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Was Atkins Right After All?



 
 
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  #1  
Old November 22nd, 2003, 03:13 AM
Ken Kubos
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Was Atkins Right After All?

Was Atkins Right After All?
NEW YORK, Feb. 15, 2003


Is it just possible that Dr. Robert C. Atkins was right? That his high-fat,
low-carb plan, ridiculed for 30 years as dangerous nonsense, actually is a
good, safe way to lose weight?

The dietary elite are not ready to change their collective mind, but a
half-dozen or so new studies have taken an objective look at the presumed
evils of Atkins, and the results have been little short of astonishing:

During a few months on the Atkins diet, people lose about twice as much as
on the standard low-fat, high-carbohydrate approach recommended by most
health organizations.

They do so without seeming to drive up their risk of heart disease. Rather
than going kaflooey, their cholesterol, triglycerides, blood pressure and
ominous bloodstream inflammation generally improve, perhaps even more than
on the standard diet.

They appear to lose more weight even while actually consuming more calories
than people on a so-called healthy diet.

All of the experiments were short and small. None by itself would make a big
stir. But taken together, they undermine much of what mainstream medicine
has long assumed about the Atkins diet.

"Some scientists are dismayed by the data and a little incredulous about
it," says Gary Foster, who runs the weight-loss program at the University of
Pennsylvania. "But the consistency of the results across studies is
compelling in a way that makes us think we should investigate this further."

Until now, the opinion of the medical world on this subject has been
essentially unanimous: Any diet that emphasizes meat, eggs and cheese and
discourages bread, rice and fruit is nutritional folly.

The American Medical Association set that tone a year after the book, "Dr.
Atkins' Diet Revolution," came out in 1972. Its sarcastically worded
critique dismissed the diet as "potentially dangerous." It called its
scientific underpinning "naive" and "biochemically incorrect." And it
scolded book publishers for promoting "bizarre concepts of nutrition and
dieting."

On the Atkins diet, up to two-thirds of calories may come from fat - more
than double the usual recommendation - and that violates everything medical
professionals believe about healthy eating. Carbohydrates are the foundation
of a good diet, most say. Eating calorie-dense fat is what makes people fat,
and eating saturated fat is what kills them.

Despite this, Atkins' books have sold 15 million copies, uncounted millions
have tried the diet, and practically everybody has heard of someone who
dropped a ton of weight on the Atkins plan.

Finally, several research teams around the country have put Atkins to the
test, driven largely by weariness at having nothing solid to tell patients
and, in some cases, a desire to prove Atkins wrong. One study was even
sponsored by the American Heart Association, long an Atkins skeptic.

None has been published yet, but summaries have been given at medical
conferences. "They all show pretty convincingly that people will lose more
weight on an Atkins diet, and their cardiovascular risk factors, if
anything, get better," says Dr. Kevin O'Brien, a University of Washington
cardiologist involved with one of the studies.

This is not the end of the story. The studies say nothing about how much
people lose when they stay on Atkins more than a few months, whether they
keep the weight off for good and whether their cholesterol rebounds when
they stop losing weight.

Nevertheless, three decades of dietary gospel are in doubt, and those
questioning it include some of the most prominent names in obesity research.
For instance, one of the new studies was conducted by Foster with Drs.
Samuel Klein and James Hill, the current and past presidents of the North
American Association for the Study of Obesity, the premier professional
group.

"I'm part of the obesity establishment," says Foster, who has published more
than 50 scientific papers on the subject. "I've spent my life researching
ways to treat obesity, and 100 percent of them have been low-fat and
high-carb. Now I'm beginning to think, it isn't as it has appeared."

His Atkins study was intended to "show it doesn't work," yet after three
months, the overweight men and women had lost an average of 19 pounds, 10
more than people on the standard high-carb approach.

The big surprise was cholesterol. The Atkins dieters' overall profile
changed for the better. Although their bad cholesterol went up seven points,
their good cholesterol rose almost 12. (Changes in the high-carb dieters
were less dramatic. Their bad cholesterol went down slightly while their
good cholesterol remained unchanged.)

The largest difference was in triglycerides. The Atkins dieters' dropped 22
points. The low-carb dieters' didn't budge.

"It was unexpected, to put it mildly," Foster said. "It made us think maybe
there is something to this."

Despite these data, the Atkins diet still gives many health professionals
the willies. It encourages people to eat bacon, butter, prime rib and lots
of other things loaded with saturated fat. And it lectures against such
mainstay carbohydrates as grains, pasta and starchy vegetables, especially
in the diet's first cold-turkey stage; plenty of other healthy things,
including many low-carb green vegetables and olive oil are allowed.

