Calorie bonus for Atkins dieters
 

Another positive Atkins article in the Daily Mail today - looks like they are starting to change their tune about how dangerous it is :)


Calorie bonus for Atkins dieters
Daily Mail, London, 15 October, 2003


Followers of the Atkins diet can eat more calories than those on low-fat eating plans and still lose more weight, research suggests.

Those consuming an extra 300 calories a day on the low-carbohydrate diet lost more weight in 12 weeks than those on a standard low-fat diet.

Over the course of the study, they consumed an extra 25,000 calories which should have added up to about 7lb in weight. But the weight simply did not materialise.

Atkins experts say that people following the controversial eating plan lose weight because their bodies are working more efficiently, burning up fat and protein for fuel instead of carbohydrate.

The study, directed by Penelope Greene of the Harvard School of Public Health, was presented at the American Association for the Study of Obesity in Florida.

It involved 21 overweight volunteers divided into three groups. Two were assigned to either low-fat or low-carb diets. The third was also given low- carb but was allowed an extra 300 calories a day.

Instead of the classic Atkins diet of lots of red meat and saturated fat, those on the low-carb regime were given mostly fish, chicken, salads, vegetables and unsaturated oils.

The Atkins organisation agreed to pay for the research, though it had no input into the study's design, conduct or analysis.

In the end, everyone lost weight. Those on the lowercalorie, low- carbohydrate regime lost 23lb, while people who got the same calories on the low-fat approach lost 17lb.

But volunteers on the extra 300 calories a day of low- carb food lost 20lb - more than those on the low-fat diet.