I promised to send this in when it came out and I just received Dr.
McDougall's latest newsletter. I am copy-and-pasting only the section as
related to the Atkins Diet...I am sorry about the length:

Atkins Diet Is As Good as Chemotherapy for Weight Loss

Research released Monday, November 18, 2002, at the annual scientific
meeting of the American Heart Association, showed that people on the Atkins
low-carbohydrate diet lost more weight and had better cholesterol and
triglyceride counts than people on a traditional Heart Association-approved
low-fat diet. The study was funded by the Dr. Robert C. Atkins Foundation, a
private nonprofit organization that funds research on carbohydrates and was
founded by the author of the Atkins diet. The study was conducted by Dr.
Eric Westman, an internist at Duke University's diet and fitness center.

Studied were 120 overweight volunteers, who were randomly assigned to the
Atkins diet or the Heart Association's Step 1 diet. The Atkins diet limits
carbohydrates to less than 20 grams a day, and has no limit on intake of
fats or cholesterol. The diet is mostly meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and
cheese. The Step 1 AHA diet is about 30% of energy (calories) from fat, 50
to 60% of energy from carbohydrate, 10 to 20% of energy from protein, and
less than 300 mg cholesterol per day. This is considered a well-balanced,
heart-healthy diet, and is not really intended for weight loss.

Here Are the Results (after six months):
•Thirty-one pounds lost on Atkins versus 20 pounds on an AHA low-fat
diet.
• HDL (good cholesterol), up 6 mg/dl with the Atkins, down 2
mg/dl with the AHA diet.
• LDL (bad cholesterol) - little change with
either diet.
• Triglycerides: down 49 % with the Atkins, down 22% with
the AHA.

So What Does This Prove?

The results of the new study by Dr. Westman are not published yet, so all I
have is the newspaper report. But Dr. Westman did publish results of
subjects who had been 6 months on the Atkins diet in the July 2002 issue of
the American Journal of Medicine (This study was also funded by Atkins).1
These results show:

Cholesterol: Down 11 mg/dl

LDL Cholesterol: Down 10 mg/dl

HDL cholesterol: Up 10 mg/dl

Triglycerides:
Down 56 mg/dl

Urinary Calcium:
Up 86 mg/24 hours (a contributor to kidney stones
and osteoporosis)

Symptomatic Adverse Effects:
68% reported constipation
63% reported bad breath
51% reported headaches

The AHA Diet Is Almost Useless:

The American Heart Association Diet is only slightly better than the
American diet and would not be expected to show impressive results. For
example, 22 physician practices from communities in Western Pennsylvania and
West Virginia treated a total of 450 adults with cholesterol levels in the
250 - 270 mg/dl range with the Step 1 AHA diet for 18 months.2 They showed a
5.4 mg/dl reduction in cholesterol levels in patients given usual care on
the AHA diet.

Comparing a useless diet (the AHA diet) to the Atkins diet proves nothing.
What they need to compare the Atkins diet with is a very
healthy, very-low fat, diet like ours. In 11 days we have shown an average
decrease of 29 mg/dl in subjects starting from similar levels of
cholesterol.

What an Independent Study Shows on Atkins:

The only study on adults ever performed which was independent of Atkins'
financial influence was published in September of 1980 in the Journal of the
American Dietetic Association.3 This study of 24 men and women for 12-weeks
(4 weeks on the strict Atkins diet) showed the following after 2 to 4 weeks
on the diet:

Cholesterol: Up 12.3 mg/dl in both men and women
Up 27.3 mg/dl in women
Up 1.6 mg/dl in men

LDL (bad) Cholesterol: Up 23 mg/dl for both men and women
Up 37.8 mg/dl for women
Up 11.6 mg/dl for men
HDL (good) cholesterol:
Down 2.9 mg/dl for both men and women
Down 6.7 mg/dl for women
Down 0.21 for men
Uric acid (kidney stones and gout):
Up 1.8 mg/dl[PARA]Free Fatty Acids (can cause arrhythmias):
Up 426 mEq/ml (nearly doubled)[PARA]Triglycerides:[PARA] Down 45
mg/dl in both men and women
After 8 weeks the average weight loss was nearly 17 pounds.

Therefore, in independent research supported from a grant from the
Washington Heart Association, cholesterol levels become worse with the meat,
cheese, and egg-laden Atkins diet - big surprise.

How Could Cholesterol Levels Improve by Eating Cholesterol?

How did Westman get the results all your friends are talking about? The
Atkins diet works by making people so sick that they eat less of all foods.
The primary mechanism for this approach is to produce a condition called
ketosis. In this state the appetite is suppressed and people eat less -
including less cholesterol and fat - than they were eating before going on
the diet.

Ketosis is a condition that occurs naturally when people become seriously
ill. It is an adaptive mechanism that allows the body to recuperate during
times of illness rather than being overwhelmed by a strong hunger drive,
forcing them to gather and prepare food. Because the Atkins diet takes
advantage of a state found with illness, I call this diet "the make yourself
sick diet."