"There are many principles in the Atkins diet that go against what we know,"
says Dr. Robert Eckel of the University of Colorado, senior author of the
heart association's policy on high-protein diets. "It keeps people away from
staples of the diet that we know are associated with less heart disease."

Volumes of research suggest that people have the best chance of avoiding
heart disease, high blood pressure and cancer if they eat a varied diet with
plenty of fruits, vegetables and grains.

"It's scary if people leave out these very important food groups and just
depend on high-fat, high-protein foods," says Wahida Karmally, nutrition
director at Columbia University's clinical research center.

Furthermore, people on the Atkins plan may get a quarter of their daily
calories from saturated fat, more than double the heart association's
recommendation. Animal experiments and studies of large groups of people
long ago convinced many experts that too much saturated fat clogs the
arteries and leads to heart attacks.

Mainstream scientists wave off the Atkins camp's answer to this that
saturated fat is bad only if eaten with large amounts of carbohydrates.
Otherwise, it's harmlessly burned off.

"When carbs are the primary fuel source, there are certain risks in
excessive fat consumption," says Colette Heimowitz, the Atkins
organization's research director. "But in a controlled-carb setting, when
fat is the primary fuel source, the rules change. Those risk factors do not
show up."

So how do the traditionalists explain the cholesterol improvement seen in
the Atkins dieters? Weight loss. Slimming down reliably improves cholesterol
levels, and they say its benefits probably overshadowed any damage done by
all the unhealthy fat that people ate.

Why people lose more weight on the diet is also not clear, although some
researchers say they buy one of Atkins' arguments: People stick with it
because they are not constantly hungry. Fat and protein satisfy the
appetite, the theory goes. But eating lots of carbohydrates raises insulin
levels, lowers blood sugar, and eventually makes people ravenous.

But another of Atkins' ideas on the subject is far more contentious. He
argues that people lose more weight on his plan even if they actually eat
more calories. That's a violation of the laws of thermodynamics, skeptics
say.

"A calorie is a calorie as far as weight reduction is concerned," says Dr.
Michael Davidson, director of preventive cardiology at the Rush Heart
Institute in Chicago.

Or is it? Some of the new studies suggest otherwise.

Dr. Stephen Sondike of Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City put
overweight teenagers on comparison diets for two months. The ones on Atkins
lost twice as much as those on the low-fat diet. Yet they appeared to eat
about 700 more calories a day than the others.

Less dramatic but still startling results came from another study at the
University of Cincinnati. Women on Atkins lost twice as much while eating
the same number of calories as the lowfat dieters.

"Surprised? Definitely," says Bonnie Brehm, a registered dietitian. "We
really don't know what the answer is."

And the Atkins weight loss was not simply dehydration, as Atkins critics
often contend, since the Cincinnati dieters also lost twice as much body
fat.

But even if the diet is reasonable for a few months of slimming down, what
happens when people level off during the maintenance phase of the program?
Does their cholesterol soar if they eat all that fat without losing weight?

None of the research so far answers that. However, Atkins-sponsored studies
by Jeff Volek, an exercise and nutrition specialist at the University of
Connecticut, offers some hints.

He put fit men on an Atkins regimen for six weeks with orders not to lose
weight, and nothing bad seemed to happen. Their good and bad cholesterol
went up proportionately, and their triglycerides fell. "I'd like to see more
data," Volek said, "but ours provides evidence it doesn't have a negative
effect on your heart."

But for now, even many of the researchers who did these studies are
reluctant to recommend the Atkins diet. They know too little about its
long-term effects. A large new study just under way could settle these
doubts.

This federally sponsored project will randomly put 360 overweight men and
women on the Atkins plan or the U.S. Department of Agriculture's standard
high-carb, low-fat diet, then watch them in painstaking detail for at least
two years.

The study will try to answer three questions about Atkins, says Hill, who
directs the University of Colorado's Center for Human Nutrition. "Does it
produce weight loss? Is it a safe weight loss? And is it any better in the
long run than anything else that has come along?"

Scientists will analyze the volunteers' blood and cholesterol in every way
they can think of, as well as check their bone density, kidney function,
body composition, exercise tolerance and more.

Despite the professions' unease at the findings so far, some of the
researchers involved expect that if the Atkins approach proves safe and
effective in larger, longer studies, those opinions will eventually change.

