Atkins
Diet Works Quicker, But ………………………
Two new studies suggest that the low-carbohydrate
Atkins diet may trim pounds faster than the traditional
low-fat approach without raising risks for heart
disease.
But
one year after losing weight, the Atkins group
had regained more pounds than the low-fat group,
leaving no significant weight difference between
the two.
"It's another mixed nutrition message,"
said Robert H. Eckel, professor of medicine at
the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center
in Denver.
How to lose weight safely -- and keep it off for
good -- is a question that vexes millions of Americans.
Two out of every three adults in the United States
are overweight or obese. Weight-related illnesses,
diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and
kidney problems now rival smoking in trimming
years off lives and racking up health care costs.
An estimated 300,000 Americans die of the complications
of obesity annually, according to the American
Obesity Association. At any one time, about half
of all women and a third of men are trying to
lose weight in the United States, spending more
than $33 billion annually on diet books, weight
loss programs and diet supplements.
Some 10 million of them have bought the Atkins
Diet book, a low-carbohydrate approach advocated
by the late physician Robert Atkins, who spun
his ideas into a successful commercial industry
of supplements, low-carbohydrate food and laxatives
The two latest studies, which are published in
this week's New England Journal of Medicine, are
part of an on-going effort to systematically determine
the safety and effectiveness of the Atkins diet.
"They're newsworthy," said American
Heart Association President Robert Bonow, "because
they are among the first to have a direct comparison"
between the Atkins diet and the more traditional
low-fat approaches for weight loss.
In one, 63 healthy obese men and women (body mass
index of 33 or more) were randomly assigned either
to follow the Atkins Diet or a low-fat weight
loss program for a year on their own. Three months
into the study, the Atkins group had lost an average
of about 15 pounds, compared with five for the
low-fat group. By six months, the Atkins group
inched up to a 15.4 pound average loss, while
the low-fat group had lost about seven pounds
-- or about half as much. But at the one year
follow-up, the Atkins group had regained about
five pounds while the low-fat group had regained
just two. That difference was not statistically
different, the researchers noted.
"The findings say that no matter what diet
you're on, doing it alone is tough work,"
said the study's lead author, Gary Foster, clinical
director of the University of Pennsylvania's Weight
and Eating Disorders Program.
Because the Atkins diet encourages consumption
of foods high in saturated fat, including butter,
cream and steak, there's been great concern that
it may increase the risk of heart disease. Three
months into the study, however, there were no
differences in the two groups in either total
cholesterol or low density lipoprotein (LDL),
the so-called "bad cholesterol."
"The weight loss may over-ride the effect
of the high-fat, high-cholesterol" Atkins
approach, said the University of Cincinnati's
Bonnie J. Brehm, who has been studying the Atkins
diet in women. "These findings are similar
to ours."
In the second study published today, 132 severely
obese men and women (with a body mass index of
40 or more) were randomly assigned for six months
to either the Atkins or the low-fat diet. Most
participants in this study already had health
problems, including diabetes. Those in the Atkins
group lost more weight -- an average of 12 pounds
versus four for the low-fat group -- had greater
decreases in triglycerides, a dangerous type of
blood fat, and showed improvements in insulin
sensitivity.
But lead author Frederick Samaha, chief of cardiology
at the Philadelphia Veterans Administration Hospital,
said the results need to be interpreted with caution.
Given the severe obesity of the participants,
weight loss was small for both groups, and 40
percent of them dropped out before finishing the
study -- a problem that also plagued the University
of Pennsylvania study.
"It would be a wrong message for consumers
to conclude that everybody should be on a severely
restricted carbohydrate diet with liberal fat,"
Samaha said.
But Atkins diet proponents said that the findings
may offer consumers and physicians a new choice.
"For the last 30 years, the common wisdom
has been that the way to a healthier life and
permanent weight control was low fat and only
low fat," said Colette Heimowitz, director
of education and research at the Atkins Health
and Medical Information Services in New York.
"However, the results of these studies show
there is an alternative to low fat that will produce
a greater weight loss."
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