ATKINS DIET BANNED

Aug 25 2003

Hospitals block new slimming craze Docs tell patients to stick to NHS grub

Simon Houston

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SCOTTISH hospitals are to ban the controversial Atkins diet from ward menus.

Patients will be told to forget the low- carbohydrate eating plan as long as they are under NHS care.

The high-protein diet allows meat, fish, eggs, cream, cheese and some vegetables while slashing carbohydrates such as bread and pasta.

It has been condemned as "pseudo- science" by the Government-funded Medical Research Council amid concerns that it could lead to serious health problems in some people.

And some hospitals say they will actively discourage any patient who says they are on the diet.

Nearly half of Scotland's 15 hospital trusts will refuse to cater for weight- watching patients who demand it.

Yesterday, a spokeswoman for North Glasgow University Hospitals Trust said: "We have a healthy eating policy which the Atkins diet doesn't sit comfortably with.

"We encourage patients to eat lots of fruit and vegetables and potatoes, which the Atkins diet bans.

"If someone came into one of our hospitals requesting the diet, we would take the matter to our dieticians who would advise them against it. It is not something we feel we could endorse.

"However we have had very few cases of people requesting the diet and know of no cases of patients refusing to follow our advice on the subject."

The Ayrshire and Arran Acute Hospitals Trust will also refuse to provide the Atkins diet to patients, saying their menus are nutritionally analysed by state registered dieticians.

And Dumfries and Galloway Acute Hospitals Trust won't recommend the diet for health reasons.

Others who won't make it available include Fife Acute Hospitals Trust, Forth Valley Acute Hospitals Trust, Grampian University Hospitals Trust, Highland Acute Hospitals Trust and Yorkhill Hospital Trust.

But at Tayside University Hospitals trust, a spokesman said that their dieticians would allow a patient to choose a low carbohydrate diet from the menu list if that was their choice.

And Lothian University Hospitals Trust said that they have a number of items to choose from on the menu, including a number of low carbohydrate options.

But Scots dietician Fiona Hinton of the Edinburgh Dietetic Centre said there were still lots of questions to be answered about the eating regime.

She said: "We do get a lot of questions about the diet, because there is so much attention and publicity surrounding it and a lot of people are interested.

"As a dietician, I'm certainly interested in some of the research going on into Atkins at the moment.

"But it's not something we'd recommend to people at the moment because of certain concerns we have - there is not enough research into the effects in the long term.

"There are also reservations about any diet which cuts out or reduces the intake of any particular food group so the effect on someone's intake of nutrients would give us a lot of concern."

And Dr David Ashton, from the Healthier Weight Centre in Birmingham, said: "The problem with the Atkins diet is that the consumption of saturated fat is so strongly associated with the development of heart and other diseases.

"We need much more scientific evidence before we could possibly think of recommending such a diet for large numbers of people."

CASE STUDY 1

Rachel, 16, died after losing 20lbs in six weeks

TEENAGER Rachel Huskey had been following the Atkins diet when she collapsed during a school history lesson and later died.

The 16-year-old, nicknamed "fat girl" by bullies, weighed 17stone when she went on the eating programme, losing 20lbs in six weeks.

But the brilliant pupil, of Missouri, died of arrhythmia, or a sudden irregular heart beat, in August 2000.

An autopsy showed she had been in good physical health and neither her heart nor other major organs were in any way abnormal.

An investigation by experts into Rachel's death found levels of potassium and calcium in her blood had been critically low.

Medics said the depletion of these essential electrolytes could have caused the "ventricular fibrillation" which killed her.

Dr Atkins recommended dietary supplements to counteract the possible loss of potassium, calcium and magnesium.

CASE STUDY 2

BEAUTY therapist Terri Craig is a firm believer in the Atkins diet.

The 41-year-old lost a stone and a half over six weeks on the plan.

But while she has been delighted with the change, she admits she was concerned by the health fears of some critics.

The married mother of two, of Crossford, in Lanarkshire, said: "I had heard about the risks and what experts had said but I was inspired when I saw a report on TV talking about the benefits for things like cholesterol.

"I was impressed and I discussed it with my doctor, who said she was neither for it or against it because the jury was still out.

"But she advised me to be careful and not stay on it for too long.

"I went on it for the first two weeks' induction phase and I stuck to it quite strictly. I lost one stone.

"I did suffer from headaches, which the book warns of, but I drank a lot of water and they went away.

"By the end of it, I felt great and I was amazed at how different I looked. Everyone I met commented on it and I was just so pleased. I then went on it for another four weeks - but I wasn't as strict and only lost another half stone.

"I was still impressed. That was several months ago and I haven't put any back on so far.

"I might do it again, but it is drastic so it's not for everyone. You have to make sure you don't over do it on the meat and eat plenty of veg as well.

"I would definitely give it the thumbs up."