"It's difficult to swallow," says O'Brien, "but the data are the data, even
if they go against 30 years of dogma."


--
Ken

"For NASA, space is still a high priority."
- Governor George W. Bush


  #2  
Old November 22nd, 2003, 04:20 AM
revek
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Was Atkins Right After All?


"Ken Kubos" wrote in message
...

Very comprehensive article. Whoever wrote this is actually doing a
decent job. I wouldn't say great though. No hard hitting questions
when the 'experts' spout off, no confrontation with actual facts. Just
a report about 'what the other side says'.

warning: several mini rants follow. may be hazardous to your personal
harmony.


Was Atkins Right After All?
NEW YORK, Feb. 15, 2003


many snip, some gnashing tooth, few outburst

"There are many principles in the Atkins diet that go against what we

know,"
says Dr. Robert Eckel of the University of Colorado, senior author of

the
heart association's policy on high-protein diets. "It keeps people

away from
staples of the diet that we know are associated with less heart

disease."

Sigh. Lowcarbers eat vegetables-- high fiber ones that are good for the
body. We chose veggies with high nutrient content as opposed to high
calorie content. We get our (fewer) calories somewhere else. Somewhere
more satisfying and long lasting.

Volumes of research suggest that people have the best chance of

avoiding
heart disease, high blood pressure and cancer if they eat a varied

diet with
plenty of fruits, vegetables and grains.


Those volumes of research don't examine the impact high glycemic carbs
and their lack have on the body.

"It's scary if people leave out these very important food groups and

just
depend on high-fat, high-protein foods," says Wahida Karmally,

nutrition
director at Columbia University's clinical research center.


1) Scary to who? The grain industry? Boo. Hoo.
2) You don't read for comprehension if you think lowcarb means cutting
vegetables or fruits out completely. Oh that's right, you don't sully
your mind with facts because you're a nutritionist and know everything
already.

Furthermore, people on the Atkins plan may get a quarter of their

daily
calories from saturated fat, more than double the heart association's
recommendation. Animal experiments and studies of large groups of

people
long ago convinced many experts that too much saturated fat clogs the
arteries and leads to heart attacks.


1)May does not equal will.
2) Studies done without removing high glycemic carbs. Makes a
difference.
3) Let me guess... those animal studies were with mice, right? And what
do mice eat if given the choice... yeah I thought so. Feeding fat to a
grain eating animal is designed to show what-- that fat will make a
grain eating animal sick? We knew that already.


So how do the traditionalists explain the cholesterol improvement seen

in
the Atkins dieters? Weight loss. Slimming down reliably improves

cholesterol
levels, and they say its benefits probably overshadowed any damage

done by
all the unhealthy fat that people ate.


Um, if its such a simple answer, why didn't you predict it would happen
before this? Why were ya'll so damn "surprised and dismayed" by those
studies mentioned above that showed an improvement in cholesterol?
Because you're trying to keep your death grip on the minds of the public
as the fount of all wisdom is why. So sad to see such a 'respected'
institution play king of the hill.

But another of Atkins' ideas on the subject is far more contentious.

He
argues that people lose more weight on his plan even if they actually

eat
more calories. That's a violation of the laws of thermodynamics,

skeptics
say.


Thermodynamics only applies to closed systems. Human bodies are not
closed systems.

"A calorie is a calorie as far as weight reduction is concerned," says

Dr.
Michael Davidson, director of preventive cardiology at the Rush Heart
Institute in Chicago.

Or is it? Some of the new studies suggest otherwise.

Dr. Stephen Sondike of Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City put
overweight teenagers on comparison diets for two months. The ones on

Atkins
lost twice as much as those on the low-fat diet. Yet they appeared to

eat
about 700 more calories a day than the others.

Less dramatic but still startling results came from another study at

the
University of Cincinnati. Women on Atkins lost twice as much while

eating
the same number of calories as the lowfat dieters.

"Surprised? Definitely," says Bonnie Brehm, a registered dietitian.

"We
really don't know what the answer is."


Yes you do. You just don't want to admit that you have ever been wrong.

And the Atkins weight loss was not simply dehydration, as Atkins

critics
often contend, since the Cincinnati dieters also lost twice as much

body
fat.


Thankyou (whoever) for pointing this one out. I get so tired of the
'it's only water' routine.

But even if the diet is reasonable for a few months of slimming down,

what
happens when people level off during the maintenance phase of the

program?
Does their cholesterol soar if they eat all that fat without losing

weight?

