Could Atkins Be Right?
By Susan Rutter
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 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 almost 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 can 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. Atkin's books have sold 15 million copies, uncounted millions have tried the diet, and practically everybody has heard of someone who dropped a lot of weight on the Atkins plan.
Finally, several research teams around the United States 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 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.
Susan Rutter: author, publisher, nutritionist, instructor Assists patients and the public make healthy choices and changes in their lives. FREE E-mail course: "Your Health and Your Weight" Subscribe: healthyoubbies-subscribe@smartgroups.com We Are What We Eat... includes 4 free health software programs. healthy.youbbies@3web.net
