, ::: explanation for her findings: "In the end, the energy in has got to ::: match the energy out." ::: ::: Even more baffling is why there are still such enormous gaps in ::: knowledge about how humans respond to diet. The past 20 years have ::: seen obesity reach record levels in the developed world. This has ::: led scientists to concede that the standard advice on nutrition and ::: healthy eating has been an abject failure - yet the Atkins diet is ::: still dismissed as a "fad" by the British Dietetic Association, ::: with leading nutritionists insisting that there is insufficient ::: scientific evidence to give it more credence. This lack of evidence ::: has not deterred many in the medical profession from condemning the ::: diet out of hand. Last week a poll of British doctors revealed that ::: one in four would advise their patients to stay fat rather than try ::: the Atkins diet - despite the proven life-threatening effects of ::: obesity. ::: ::: Such attitudes might suggest that the scientific world is in the ::: grip of cognitive dissonance over the Atkins Diet, preferring to ::: ignore whatever evidence it does not like. :: :: I find it kind of funny, in a way. Knowing the way the scientific :: process works, and the peer-review raking-over-the-coals that happens :: behind the closed ranks the communities face the public with, I know :: that this is business as usual, only right out in the :: non-understanding public's view-- who are going to look on this as a :: mark against the establishments' reputation and respect and not see :: that this is standard operating procedure. The scientific/medical :: communities are shooting themeselves in the foot and they don't even :: know it. :: Well, they deserve to be found out for the out-right fraud they have hoisted on the unsuspecting public. If they had remained true to the "scientific way" rather than being swayed by politics and commerical interests, the entire scene would likely be different than it is today. Just think: had thye followed proper means of conducting science 30 years ago, there might be many many fewer obese people and kids around today. If you ask me, they have a huge burden to bear. |
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ARTICLE: Yet another study has shown that the Atkins diet works
On Thu, 23 Oct 2003 10:47:10 -0400, Roger Zoul
wrote: cheesegator wrote: :: Why is this such a controversy? Whether or not there truly exists a :: "Metabolic Advantage" as Dr. Atkins used the term, there is another :: very simple explanation. :: :: For some people, if not all people, it MUST be true that: :: :: Consuming 1,000 Kcal of Fructose is NOT metabolically equivalent to :: consuming 1,000 Kcal of Bacon grease. :: :: :: Why not???? I'll tell you why: :: :: 1. Not all foods have EXACTLY the same absorption in the gut. Most :: of the fructose calories will be used by the body, while a greater :: percentage of the bacon grease calories will end up in the toilet. Do you have a cite for this? I'm not saying it isn't true, but I've never read anything convincing on this. I do know, however, that when I eat lots of fat -- stuff floats :: :: 2. The energy USED by the body in metabolizing & processing is not :: EXACTLY the same for all foods. Again, my hypothesis is that :: sugary/starchy foods are much more easily processed by the body. :: :: Even a 1% difference in NET ABSORBED CALORIES (between a low-carb :: and a high-carb diet of equivalent GROSS calories) would be :: significant. I would bet it's much greater than 1%. :: :: If I'm wrong, then Atkins' "Metabolic Advantage" seems to be the only :: logical explanation for these results. I like your notions better than the metabolic advantage. I just don't know if they are true. Has anyone even studied this? The problem, as I see it, is that no one wants to undertake an analysis of what's happening. Who would pay for it? The beef industry? They don't care -- people eat beef regardless. Certainly none of the corn, wheat, rice, etc. people are going to pay. This is where I think the government should step in. Evidence is mounting that their "food pyramid" is pure crap. Undertake studies to see if it is. They're requiring schools to limit fat to 30% by calories per day, yet I eat way more than that and feel great. No one wants to undertake this research, so the Government, who's making up rules based on who knows what, should do something. -- Bob M in CT Remove 'x.' to reply |
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ARTICLE: Yet another study has shown that the Atkins diet works
"Roger Zoul" wrote in message ... Well, they deserve to be found out for the out-right fraud they have hoisted on the unsuspecting public. If they had remained true to the "scientific way" rather than being swayed by politics and commerical interests, the entire scene would likely be different than it is today. Just think: had thye followed proper means of conducting science 30 years ago, there might be many many fewer obese people and kids around today. If you ask me, they have a huge burden to bear. You are right that they never did the studies back then, like they should have. But the hoopla that you see in the media on a daily basis is basically the peer-review process, just done out in public where people can see the ugliness of it all. And they wonder why people are losing respect. revek --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.528 / Virus Database: 324 - Release Date: 10/17/2003 |
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ARTICLE: Yet another study has shown that the Atkins diet works
. This lack of evidence ::: has not deterred many in the medical profession from condemning the ::: diet out of hand. Last week a poll of British doctors revealed that ::: one in four would advise their patients to stay fat rather than try ::: the Atkins diet - despite the proven life-threatening effects of ::: obesity. ::: ::: Such attitudes might suggest that the scientific world is in the ::: grip of cognitive dissonance over the Atkins Diet, preferring to ::: ignore whatever evidence it does not like. few statements depress me more. this is the height of stubborn non scientific doctrinal behavior. |
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ARTICLE: Yet another study has shown that the Atkins diet works
I feel a rant coming on...
