Portland study weighs Atkins diet against the traditional low-fat approach
 

The diet debate

Portland study weighs controversial Atkins diet against the traditional low-fat approach

BY MARY BELLOTTI Issue date: 12/31/2002
The Tribune

Ursa Ficker lost 45 pounds in four months by following the controversial high-protein, low-carbohydrate Atkins diet. Though she sometimes craved popcorn and even carrot sticks, she says the diet was easy to follow — as long as she was losing weight.

Susan Downs extols the virtues of a high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet that allows a variety of foods in controlled portions. She lost about 10 pounds on such a diet and says it’s helped her learn healthier eating habits.

Both women are participating in a Portland study involving 25 volunteers who are comparing the protein-heavy Atkins diet with a more traditional regimen called DASH, an acronym for Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension. (The DASH diet was designed for people with high blood pressure but was adapted for the study as a weight-loss plan because of the variety of foods it allows.)

Thirteen people — five men and eight women, including Ficker — followed the Atkins diet; 12 volunteers — four men and eight women, including Downs — followed the DASH regimen.

The study is a collaboration between Kaiser Permanente’s Center for Health Research and Oregon Health & Science University’s General Clinical Research Center. Researchers are trying to determine if the high-in-fat Atkins diet is safe to follow over long periods of time.

“People were going on these low-carbohydrate diets in large numbers, and they were reporting feeling good and losing weight,” said Kaiser researcher Njeri (pronounced “Jeri”) Karanja, the study’s lead investigator.

“When we looked at the food composition (of the Atkins diet), it was contrary to what we generally recommend.”

Karanja’s collaborator on the project is registered dietitian Diane Stadler, an assistant professor in OHSU’s medical school. The two researchers are compiling the study’s findings, which should be available in March.

Though their results aren’t finalized, Karanja and Stadler, along with dieters Ficker and Downs, had some advice for people who intend to start a weight-loss diet after the holidays and might be considering Atkins.

All four recommended consulting a doctor or other health care provider before embarking on any diet.

Unlike more conventional low-fat diets, which have been scientifically tested, the Atkins diet is not nutritionally complete and should be “significantly supplemented with vitamins and minerals,” Stadler noted.

Finally, Atkins dieters in particular should ask for blood tests before starting the Atkins diet and at least once during the diet to monitor levels of cholesterol, triglycerides and other health markers.

Is it safe?
The National Institutes of Health provided $400,000 for Karanja and Stadler’s small-scale study. It is one of several around the country comparing the Atkins and high-carbohydrate diets.

The Atkins diet has been around since 1972, when Dr. Robert Atkins first developed a high-protein approach to weight loss.

Atkins reintroduced the diet in 1992, and it has been hugely popular since then. Its popularity attracted the attention of researchers, including Karanja and Stadler, who now are directly comparing the two approaches.

The Atkins diet received a boost last month when Duke University released a report showing that the high-protein regimen helped dieters lose weight quickly and even lowered their cholesterol and triglycerides.

But because Atkins is high in saturated fat, allows few high-fiber foods and eliminates most dairy products, researchers worry that it might lead to other health problems.

“That kind of diet, from past studies, may not be healthy for bones over the long term,” Karanja said. “Sometimes (too much) protein injures the kidneys. Maybe it doesn’t. We don’t know. Those are the things we need to look at.”

Volunteers in the Portland study followed their respective diets for 18 weeks. The researchers told them not to add exercise to their daily routine but to maintain their normal level of activity. They could drink as much or as little water as they wanted, Stadler said.

Every day, Ficker and others in the Atkins group ate as much as they wanted of such foods as eggs, cheese, meat, poultry and fats. They dined on quiche, bacon and even steak for breakfast, cheeseburgers and chicken with alfredo sauce for lunch, burgers and fish with butter sauce for dinner. Snacks included cheese sticks or pork rinds or celery sticks with cream cheese.