Similar changes in body weight, cholesterol
and triglyceride levels also occur when people become ill for other reasons.
A classic example is cancer chemotherapy. Typically people on these toxic
medications become ill, lose their appetite, eat much less food, lose weight
and lower their cholesterol, blood sugars, and triglycerides. Therefore,
next time, in addition to testing Atkins' diet against a healthy plant based
diet; there should also be a control group on chemotherapy for a realistic
comparison.

Atkins Is the Saddam Hussein of the Diet Industry

How could anyone take seriously a diet program that served all that
cholesterol and fat-laden food and caused side effects like calcium loss,
constipation, bad breath, and headaches? Is it because people are so
desperate to lose weight they would do anything? Even sacrifice their
health? Look closely at people on the Atkins diet. They may lose a few
pounds but they look like "death warmed over." They have sallow
complexions, look tired and sickly. Would you expect otherwise? They are
sick from serious malnutrition.

And speaking of sick-looking people, before April of 2002 the founder of the
Atkins' diet, Robert C. Atkins, appeared grossly overweight. I would
estimate 60 pounds overweight - but it was hard to tell because he always
covered his protruding abdomen with a large coat. Since
April of 2002, when he suffered a cardiac arrest and nearly died from
cardiomyopathy, arrhythmias, and heart failure, he has been conspicuously
absent from public view. I call for an inspection of Dr. Atkins' health -
this is not an unreasonable request. Such a public figure is obliged to
make a public appearance - especially since recent reports of his diet
proclaim it is heart healthy. Unfortunately, he has become the "Saddam
Hussein of the diet world" - keeping potentially deadly secrets - the
consequences on his own health of following his own diet - from the public.
(See the June 2002 McDougall Newsletter to learn why I believe his own diet
contributed to his heart failure.)

So What Works for Losing Weight and
Gaining Health?

There is only one way to lose weight, to lower cholesterol, blood sugar,
blood pressure, triglycerides, uric acid and to become healthier (looking
and feeling healthy too) and that is by means of a low-fat, plant-based diet
(and some clean habits and exercise). I would put the results of our diet
up against any of the high protein gurus' recommendations, as well as the
recommendations of the Heart Association.

Those of you who follow such a program as ours should have no doubt about
the results of such a contest. Until such direct testing is done you can
rely upon thousands of research papers that show without any argument that
high protein diets are hazardous and a low-fat high carbohydrate diet is the
road to super health and lifelong weight loss.[PARA]References:

1) Westman E. Effect of 6-month adherence to a very low carbohydrate diet
program.[NL]Am J Med. 2002 Jul;113(1):30-6.

2) Caggiula AW. Cholesterol-lowering intervention program. Effect of the
step I diet in community office practices. Arch Intern Med. 1996 Jun
10;156(11):1205-13.[PARA]3) Larosa JC. Effects of high-protein,
low-carbohydrate dieting on plasma lipoproteins and body weight. J Am Diet
Assoc. 1980 Sep;77(3):264-70.[PARA]

2002 John McDougall All Rights Reserved


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Now guys, i know this guy must be wrong, if you have a decent rebuttle i'll reply to him in the next dojang digest and direct him to this website. Seems like he is a bit of a vegetarian....

Is this guy for real? I have been following Atkin's for 19 months now and I have never felt so great in my life!

Eat less food? 2000 calories a day less food? The guy is an idiot. I would comment on the rest of it but it would be a waste of my time. The guy should really go back to medical school and learn something. I think he slept through some of his classes. Mainly being objective when it comes to research.

Actually, I burst out laughing about the middle of it. Thanks for the chuckle!

I want to know what this guy is eating! Or drinking....or smoking!

no...please do not direct him here....last thing we need is someone bad mouthing everything we say and do!

Seriously....what are this guy's credentials?

Also:


Just what is his diet? Very low-fat, very healthy means high carb, does it not? Just what makes his diet different from the AHA diet?

And


huh?

The article was just fine until he started spouting opinion instead of fact with his comments on Atkins being the Saddam Hussein of the dieting industry and that people who follow Atkins looking like death warmed over.
I think if you stood me next to a couple of the vegans down at the health food store and asked people to pick who looked healthier overall, I'd be the one getting picked even though I'm still a good 40 lbs overweight. Why? Because I have a good complexion with some actual color in my face, good muscle tone, shiny hair and strong fingernails where all of them have no color in their faces and dull, lifeless looking hair. He must be confusing that "death warmed over" look with the low fat camp. People on Atkins lose a few pounds? Yeah...if you consider 75 pounds "a few". LOL

Dr. Atkins developed cardiomyopathy from a virus, not from his diet. He suffered a cardiac arrest because of that cardiomyopathy, not his diet. Results of the cardiac angiogram that he underwent following his cardiac arrest showed absolutely no plaque buildup in his coronary arteries. I have no idea where he got that heart failure comment from unless he's confusing congestive heart failure with cardiac arrest in which case I don't put a whole lot of stock in anything he says.