No. Only if they go off the diet do things start heading south. All
diet exhibit this little problem, so don't pronounce this fact in a sad
tone as if this doesn't happen with low fat or low calorie, because it
does.

None of the research so far answers that. However, Atkins-sponsored

studies
by Jeff Volek, an exercise and nutrition specialist at the University

of
Connecticut, offers some hints.

He put fit men on an Atkins regimen for six weeks with orders not to

lose
weight, and nothing bad seemed to happen. Their good and bad

cholesterol
went up proportionately, and their triglycerides fell. "I'd like to

see more
data," Volek said, "but ours provides evidence it doesn't have a

negative
effect on your heart."


They'll label it inconclusive, even if it was a 5 year study, and will
poopoo the whole thing because it was sponsered by Atkins (as they have
in the past, even as they called for Atkins to fund studies --hinting
dark and nefarious reasons why he hadn't yet). It doesn't matter what
the answer is, mainstream has a dogma to defend.

But for now, even many of the researchers who did these studies are
reluctant to recommend the Atkins diet. They know too little about its
long-term effects. A large new study just under way could settle these
doubts.


But gee, ya'll didn't mind recommending a lowfat regeme WITHOUT studies
to back you up. Only 'common sense' and political pull, and we see how
well that's worked for you haven't we. So why so cautious now? A little
late to start worrying about how we'll percieve your experiments on us
now isn't it?

This federally sponsored project will randomly put 360 overweight men

and
women on the Atkins plan or the U.S. Department of Agriculture's

standard
high-carb, low-fat diet, then watch them in painstaking detail for at

least
two years.


Oh gee, federally sponsored. Where were you when Atkins was begging for
funding all those years?

The study will try to answer three questions about Atkins, says Hill,

who
directs the University of Colorado's Center for Human Nutrition. "Does

it
produce weight loss? Is it a safe weight loss? And is it any better in

the
long run than anything else that has come along?"

Scientists will analyze the volunteers' blood and cholesterol in every

way
they can think of, as well as check their bone density, kidney

function,
body composition, exercise tolerance and more.


Is it a self reporting study, or are you going to have more control
built in? Are you actually going to give this an honest try or are you
going to toss out any results you don't like because they're "only
self-reporting", which-as-you-know-Bob, isn't reliable unless it
supports your position. Anyone wanna take bets which way they go?

"It's difficult to swallow," says O'Brien, "but the data are the data,

even
if they go against 30 years of dogma."


Thirty years of dogma. I'm glad somebody has admitted it in print.

revek


  #3  
Old November 22nd, 2003, 03:36 PM
Anne
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Was Atkins Right After All?

Ken, can you please cite the source for this article?

Thanks for posting it.

- Anne
  #4  
Old November 22nd, 2003, 04:28 PM
J Costello
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Was Atkins Right After All?

You can link to the NYT article through the Atkins website at:
http://atkins.com/Archive/2003/1/20-542932.html

Also, highlights of the 10 key points by the Atkins.com people at:
http://atkins.com/Archive/2002/7/26-388715.html

Happy LC'ing!

"Anne" wrote in message
...
Ken, can you please cite the source for this article?

Thanks for posting it.

- Anne



  #5  
Old November 22nd, 2003, 11:24 PM
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Was Atkins Right After All?

I have a friend who has been under a doctors care for high cholesterol. His
doctor told him that with the medication his cholesterol is fine, but if he
wants to lower it more that he should go on the atkins diet. His doctor
also said that he can't officially endorse it, but off the record it works.

"Ken Kubos" wrote in message
...
Was Atkins Right After All?
NEW YORK, Feb. 15, 2003


Is it just possible that Dr. Robert C. Atkins was right? That his

high-fat,
low-carb plan, ridiculed for 30 years as dangerous nonsense, actually is a
good, safe way to lose weight?

The dietary elite are not ready to change their collective mind, but a
half-dozen or so new studies have taken an objective look at the presumed
evils of Atkins, and the results have been little short of astonishing:

During a few months on the Atkins diet, people lose about twice as much as
on the standard low-fat, high-carbohydrate approach recommended by most
health organizations.

They do so without seeming to drive up their risk of heart disease. Rather
than going kaflooey, their cholesterol, triglycerides, blood pressure and
ominous bloodstream inflammation generally improve, perhaps even more than
on the standard diet.

They appear to lose more weight even while actually consuming more

calories
than people on a so-called healthy diet.

