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The Atkins Diet
By Ellen Daniels, Thu Dec 8th
By now, almost everyone has heard of the Atkins diet. This isthe diet that promotes weight loss through the consumption offoods low in carbohydrates and quite high in fat and proteincontents, but not necessarily low in calories. It was the brain-child of Dr. R. C. Atkins who claimed that itwould initiate a greater weight loss than a conventional, lowcalorie diet composed of a "balance" of carbohydrates, fats, andproteins. In addition, it was supposed to be friendly to thoseprone to diabetes because of the low intake of carbohydrate; itmight reduce the body's need for insulin. This diet concept isdiametrically opposed to that used for years by traditionalnutritionists and medical specialists. Most experts initial response to this diet was that it might notbe safe because years of scientific evidence suggested that highfat intake would surely raise serum cholesterol, thus increasingthe risk of cardiovascular disease.
What ensued were numerous heated debates in print and ontelevision about the worthiness of this diet. Unfortunately,most of the battle lines were drawn on shaky grounds becausethey were based on age-old dogma, and lacked serious scientificinquiry. Fortunately, this was about to change. Some results ofvery important research are now beginning to appear in thescientific literature. Hopefully, this new information willeventually determine unequivocally which side is right. One of these studies was reported in the New England Journal ofMedicine in 2003. The investigators' aim was to conduct acontrolled experiment to determine the differences in weightloss of both obese men and women who consumed either the basiclow carbohydrate or a conventional diet of reducedtotal calories. The study lasted for one year. Besides weightloss, a number of other tests also were conducted, includingblood sugar, blood cholesterol, HDL cholesterol (the goodcholesterol), insulin levels, and blood pressure. The results were interesting and different than most traditionalnutritionists would have expected. As Dr. Atkins had claimed allalong, after 3 months, the volunteers who ate the Atkins dietlost 7-10% of their original body weight while those who ate theconventional low-calorie diet only lost 3-5% of their originalweight. After 6 months, the results were similar to those at 3months; however, after one year, those on the hadregained enough weight so that differences in weight lossbetween the two diets were not significant. Another interesting result supported the view of the traditionalnutritionists in that total serum cholesterol
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was increasedabout 3% while those fed the conventional diet had reduced theircholesterol about 5%. However, the "good" cholesterol wasincreased about 20% in those consuming the but onlyabout 3% in those consuming the conventional diet. Neither dietaffected blood sugar, blood pressure, or insulin levels,although the insulin levels of those consuming the Atkins diettended to be lower than of those consuming the low calorieconventional diet. The final results of the study suggested that volunteers whoconsume the may initially lose weight faster thanthose consuming the conventional diet, but after a long periodof consuming the diets, the differences may be lost. Theinvestigators suggested that a longer and larger study becarried out before conclusive assessments are made about thebenefits or dangers of consuming low-carbohydrate, high-fat, andhigh-protein diets. About the author:Ellen Daniels offers expert advice and articles on all aspectsof Laser Hair Removal. You can read about the latest technologyfor Laser Hair Removal at http://www.LaserHairRemovalDetails.com
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