Mayo Clinic: "Low-carbohydrate diets: Are they safe and effective?" (No)
 

Low-carbohydrate diets: Are they safe and effective?

By Mayo Clinic staff

link to article

Americans spend billions of dollars yearly on weight-loss programs and products, looking for the magic cure to help them shed pounds quickly and painlessly. Anyone who has tried to lose weight knows how challenging it can be. This is why many people turn to fad diets.

Fad diets have been around for decades. New ones surface regularly, and some older ones fall in and out of favor. One of the more popular diets today is a low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet. Researchers have reported some successful short-term results from restricting carbohydrate intake, findings that have sparked further debate in the medical community about the effectiveness and safety of such diet programs.

Low-carbohydrate diets — such as the Atkins diet, the Zone and the South Beach Diet — have received a lot of attention. With book sales in the millions and pervasive marketing campaigns, many people turn to these diets for help in losing weight. But it's important to ask yourself the same questions posed by health experts: Do these low-carbohydrate, high-protein diets work? Are they safe?

Low-carbohydrate diets: The theory

The main thrust behind low-carbohydrate diets is that carbohydrates promote insulin production, which leads to weight gain. So, the theory goes, reduce your intake of carbohydrates and you'll shed extra pounds.

The Atkins diet — one of the more popular low-carbohydrate diets — limits carbohydrates to 20 grams a day initially. By contrast, the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine recommends that most adults consume at least 130 grams of carbohydrates each day. The Atkins diet excludes most grains, beans, fruits, breads, rice, potatoes, pastas and starchy vegetables. But you can eat as much meat, eggs, cheese, butter and cream as you want.

How does a low-carbohydrate diet actually work? By lowering your daily intake of carbohydrates, your body burns its stored carbohydrates (glycogen) for energy. When your body burns glycogen, water is released, and you lose weight.

Your body also starts burning some fat. Burning fat without carbohydrates creates byproducts called ketones that build up in your bloodstream (ketosis). Your kidneys remove the ketones from your bloodstream and eliminate them from your body through urine. Ketones suppress appetite, but they may also cause fatigue and nausea. Proponents of the Atkins diet claim that "benign dietary ketosis" is a safe, natural condition necessary for weight loss. Finally, if the total calorie intake on a low-carbohydrate diet is low enough, this leads to loss of muscle tissue, which also shows up on the scale as weight loss.

The traditional lower-fat, calorie-controlled diet

Most medical experts recommend a diet that's low in saturated fat and calories, while being moderate to high in complex carbohydrates. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), outlines several guidelines for better health:

Eat a variety of foods to get the energy, protein, vitamins, minerals and fiber you need for good health.

Balance the food you eat with physical activity — maintain or improve your weight to reduce your chances of having high blood pressure, heart disease, a stroke, certain cancers and diabetes.

Select a diet low in sugar. A diet high in sugar has too many calories and too few nutrients for most people.
Choose a diet low in salt to help reduce your risk of high blood pressure.

Eat plenty of grain products, vegetables and fruits to provide you with needed vitamins, minerals, fiber and complex carbohydrates, and to help lower your intake of fat.

Choose a diet low in fat, saturated fat and cholesterol to reduce your risk of heart attack and certain types of cancer, and to help you maintain a healthy weight.

Drink alcohol in moderation. Alcohol supplies calories, but little or no nutrients.

Low-carbohydrate diet: The upside

People, especially meat lovers, like eating the food on the low-carbohydrate diet — at least for a while. They also report that eating these foods suppresses their appetite. A study published in the May 2003 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine compared the Atkins diet with a low-fat, low-calorie diet. Researchers found that both diets resulted in weight loss. The study also found that those people who followed the Atkins diet:

Lost more weight, faster. This advantage was apparent for the first six months. But at one year, the difference between the Atkins group and the low-fat, low-calorie group wasn’t statistically significant.
Improved high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol — the "good" cholesterol — and triglyceride levels. These results surprised some opponents of this diet who had maintained that a high-fat diet would negatively affect cholesterol levels.

Low-carbohydrate diet: The downside

These same researchers found that after a year, there was no significant difference in weight loss between the low-carbohydrate diet and a standard low-calorie diet. Also, sticking to a low-carbohydrate diet doesn't appear to be any easier than following other weight-loss plans. People on the Atkins diet dropped out at a similar rate as those following the low-fat diet. If dieters aren't getting the results they want — anticipated weight loss — they drop out. This suggests that the low-carbohydrate diet, like so many diets, is no easier to stick to long term. And although you may initially prefer eating the foods included in the low-carbohydrate diet plan, food choices are actually more limited and perhaps less appealing over time.

Proponents of the Atkins diet claim that ketosis helps burn fat. However, researchers found no correlation between ketosis and weight loss in the Atkins diet. Prolonged ketosis may deplete mineral stores in the bones, causing them to become porous and brittle.