All of the experiments were short and small. None by itself would make a

big
stir. But taken together, they undermine much of what mainstream medicine
has long assumed about the Atkins diet.

"Some scientists are dismayed by the data and a little incredulous about
it," says Gary Foster, who runs the weight-loss program at the University

of
Pennsylvania. "But the consistency of the results across studies is
compelling in a way that makes us think we should investigate this

further."

Until now, the opinion of the medical world on this subject has been
essentially unanimous: Any diet that emphasizes meat, eggs and cheese and
discourages bread, rice and fruit is nutritional folly.

The American Medical Association set that tone a year after the book, "Dr.
Atkins' Diet Revolution," came out in 1972. Its sarcastically worded
critique dismissed the diet as "potentially dangerous." It called its
scientific underpinning "naive" and "biochemically incorrect." And it
scolded book publishers for promoting "bizarre concepts of nutrition and
dieting."

On the Atkins diet, up to two-thirds of calories may come from fat - more
than double the usual recommendation - and that violates everything

medical
professionals believe about healthy eating. Carbohydrates are the

foundation
of a good diet, most say. Eating calorie-dense fat is what makes people

fat,
and eating saturated fat is what kills them.

Despite this, Atkins' books have sold 15 million copies, uncounted

millions
have tried the diet, and practically everybody has heard of someone who
dropped a ton of weight on the Atkins plan.

Finally, several research teams around the country have put Atkins to the
test, driven largely by weariness at having nothing solid to tell patients
and, in some cases, a desire to prove Atkins wrong. One study was even
sponsored by the American Heart Association, long an Atkins skeptic.

None has been published yet, but summaries have been given at medical
conferences. "They all show pretty convincingly that people will lose more
weight on an Atkins diet, and their cardiovascular risk factors, if
anything, get better," says Dr. Kevin O'Brien, a University of Washington
cardiologist involved with one of the studies.

This is not the end of the story. The studies say nothing about how much
people lose when they stay on Atkins more than a few months, whether they
keep the weight off for good and whether their cholesterol rebounds when
they stop losing weight.

Nevertheless, three decades of dietary gospel are in doubt, and those
questioning it include some of the most prominent names in obesity

research.
For instance, one of the new studies was conducted by Foster with Drs.
Samuel Klein and James Hill, the current and past presidents of the North
American Association for the Study of Obesity, the premier professional
group.

"I'm part of the obesity establishment," says Foster, who has published

more
than 50 scientific papers on the subject. "I've spent my life researching
ways to treat obesity, and 100 percent of them have been low-fat and
high-carb. Now I'm beginning to think, it isn't as it has appeared."

His Atkins study was intended to "show it doesn't work," yet after three
months, the overweight men and women had lost an average of 19 pounds, 10
more than people on the standard high-carb approach.

The big surprise was cholesterol. The Atkins dieters' overall profile
changed for the better. Although their bad cholesterol went up seven

points,
their good cholesterol rose almost 12. (Changes in the high-carb dieters
were less dramatic. Their bad cholesterol went down slightly while their
good cholesterol remained unchanged.)

The largest difference was in triglycerides. The Atkins dieters' dropped

22
points. The low-carb dieters' didn't budge.

"It was unexpected, to put it mildly," Foster said. "It made us think

maybe
there is something to this."

Despite these data, the Atkins diet still gives many health professionals
the willies. It encourages people to eat bacon, butter, prime rib and lots
of other things loaded with saturated fat. And it lectures against such
mainstay carbohydrates as grains, pasta and starchy vegetables, especially
in the diet's first cold-turkey stage; plenty of other healthy things,
including many low-carb green vegetables and olive oil are allowed.

"There are many principles in the Atkins diet that go against what we

know,"
says Dr. Robert Eckel of the University of Colorado, senior author of the
heart association's policy on high-protein diets. "It keeps people away

from
staples of the diet that we know are associated with less heart disease."

Volumes of research suggest that people have the best chance of avoiding
heart disease, high blood pressure and cancer if they eat a varied diet

with
plenty of fruits, vegetables and grains.

"It's scary if people leave out these very important food groups and just
depend on high-fat, high-protein foods," says Wahida Karmally, nutrition
director at Columbia University's clinical research center.

Furthermore, people on the Atkins plan may get a quarter of their daily
calories from saturated fat, more than double the heart association's
recommendation. Animal experiments and studies of large groups of people
long ago convinced many experts that too much saturated fat clogs the
arteries and leads to heart attacks.