The dieters were following the first phase of the Atkins regimen, which largely excludes fruits, grains, sweets and other high-carbohydrate foods. Vegetables such as lettuce and cucumbers are allowed in limited amounts.

In three subsequent phases, carbohydrates are gradually added back as dieters reach their goals, but the bulk of the diet is protein.

In the DASH group, Downs and her fellow dieters ate the same number of calories as those in the Atkins group, but their meals were carefully portioned. Their menus included legumes, fruits, vegetables, grains and very few fats.

They ate cereal, toast and milk for breakfast; bean soup, garden burgers and tuna salad for lunch; pizza, spaghetti, beans and rice for dinner. Snacks included fruits, nuts and vegetables.

During the study, dieters had at least three blood tests to monitor levels of insulin, cholesterol, sugars and fats and to measure kidney function.

How did it go?

“I wasn’t worried at all (about health) because I knew I was being monitored,” said Ficker, who was on the Atkins diet. “That was part of the reason I agreed to do this diet.”

The diet worked well for a while. But after the study ended, Ficker stopped losing weight, and she’s not sure why. It was enough, though, to prompt her to quit the diet.

Ficker has since regained about 18 pounds but acknowledges that she “went back to eating the same way I had been” and did not start an exercise program.

Anyone considering the Atkins should know “it’s an all-or-nothing diet,” Ficker said. “It’s hard to start but easy to maintain. I was never hungry because protein is very filling, and fat is what makes you satisfied.”

Downs wanted to lose some weight while learning healthier eating habits. She was randomly chosen to follow the DASH diet, for which she is grateful.

“Carbs are the love of my life,” she said. “I have a bagel every morning, and I’m not a big meat eater.”

The hard part of following DASH was limiting portion sizes. At first, she felt hungry.

“After a while on the DASH diet, I didn’t eat as much, and now my portion sizes are what I got on the diet. For me, the diet was about a lifestyle change.”

Here are some other recommendations from the researchers:
• Find out as much as you can about Atkins or any other diets you want to start.
• No matter which diet you choose, be prepared to change your habits. “When you go on a diet for a short period of time, your chance of regaining weight is high unless you modify your lifestyle in a way you can continue for the rest of your life,” Stadler said. “Make changes not only in your diet but in your level of activity as well.”
Information about the Atkins diet is available online at www.atkinscenter.com. DASH diet details are at www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/hbp/dash/.

Contact Mary Bellotti at mbellotti~portlandtribune.com.

http://www.portlandtribune.com/viewcurr.cgi?id=15648

Did the researchers actually read the Atkins book before they told these people what to eat???

The only vegetable I saw in their list was the celery sticks as a snack! Holy smokes! :eek:

I feel very sorry for that woman if she can lose 40 pounds, have a stall, and drop the whole thing like a hot potato, or hot steak as the case may be! I wish I could talk to those people and let them know that it is normal. :(

:wave: Amber

Here's a whole new piece of idiocy from the 'experts'.

"But because Atkins is high in saturated fat, allows few high-fiber foods and eliminates most dairy products, researchers worry that it might lead to other health problems."

'eliminates most dairy products'??? Where do these people come up with this stuff? Frankly, the ignorance that the scientific and medical establishment shows when it comes to low carb nutrition has made me doubt all areas of scientific knowledge. I now take everything with an extra large grain of salt. If they can't understand a very simple way of eating, which is out there in millions of copies of Atkins and others' books, how can they possibly understand the really complicated questions? Sheesh!

How come you have to resort to name calling, just because some experts reported their research? i'm not being coy here,I"m as serious as can be. I don't know about the rest of you, but wouldn't you want to know the truth- if this diet IS bad for our health? I do and even though I enjoy the diet, I'm not going to be an ostrich with my head in the sand! There is another very informative article called:

Big Fat Lies
The Truth About the Atkins Diet (Acrobat 702kb)
http://www.cspinet.org/nah/index.htm

It's very good, it doesn't promote a low fat or low carb, rather it gives good info on both diets and concerns and lies we've been fed by the medical industry. It's really good - I don't know, I just think being informed is smart..sigh. I suppose this is going to tick some off and I'm sorry, but I don't know how some can be so ridiculous to constantly be calling names and slamming things that could very well affect their health. :confused:

I don't believe Turtle 2003 was calling names, but anyways, here is a link that you may enjoy.