Research hasn't yet determined the long-term effectiveness or risks of the low-carbohydrate diet. And there's concern in the medical community about the long-term effects of these diets on a dieter's health, especially on the heart. It's well documented that foods promoted in the low-carbohydrate diets — for example, foods high in saturated fat such as meat, butter or cream — have been shown to increase your risk of heart disease and some types of cancer. And foods restricted on these diets — for example, whole grains, vegetables and fruits — have vitamins, minerals and other nutrients that can help reduce your risk of diabetes, heart disease, cancer and other health conditions.

Bottom line: Are they safe and effective?

Do these diets work? Low-carbohydrate diets do work in the short run. But their long-term weight-loss results aren't significantly better than those of standard diets.

Are they safe? It's impossible to say because little is known about their long-term effects on heart disease, cancer and other health conditions.

Bottom line: Be wary of diets that promise a quick fix or that sound too good to be true. Aim for a long-term plan — one that offers you a lifetime of tried-and-tested health strategies. Though traditional recommendations for weight management — eating a variety of vegetables, fruits and grains, and being physically active daily — may produce slower results, they're the proven path to improved health and lasting weight loss.

Interesting. Notice how -- ever so slightly -- they establishment is becoming less shrill and vicious about this topic? They used to say flat out, it will kill you in a week. Now, at least they don't say that.

On the other hand, most of this is just the same old tripe. Old habits and misconceptions die hard.


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Finally, if the total calorie intake on a low-carbohydrate diet is low enough, this leads to loss of muscle tissue, which also shows up on the scale as weight loss.
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Duh. Not when you're eating plenty of protein, it doesn't. Virtually EVERY study of low-carb diets showed LESS loss of lean body mass. (Muscle.) How does eating low-fat, low-protein, and low calorie help muscles??


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The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
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Sorry, that cuts no mustard with me. Who cares what they recommend??


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Low-carbohydrate diet: The downside

These same researchers found that after a year, there was no significant difference in weight loss between the low-carbohydrate diet and a standard low-calorie diet. Also, sticking to a low-carbohydrate diet doesn't appear to be any easier than following other weight-loss plans. People on the Atkins diet dropped out at a similar rate as those following the low-fat diet.

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So , pray tell, how is that a DOWNSIDE of the low-carb diet? "It sucks just as much as a low-fat diet?" No logic there.

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food choices are actually more limited and perhaps less appealing over time.
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As compared to say, a limiting low-fat diet that makes you shun dishes and foods that contain things like cheese, eggs, butter, beef, lamb, pork, coconut, cream, and etc. . . .? Don't think so.


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However, researchers found no correlation between ketosis and weight loss in the Atkins diet. Prolonged ketosis may deplete mineral stores in the bones, causing them to become porous and brittle.
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The operative word there is "MAY". Meaning, they're guessing. There is no such evidence. Do they have such information? Other researchers suggest ketosis is a NORMAL state for human beings -- which most people were in before we invented wheat and bread and sugar.

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It's well documented that foods promoted in the low-carbohydrate diets — for example, foods high in saturated fat such as meat, butter or cream — have been shown to increase your risk of heart disease and some types of cancer.
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Really? Everybody says that, but I never see the studies. Where is the data that shows this? I do know of SCORES of studies that show saturated fat has NO effect on heart disease or cancer. What studies are THEY referring to? Studies that merely show some effect on some blood value, or some laboratory reading? What about studies that show actual disease in actual people? Not statistical analyses of countries, or populations. And studies that show high saturated fat AND high starch diets don't count either.

QUOTE----
Though traditional recommendations for weight management — eating a variety of vegetables, fruits and grains, and being physically active daily — may produce slower results, they're the proven path to improved health and lasting weight loss.
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Data? Studies? Proven? Who says? Besides, low-carb diets include plenty of vegetables and even fruits.

The usual nonsense.

What they don't seem to get through their thick brains is that what they are recommending here IS Atkins on maintenance. So you will reach the same point, in the end, except that Atkins will have got you there faster.

This is the usual tripe, packaged the usual way--although their minds seem to be opening a little.

I'd love to see a group like the Mayo Clinic do a thoughtful article that takes all the factors into account, or an attempt to discover the truth.

All I have to say is show me some g*dd*mn proof or shut up. Nyah Levi

I love how they always say that there was no "statistical" difference after a year. If I remember correctly the low carbers lost twice as much as the low fatters.

The really amazing thing about these kind of opinions is that they don't seem to recognize that being obese is much more unhealthy.

I gave up a sugar/bread/potatoe/meat based diet for one of nuts/meat/vegatables. Regardless of your opinion of low-carb, that can't sound too bad and I no longer overweight to boot, which was the real health hazard.

HELLOOOOOO?
"Select a diet low in sugar. A diet high in sugar has too many calories and too few nutrients for most people."

Don't they know the starch just turns to sugar???

<<Finally, if the total calorie intake on a low-carbohydrate diet is low enough, this leads to loss of muscle tissue, which also shows up on the scale as weight loss. >>

So just remember to keep your calorie count up while doing low carb.

danny