Mainstream scientists wave off the Atkins camp's answer to this that
saturated fat is bad only if eaten with large amounts of carbohydrates.
Otherwise, it's harmlessly burned off.

"When carbs are the primary fuel source, there are certain risks in
excessive fat consumption," says Colette Heimowitz, the Atkins
organization's research director. "But in a controlled-carb setting, when
fat is the primary fuel source, the rules change. Those risk factors do

not
show up."

So how do the traditionalists explain the cholesterol improvement seen in
the Atkins dieters? Weight loss. Slimming down reliably improves

cholesterol
levels, and they say its benefits probably overshadowed any damage done by
all the unhealthy fat that people ate.

Why people lose more weight on the diet is also not clear, although some
researchers say they buy one of Atkins' arguments: People stick with it
because they are not constantly hungry. Fat and protein satisfy the
appetite, the theory goes. But eating lots of carbohydrates raises insulin
levels, lowers blood sugar, and eventually makes people ravenous.

But another of Atkins' ideas on the subject is far more contentious. He
argues that people lose more weight on his plan even if they actually eat
more calories. That's a violation of the laws of thermodynamics, skeptics
say.

"A calorie is a calorie as far as weight reduction is concerned," says Dr.
Michael Davidson, director of preventive cardiology at the Rush Heart
Institute in Chicago.

Or is it? Some of the new studies suggest otherwise.

Dr. Stephen Sondike of Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City put
overweight teenagers on comparison diets for two months. The ones on

Atkins
lost twice as much as those on the low-fat diet. Yet they appeared to eat
about 700 more calories a day than the others.

Less dramatic but still startling results came from another study at the
University of Cincinnati. Women on Atkins lost twice as much while eating
the same number of calories as the lowfat dieters.

"Surprised? Definitely," says Bonnie Brehm, a registered dietitian. "We
really don't know what the answer is."

And the Atkins weight loss was not simply dehydration, as Atkins critics
often contend, since the Cincinnati dieters also lost twice as much body
fat.

But even if the diet is reasonable for a few months of slimming down, what
happens when people level off during the maintenance phase of the program?
Does their cholesterol soar if they eat all that fat without losing

weight?

None of the research so far answers that. However, Atkins-sponsored

studies
by Jeff Volek, an exercise and nutrition specialist at the University of
Connecticut, offers some hints.

He put fit men on an Atkins regimen for six weeks with orders not to lose
weight, and nothing bad seemed to happen. Their good and bad cholesterol
went up proportionately, and their triglycerides fell. "I'd like to see

more
data," Volek said, "but ours provides evidence it doesn't have a negative
effect on your heart."

But for now, even many of the researchers who did these studies are
reluctant to recommend the Atkins diet. They know too little about its
long-term effects. A large new study just under way could settle these
doubts.

This federally sponsored project will randomly put 360 overweight men and
women on the Atkins plan or the U.S. Department of Agriculture's standard
high-carb, low-fat diet, then watch them in painstaking detail for at

least
two years.

The study will try to answer three questions about Atkins, says Hill, who
directs the University of Colorado's Center for Human Nutrition. "Does it
produce weight loss? Is it a safe weight loss? And is it any better in the
long run than anything else that has come along?"

Scientists will analyze the volunteers' blood and cholesterol in every way
they can think of, as well as check their bone density, kidney function,
body composition, exercise tolerance and more.

Despite the professions' unease at the findings so far, some of the
researchers involved expect that if the Atkins approach proves safe and
effective in larger, longer studies, those opinions will eventually

change.

"It's difficult to swallow," says O'Brien, "but the data are the data,

even
if they go against 30 years of dogma."


--
Ken

"For NASA, space is still a high priority."
- Governor George W. Bush




  #6  
Old November 23rd, 2003, 12:01 AM
slimmerthanyesterday
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Was Atkins Right After All?

The truth is it's all in their paradigm, it's the way they've learned it,
it's a fundamental part of their belief system, it's just how they see the
world. And to us, they just don't see it!

wrote in message
...
I have a friend who has been under a doctors care for high cholesterol.

His
doctor told him that with the medication his cholesterol is fine, but if

he
wants to lower it more that he should go on the atkins diet. His doctor
also said that he can't officially endorse it, but off the record it

works.

"Ken Kubos" wrote in message
...
Was Atkins Right After All?
NEW YORK, Feb. 15, 2003


Is it just possible that Dr. Robert C. Atkins was right? That his

high-fat,
low-carb plan, ridiculed for 30 years as dangerous nonsense, actually is

a
good, safe way to lose weight?