Taubes response

Beth

Research truths....
 

Having worked at a University Medical Center for 25 years...I got to see first hand how "research" is oftentimes done...mainly depending on who is paying for the research. If you tell them what results you want/expect...they will find a way to give them to you.

Don't believe everything you read...

As the old saying goes, "Don't believe anything you hear, and only 1/2 of what you read." Sad...but too often true!!

Another saying, "The proof is in the pudding." Considering the way the medical profession has felt about Dr. Atkins for so many years, you can bet your last pound that if people had been "dying because of the diet" (as they call it), the headlines would be shrieking all over the world. It's only because it works that you haven't heard a lot about it in the general (controlled) media until recently. Many in the medical profession are loath to admit they were wrong...even when the evidence is overwhelming.

Paris:D

Very interesting. We should all read this carefully. A few comments:

Taubes is a well-respected, well-established science journalist, who has published in the prestgious publication "Science." He can't be dismissed glibly.

It is not unusual for a source to back away from quotes after realizing he's been too candid about a mainstream position. These low-fat authorities all have career stakes in the status quo.

Finally, the author of this article seems ignorant of the the work of the great fat-and-cholesterol debunker Uffe Ravnskov who shows (see this) that the studies purporting to support the fat-cholesterol-heart-disease hypothesis do no such thing. That goes for saturated fat too. See also Malcolm Kendrick's work.

As Taubes wrote in his Washington Post response, data that contradict the standard hypothesis mean more than yet another apparent confirmation. That's what good science would say, at any rate. But that valid principle goes by the wayside when millions of tax dollars for "research" are at stake.

Sheldon

There was a thread started on this forum a while ago about people who started low carbing because of the Taubes articles (I am one of them). The link to the thread is below:

http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthre...&threadid=75051

I just looked at the stats of the people on the thread, and they are impressive. Personally, I think Taubes probably saved my life.

However, I think we do need to keep an open mind. While low carbing may be the answer for some people, it may not be the answer for others. There are people posting on this forum who seem to be genuinely trying to follow Atkins or another plan with no success. The problem with so many of the experts is that they seem to think the same thing will work for all of us. Lowfat/high carb was a disaster for me, but I'm willing to believe it is the answer for some people. Why do the experts keep insisting that high fat/low carb is not the answer for me when my experience clearly shows otherwise? And no, it is not because I am bored by the food choices and therefore I am eating fewer calories. I was bored by the food choices for years on a lowfat regimen; I find the food choices available to me on Atkins to be much more palatable and interesting than the food choices that were available on Weight Watchers.

Ok, I read the article, big deal. It's the same old tired crap from the same sources. High cholesterol is terrible, saturated fats are terrible , the low carbers are wrong. What boy cow manure, these people apparently haven't read any of the research that has come out in the last couple of years. If the Atkins diet works? The American Heart Asoiciation did a study that showed it did, much to their dismay. And theirs isn't the only one that came out last year, there were 4.
Now you are not going to get any pro low carb stuff in the mainstream media, at least not without a lot of qualifiers. You have to do your own research, on this board and at www.lowcarbsuccess.net and go to research for starters. www.westonaprice.org has a lot of good info so does www.powerhealth.net. The information is out there.
One last thing that most of these "experts" ignore. Severely epileptic children are treated by a severe ketogenioc diet, much stricter than Atkins induction, to reduce the number and severity of their seizures. It has been proven very effective and is used in the united States and other countries. These developing children have shown no ill effects from this diet over several years. But the "experts" have doubts about whether Atkins is safe for adults. Boy, I sure admire their objectivity. Nyah Levi