Official: Atkins is a Health Risk
 

News is very slow in the UK at the moment and this was plastered across the front page of the Daily Mail , a middle of the road newspaper.


Official: Atkins is a health risk
by MARK PRIGG, Evening Standard

The Atkins diet is today denounced by a leading scientist as a "pseudo science" posing a massive health risk.

Described as "nutritionally incomplete", the diet, believed to have around two million followers in Britain, was singled out as the worst of the fad diets.

Nutritionist Dr Susan Jebb said: "Fad diets in general prey on the overweight, offering quick fixes and psychological tricks. However, I see no medical benefit at all in them, and in particular from the Atkins diet.

"Obesity is a massive problem in the UK, but this is not the way to solve it. There is no scientific evidence that the Atkins regime is good for us. Of course in the short term it works, but in the short term any diet that reduces calorific intake will work."

Dr Jebb, head of nutrition at the Medical Research Council Human Nutrition Research Centre, was addressing a summer briefing at the Royal Institute designed to curb the huge public interest in fad diets and highlight their associated health risks.

"The Atkins diet is a massive health risk for people - it's simply medically very unsound," she added.

She pointed out that many carbohydrates, outlawed by fad diets, are extremely good for the body. "The gut, in particular, needs a lot of carbohydrate and fibre, which is cut out of these diets," she added. "That can impair its ability to work well, and people are putting themselves at risk if they don't eat a lot of fibre and some carbohydrate."

Dr Jebb believes one of the problems with all fad diets is that it is not usually the morbidly obese following them. She said: "It's usually the slightly overweight doing these diets, and that's a real problem.

"They run the risk of losing muscle instead of fat, which can be extremely dangerous. I also feel strongly that these diets are giving people false hope. We put on weight over a long period, so we have to lose it over a long time as well.

"There is no way to lose a stone in a few weeks without putting your health at risk. You have to do this over time, when you notice you are gaining weight. Your first goal should always be not to gain any more weight, rather than deciding you instantly need to shed all your excess weight."

A lack of vitamins and minerals was also raised, with the restrictive fad diets often resulting in a small selection of food being allowed.

Dr Jebb said: "People tend to restrict themselves far more than normal on these diets, and that isn't good. A variety of foods is essential for us to function healthily."

Fad diets were also described as dangerous by leading psychologist Dr Jane Ogden, a reader in health psychology at King's College in London.

She believes fad diets prey on our wishes to be told what to do. "The problem with most medical advice is that it's a bit wishy-washy," she said.

"People are told to cut down on this, eat healthily and it doesn't really mean anything to them.

"What fad diets do is tell them in black and white what they can and can't do, and people identify with that. It's almost as if they have someone to blame for their craving, making it easier to deal with as it's not their fault."

One in four women in Britain is on a diet. However, many have serious medical dangers.


Atkins Diet
Extremely low-carbohydrate, highprotein eating plan. Used by celebrities such as Geri Halliwell and Jennifer Aniston, promises fast weight loss.
Dangers: Kidney stones, brittle bones, heart and kidney disease. Bad breath is common and the weight is difficult to keep off.

Fat flush plan
Designed to cleanse the liver, uses natural oil supplement. Claims followers can shed a stone in two weeks.
Dangers: Weight loss is too quick, strict rules must be followed.

South beach diet
Originally designed as a healthy heart diet, promises that those who follow it can lose up to 13lb in two weeks by cutting out bad carbohydrates and fats and replacing them with good ones. Says that eating chicken, turkey, fish, egg yolk and cheese can lead to weight loss, but dieters should avoid high-carbohydrate snacks and soft drinks.
Dangers: Sudden weight loss can lead to serious risk of muscle loss.

Protein power
High-protein diet, popular in America. Restricts carbohydrates according to your height, weight, activity level and body fat percentage but does allow for such food to be reintroduced into diet once weight-loss goals have been achieved.
Dangers: Increases cholesterol level, can lead to heart disease, also risk of kidney damage.


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here we go again anne.i,m going to stop buying the mail.i,m fed up with their negative reporting on atkins!

This is crap. It's in the Guardian this morning, too. The language is a bit different but it's obviously from the same press release.

The silly season is upon us.

Emily

Exactly the same thing in the Independent this mornng:

The unpalatable truth about the Atkins diet: it's just fat-headed nonsense, claim scientists

Along with a couple of other interesting articles counter-balancing the above argument:

Eating red meat 'improves memory by boosting key compound in the brain'

'The idea that I was healthier before, swilling coffee with three sugars, is absurd'

Same thing in the London Metro too...
It even says we don't eat vegetables!
Since when don't we eat fibre?
Man, oh man... Misinformation carries on - And bad breath is a health risk?!? With yesterdays reports of Syphilis making a comeback in the UK, I reckon bad breath could be considered a survival trait! *evil grin*

Oh well :)
My problem is that my damned pinkie rings keep falling off!!!!! ;)

S

It's absolutely nuts. I'm not much for conspiracy theories normally, but I can't help wondering who stands to lose out if LC becomes hugely popular....

Emily

thats what i was thinking emily.i wonder how many of the newspaper shareholders also have investments in the h/c food industry.

Have just come across what The Times has to say about Atkins today:

Atkins dieters risk cancer, heart and bone problems



What absolute rot - and WHAT STUDIES ?????????? no references given, no actual studies named !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Suggest everyone email The Times as per their request:

DEBATE

Is the Atkins diet bad for you?

Send your e-mails to debate~thetimes.co.uk

Notice that once again they don't quote any studies to back up their claims. Mostly it's opinion and opinion based on ignorance of what the plans are about and how they work at that.
The gut needs carbohydrate? Tell that to folks with a yeast overgrowth. Fiber...yup, we need that, but I got about 30 grams of fiber yesterday which is more than most high carbers get on a daily basis.
Protein Power raises cholesterol? Guess they missed the studies that showed cardiac profiles much improved on low carb vs. low fat.
Utter nonsense!

Who stands to lose if LC diets catch on? The UCal health newsletter I subscribe to reports that sales of refined flour in the US are way down--as much as 25%. The other big losers will be the massive corn oil industry, the heavily subsidized potato farming industry, etc.

And the sugar industry. Mustn't forget that. In fact, I think they might stand to lose the most.

Emily

Well, there are the food companies selling low fat crap and flour and sugar laden foods, plus the pharmaceutical companies selling drugs designed to treat high blood pressure, high cholesterol, acid reflux, and diabetes, plus even the doctors prescribing all those medications. I don't usually credit conspiracy theories either, but the outcry against low carb diets and Atkins in particular is so virulent and vicious and filled with outright lies that you just have to wonder why...

Karla

It seems these "reporters" are very poor in the research. If they read any of Atkins book they would find so many untruths! Now that I've lived it as well, I've found no problems, so long as I follow the plan. I guess your points about the different industries getting hurt from it may be true, but man - they are soooo wrong!

80% of your super market shelves are oaded with "non" food,(Cookies, cakes premixed horrors etc etc) These are there for one thing only... to make money for the manufacturers and are full of the cheapest fillers, trans fats sugars and refinned flours, the only food we Lc's don't eat. Just wish I was still living in the UK, I'd be there taking the fight to the news papers, so go to it guys and sock 'em with the truth.
Maybe, one of you could post the Times, Sun and other papaers email addresses, so we over here can contribute our imput!

oh ha..these are the people who made us overwieght in the first place.
They are in general very firm in their opinions.. I read in Dr. Sears book
the boss heading the USDA food program was following low-fat diet herself(Pritkin ?? SP) and her family.. guess what she imposed the same plane on us/world...

neeam