The dietary elite are not ready to change their collective mind, but a
half-dozen or so new studies have taken an objective look at the

presumed
evils of Atkins, and the results have been little short of astonishing:

During a few months on the Atkins diet, people lose about twice as much

as
on the standard low-fat, high-carbohydrate approach recommended by most
health organizations.

They do so without seeming to drive up their risk of heart disease.

Rather
than going kaflooey, their cholesterol, triglycerides, blood pressure

and
ominous bloodstream inflammation generally improve, perhaps even more

than
on the standard diet.

They appear to lose more weight even while actually consuming more

calories
than people on a so-called healthy diet.

All of the experiments were short and small. None by itself would make a

big
stir. But taken together, they undermine much of what mainstream

medicine
has long assumed about the Atkins diet.

"Some scientists are dismayed by the data and a little incredulous about
it," says Gary Foster, who runs the weight-loss program at the

University
of
Pennsylvania. "But the consistency of the results across studies is
compelling in a way that makes us think we should investigate this

further."

Until now, the opinion of the medical world on this subject has been
essentially unanimous: Any diet that emphasizes meat, eggs and cheese

and
discourages bread, rice and fruit is nutritional folly.

The American Medical Association set that tone a year after the book,

"Dr.
Atkins' Diet Revolution," came out in 1972. Its sarcastically worded
critique dismissed the diet as "potentially dangerous." It called its
scientific underpinning "naive" and "biochemically incorrect." And it
scolded book publishers for promoting "bizarre concepts of nutrition and
dieting."

On the Atkins diet, up to two-thirds of calories may come from fat -

more
than double the usual recommendation - and that violates everything

medical
professionals believe about healthy eating. Carbohydrates are the

foundation
of a good diet, most say. Eating calorie-dense fat is what makes people

fat,
and eating saturated fat is what kills them.

Despite this, Atkins' books have sold 15 million copies, uncounted

millions
have tried the diet, and practically everybody has heard of someone who
dropped a ton of weight on the Atkins plan.

Finally, several research teams around the country have put Atkins to

the
test, driven largely by weariness at having nothing solid to tell

patients
and, in some cases, a desire to prove Atkins wrong. One study was even
sponsored by the American Heart Association, long an Atkins skeptic.

None has been published yet, but summaries have been given at medical
conferences. "They all show pretty convincingly that people will lose

more
weight on an Atkins diet, and their cardiovascular risk factors, if
anything, get better," says Dr. Kevin O'Brien, a University of

Washington
cardiologist involved with one of the studies.

This is not the end of the story. The studies say nothing about how much
people lose when they stay on Atkins more than a few months, whether

they
keep the weight off for good and whether their cholesterol rebounds when
they stop losing weight.

Nevertheless, three decades of dietary gospel are in doubt, and those
questioning it include some of the most prominent names in obesity

research.
For instance, one of the new studies was conducted by Foster with Drs.
Samuel Klein and James Hill, the current and past presidents of the

North
American Association for the Study of Obesity, the premier professional
group.

"I'm part of the obesity establishment," says Foster, who has published

more
than 50 scientific papers on the subject. "I've spent my life

researching
ways to treat obesity, and 100 percent of them have been low-fat and
high-carb. Now I'm beginning to think, it isn't as it has appeared."

His Atkins study was intended to "show it doesn't work," yet after three
months, the overweight men and women had lost an average of 19 pounds,

10
more than people on the standard high-carb approach.

The big surprise was cholesterol. The Atkins dieters' overall profile
changed for the better. Although their bad cholesterol went up seven

points,
their good cholesterol rose almost 12. (Changes in the high-carb dieters
were less dramatic. Their bad cholesterol went down slightly while their
good cholesterol remained unchanged.)

The largest difference was in triglycerides. The Atkins dieters' dropped

22
points. The low-carb dieters' didn't budge.

"It was unexpected, to put it mildly," Foster said. "It made us think

maybe
there is something to this."

Despite these data, the Atkins diet still gives many health

professionals
the willies. It encourages people to eat bacon, butter, prime rib and

lots
of other things loaded with saturated fat. And it lectures against such
mainstay carbohydrates as grains, pasta and starchy vegetables,

especially
in the diet's first cold-turkey stage; plenty of other healthy things,
including many low-carb green vegetables and olive oil are allowed.

