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....