As for low fat/high carb being the only way to lose weight. Okay...I admit I lost weight on that type of diet. BUT...I was hungry all the time and all it got me eventually was my blood sugar, blood pressure and weight out of control because the increasing insulin resistance that it was causing. This is better than what I'm doing now? Umm....yeah...right.
After 19 months on low carb, I not only look and feel better than I have in years, I've ditched all medications for controlling blood sugar and blood pressure and now have normal levels on both counts without medication. BTW, I'm not following Atkins, but another plan similar to that, so the observations are just as valid. I've also never suffered from the nausea that he seems so sure that everyone following a low carb WOE suffers from, but I am free from the absolute dead-tired fatigue and nightly leg cramps that I was suffering from on that "other" diet.

As for the ADA study he quoted, I'm sure that he realizes that it's normal for cholesterol levels to rise for a short period (2-4 weeks, what a coincidence that's exactly the times that the participants' levels were checked) before falling again when weight loss is rapid and triglyceride levels drop dramatically, but I'm sure he wouldn't go out of his way to point that out since it completely negates his position that the Atkins diet is harmful and the longer-term Duke study showed that quite nicely.
He's also quite focused on cholesterol numbers in particular. I take it he's never read Ravsnkof's work called "The Cholesterol Myths" or that new thinking is that testing C-reactive protein is a much better indicator of future cardiac events than cholesterol?

"The only study on adults ever performed which was independent of Atkins'
financial influence was published in September of 1980 in the Journal of the
American Dietetic Association."

This is completely false. The AHA also recently funded a study which had very similar results to the Duke Study. It's just getting much less press than the other studies.

His comments on Ketosis are misleadingly slanted and do not give all the facts. Anyone who has gone more than 12 hours without eating has likely been in ketosis at some point. Illness isn't the only time you are in ketosis, either, unless he wishes to count pregnancy as an illness.

"How Could Cholesterol Levels Improve by Eating Cholesterol?"

I take it he doesn't understand the basic fact of biophysiology that the majority of the cholesterol in your bloodstream is made by your own body and that by eating less dietary cholesterol, you kick in your body's own cholesterol-producing factory which will likely produce LDL cholesterol. I also take it that he doesn't understand that lowered triglycerides and raised HDL are a good thing that you likely won't get with the diet that he's recommending? Okay...they got the total to drop 29 points in 11 days? That doesn't mean much. Let's hear what the individual numbers looked like. It's not an improvement if triglycerides went up or even stayed the same and HDL went down. If that was the case then the cardiac profile was actually worse, not better. As the saying goes.."The devil is in the details."

It's obvious where the bias of this article lies. Does this guy work for Ornish or PETA by chance? Sheesh!

The implication that the study was influenced by the fact that the money came from Atkins is, I'm sure, really ticking the Duke Docs off! This is one of the premier hospitals and research centers in the world!

Any reputable researcher (and being a Duke patient and former employee, I feel strongly that these docs are very reputable) would not be influenced by who sends the money! Scientists set out to prove AND disprove a theorey....not to placate the banker! That's what science is! You come up with a theorey, or hear about one, then you test it...over and over again....and what you try to do is find out if it's accurate. You don't try to prove it's accurate, you try to figure out if it's accurate!

Cindy

I remember reading an interesting anecdote on another forum about a dr that was doing surgery with the writers sister as his scrub nurse. He at one point stopped and said something to the effect of "this is another Damn Vegan, his tissue is mushy.. I can't stich it'..
She questioned him on it.. as she was of course.. Vegan. A Vegan by choice due to animal activisism more than dietary reasons. He said. I have done surgery all these years.. and VEgans are the ones that have body tissues to "mushy" to stitch up.
She at that point tried to add a little fish here and there in her diet.
I think Dr Schwarzbein follows the case history of someone on the Mcdougall plan. Its a very radical plan. The man in her case history did less and less well. including having more heart problems and disease on this "wonderful" diet.
She says constantly that she has looked for folks doing well on this way of Eating.. ( the mcdougall and others like it). She hasn't even seen one yet.

I haven't yet met a vegan that impresses me with how healthy they look to follow their lifestyle.
If it is for religious reason.. then I am behind them. But they still don't look very good to me. at least the ones I have had contact with.
Perhaps I am wrong.
Poofie!

People on Atkins lose a few pounds? Yeah...if you consider 75 pounds "a few". LOL

LisaN - Don'tcha know that 75 lbs was all water weight? LOL

PoofyD - That anecdote about mushy vegan tissue was kinda icky but really interesting. Thanks for posting it.

amie

"Seems like he is a bit of a vegetarian...."

Yeah, LOL, I would say so. McDougal is a very well known vegetarian. He must have a half dozen or so books out on the subject. That he would oppose low carb eating goes without saying.