"There are many principles in the Atkins diet that go against what we

know,"
says Dr. Robert Eckel of the University of Colorado, senior author of

the
heart association's policy on high-protein diets. "It keeps people away

from
staples of the diet that we know are associated with less heart

disease."

Volumes of research suggest that people have the best chance of avoiding
heart disease, high blood pressure and cancer if they eat a varied diet

with
plenty of fruits, vegetables and grains.

"It's scary if people leave out these very important food groups and

just
depend on high-fat, high-protein foods," says Wahida Karmally, nutrition
director at Columbia University's clinical research center.

Furthermore, people on the Atkins plan may get a quarter of their daily
calories from saturated fat, more than double the heart association's
recommendation. Animal experiments and studies of large groups of people
long ago convinced many experts that too much saturated fat clogs the
arteries and leads to heart attacks.

Mainstream scientists wave off the Atkins camp's answer to this that
saturated fat is bad only if eaten with large amounts of carbohydrates.
Otherwise, it's harmlessly burned off.

"When carbs are the primary fuel source, there are certain risks in
excessive fat consumption," says Colette Heimowitz, the Atkins
organization's research director. "But in a controlled-carb setting,

when
fat is the primary fuel source, the rules change. Those risk factors do

not
show up."

So how do the traditionalists explain the cholesterol improvement seen

in
the Atkins dieters? Weight loss. Slimming down reliably improves

cholesterol
levels, and they say its benefits probably overshadowed any damage done

by
all the unhealthy fat that people ate.

Why people lose more weight on the diet is also not clear, although some
researchers say they buy one of Atkins' arguments: People stick with it
because they are not constantly hungry. Fat and protein satisfy the
appetite, the theory goes. But eating lots of carbohydrates raises

insulin
levels, lowers blood sugar, and eventually makes people ravenous.

But another of Atkins' ideas on the subject is far more contentious. He
argues that people lose more weight on his plan even if they actually

eat
more calories. That's a violation of the laws of thermodynamics,

skeptics
say.

"A calorie is a calorie as far as weight reduction is concerned," says

Dr.
Michael Davidson, director of preventive cardiology at the Rush Heart
Institute in Chicago.

Or is it? Some of the new studies suggest otherwise.

Dr. Stephen Sondike of Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City put
overweight teenagers on comparison diets for two months. The ones on

Atkins
lost twice as much as those on the low-fat diet. Yet they appeared to

eat
about 700 more calories a day than the others.

Less dramatic but still startling results came from another study at the
University of Cincinnati. Women on Atkins lost twice as much while

eating
the same number of calories as the lowfat dieters.

"Surprised? Definitely," says Bonnie Brehm, a registered dietitian. "We
really don't know what the answer is."

And the Atkins weight loss was not simply dehydration, as Atkins critics
often contend, since the Cincinnati dieters also lost twice as much body
fat.

But even if the diet is reasonable for a few months of slimming down,

what
happens when people level off during the maintenance phase of the

program?
Does their cholesterol soar if they eat all that fat without losing

weight?

None of the research so far answers that. However, Atkins-sponsored

studies
by Jeff Volek, an exercise and nutrition specialist at the University of
Connecticut, offers some hints.

He put fit men on an Atkins regimen for six weeks with orders not to

lose
weight, and nothing bad seemed to happen. Their good and bad cholesterol
went up proportionately, and their triglycerides fell. "I'd like to see

more
data," Volek said, "but ours provides evidence it doesn't have a

negative
effect on your heart."

But for now, even many of the researchers who did these studies are
reluctant to recommend the Atkins diet. They know too little about its
long-term effects. A large new study just under way could settle these
doubts.

This federally sponsored project will randomly put 360 overweight men

and
women on the Atkins plan or the U.S. Department of Agriculture's

standard
high-carb, low-fat diet, then watch them in painstaking detail for at

least
two years.

The study will try to answer three questions about Atkins, says Hill,

who
directs the University of Colorado's Center for Human Nutrition. "Does

it
produce weight loss? Is it a safe weight loss? And is it any better in

the
long run than anything else that has come along?"

Scientists will analyze the volunteers' blood and cholesterol in every

way
they can think of, as well as check their bone density, kidney function,
body composition, exercise tolerance and more.

Despite the professions' unease at the findings so far, some of the
researchers involved expect that if the Atkins approach proves safe and
effective in larger, longer studies, those opinions will eventually

change.

"It's difficult to swallow," says O'Brien, "but the data are the data,

even
if they go against 30 years of dogma."


--
Ken

"For NASA, space is still a high priority."
- Governor George W. Bush






 




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