*Yet another study has shown that the Atkins diet works. But even the scientist in charge is baffled about why the low-carb regime reduces fat more effectively than conventional low-calorie, low-fat eating plans, Robert Matthews reports.* Now is she really baffled, or just avoiding the truth? Anyone who's spent 10 minutes reading about the role of insulin in fat storage knows exactly why low-carb works. For someone doing nutritional research to claim not to know this basic stuff means she's either woefully unqualified for her job or going out of her way not to learn anything that would interfere with mainstream beliefs. Most nutritionists faced with the torrent of anecdotal evidence for its effectiveness have simply parroted the mantra that more research is needed, while muttering darkly about possible long-term health effects. "Here be dragons." According to Brehm, those following Atkins's low-carbohydrate diet for four months achieved twice the weight loss of those on a conventional calorie-controlled, low-fat diet. Furthermore, the team found no evidence of harmful effects from following the diet - at least during the study. Gotta get in those caveats. They are something of an embarrassment to Brehm, whose research is funded by the American Heart Association, which has long advocated calorie-controlled, low-fat diets. Why should the AHA care what diet works, if their real concern is helping people with heart problems? How long will embarrassment over past mistakes trump doing the right thing now? As a scientist, Brehm puts unearthing the truth above pleasing her paymasters - but it is this that causes most concern. She is having problems explaining her findings - and in the increasingly vociferous debate over the Atkins diet, that may well land her in trouble at next week's meeting. At least she's trying. She could always plagiarize Protein Power; it spends a couple chapters explaining exactly why it works. To trigger this effect, Atkins dieters are instructed to begin by eliminating all carbohydrates from their diet, Not true, of course, but we seem doomed to hear this daily. Even my eggs this morning had a few carbs. forcing their bodies to get energy by burning up fat reserves instead. Also not true. I've lost weight while eating way more calories than I burned. If it were all about 'burning up fat reserves', the low-calorie low-fat diet would work just peachy. The result is supposed to be weight loss, plus the production of compounds known as ketones; the higher the level of "ketosis", the more fat is being burnt. Inaccurate, since we all produce ketones; induction-level low-carbers just produce enough to detect easily. That's the theory. Yet studies of the patients in Brehm's trial failed to reveal a connection between ketosis and fat loss. "We didn't see any correlation - all of our expectations were confounded," she says. "I'm hoping someone in the audience might have some answers." "It can't possibly be that the idea I was trying to disprove -- that will get me laughed at at the next convention -- could be the truth! I'd rather blame it on magical fairies. Could someone prove magical fairies exist, please?" Brehm is confident that there is a reasonable, if not simple, explanation for her findings: "In the end, the energy in has got to match the energy out." Assuming the human body is a perfectly efficient machine, that burns food the way an engine burns gasoline. Mine isn't. Even more baffling is why there are still such enormous gaps in knowledge about how humans respond to diet. The past 20 years have seen obesity reach record levels in the developed world. This has led scientists to concede that the standard advice on nutrition and healthy eating has been an abject failure - yet the Atkins diet is still dismissed as a "fad" by the British Dietetic Association, with leading nutritionists insisting that there is insufficient scientific evidence to give it more credence. This lack of evidence has not deterred many in the medical profession from condemning the diet out of hand. Last week a poll of British doctors revealed that one in four would advise their patients to stay fat rather than try the Atkins diet - despite the proven life-threatening effects of obesity. It's become a vicious circle. Atkins came across the common sense (and hardly new or secret) idea that cutting back on carbs would help people lose weight, and developed that into an overall diet plan. Instead of spending the next 20 years researching it in a lab somewhere and restricting his results to tired medical journals, he had the tackiness to make money on it by putting it in a book where it was accessible by the common people. Associations of all stripes hate that kind of individuality. Now there's no need to research low-carb, because millions of people are already running their own tests at home. Mainstream types don't want to do the research, because they don't want to admit they were wrong for all those years, and they already can see that's where this is headed. Basically, we all beat them to it. The best they can do is treat it as a non-scientific fad, and hope it goes away or at least doesn't grow in popularity. Despite this, Westman cautions anyone with a medical condition against rushing onto a low-carb diet. "The problem is that it works too well," he explains. "The diet can cause insulin levels to drop by 50 per cent in one day, so diabetics could find themselves over-medicated. It's the same for those with high blood pressure." Standard good advice. I'm sure diabetics shouldn't make any significant changes in diet without being careful. "We had a tough time getting our results published - it took 18 months altogether," she says. "The big journals really couldn't handle it. But we're not endorsing the diet: it's just our results." That's really, really sad. Any journal that refuses to publish research simply because it doesn't like the results should cease to exist. They aren't supposed to be in the business of suppressing knowledge. Those already embarked on such research suspect that it will take a great deal to overcome the visceral response the mere mention of Atkins provokes among academics. Says Brehm: "A lot of people just want to hold on to what they learned in college." Ain't it the truth. -- Aaron 280/228/200 |
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