Press Release Source: Atkins Health and Medical Information Services

Researchers Address Urgent Need for Long-Term Data On Nutritional Impact and Habits of Controlled Carbohydrate Lifestyles

Thursday March 20, 10:44 am ET

NEW YORK, March 20 /PRNewswire/ -- The first scientific tracking system designed to provide researchers with accurate data on controlled carbohydrate eating habits is now up and running on the Internet. The purpose of CCARBS (The Controlled Carbohydrate Assessment Registry Bank Study), is to investigate long-term weight variations, eating patterns and lifestyles of Americans who follow a controlled carbohydrate nutritional approach. This will be the first time that any medical facility has undertaken this task, applying rigorous scientific and objective methods rather than just collecting anecdotal and random information.

CCARBS will address many of the ongoing and long-term questions posed by the growing role of controlled carbohydrate weight-loss diets in obesity and obesity-related disease management. The study will also function as a unique source of ongoing data for qualified investigators and journalists seeking to answer specific hypotheses and questions. CCARBS is the first database to provide an accurate assessment of the controlled carbohydrate lifestyle population in the United States.

The research is being independently conducted at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and has been made possible though an unrestricted grant from The Dr. Robert C. Atkins Foundation.

"While controlled carbohydrate weight-loss diets (containing no more than 25 percent of energy as carbohydrates) have been popular with the general public for more than 30 years," explains Principal Investigator, Dr. CJ Segal-Isaacson, "little is known about the characteristics of people who use controlled carbohydrate diets to regulate their weight or their level of long-term success with weight maintenance.

"The purpose of CCARBS is to establish an Internet-based epidemiological cohort of dieters who are using or have used controlled carbohydrate diets. With the data we collect we plan to identify key lifestyle patterns associated with using controlled carbohydrate diets and predictors of success with using them. We will also be looking at the effect of controlled carbohydrate diets on cholesterol levels and other blood lipids in a subset of CCARBS participants and compare them to age and gender-matched people who use low-fat diets for weight control."

The eligibility criteria for becoming a participant in the CCARB study is:

1. To have been on a controlled carbohydrate diet for at least two months
within the past two years
2. To be 18 years or older
3. To be willing to answer questionnaires online for three years (at
baseline, three months and then annually for three years)


Controlled carbohydrate followers who are interested in participating in the study can simply log on to the CCARB Study website at http://epi.aecom.yu.edu/ccarbs, register, take the initial screening questionnaire and then follow instructions for participation.

Once accepted in the registry, CCARBS participants will receive, in addition to the satisfaction of contributing significantly to scientific knowledge about controlled carbohydrate diets, the following free services:

* Dietary analysis each time they complete questionnaires
* Access to a nutritionist to ask questions online
* Monthly newsletters on controlled carbohydrate topics and other

health-related topics
# Controlled carbohydrate recipes

Dr. CJ Segal-Isaacson, assistant clinical professor of epidemiology and population health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, has been a nutritionist in the field of weight control and eating disorders for more than two decades. Seeing the need for alternative weight control approaches, she began conducting research on controlled carbohydrate dieters three years ago. Over 6,000 people who had used controlled carbohydrate diets participated in her Low Carbohydrate Weight Loss Diet Study, the pilot study for CCARBS. The results of this study were presented at the most recent American Dietetic Association conference in October 2002.

Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University, established in 1955, is one of the nation's leading centers for medical research and education. It is consistently among the national leaders in terms of peer-reviewed research support; in fiscal 2001, Einstein received more than $120 million in research grants from the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Particular areas of research strength for which Einstein is widely renowned include: Alzheimer's disease, neuroscience, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, liver diseases, immunology and molecular genetics.


Source: Atkins Health and Medical Information Services

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