Monday, Oct. 20, 2003 11 a.m. EDT

Atkins Diet Doesn't Work

link to article

The Atkins diet works - for a while. But as renowned junk science debunker and author of "Fat of the Land" Michael Fumento points out, it doesn't take all that long to regain the weight lost on the diet.

Fumento explains, in a recent op-ed piece published in papers around the country, that the Atkins and the similar "South Beach" diets "induce rapid weight loss in the first couple of weeks, because all low-carb diets promote quick water loss. Water is heavy, but it is not fat."

And in no time at all, dieters get tired of following the low-carbohydrate regimes and resume normal eating and the weight piles back on, as shown by a 12-month study in the May 22, 2003, New England Journal of Medicine.

As Fumento explains it, the late Dr. Atkins claimed: "Foods high on the hypoglycemic index, invariably carbohydrates, send sugar rushing into the bloodstream. The pancreas then shoots insulin like a fire hose to clear the sugar out of the blood and into the organs. But now that same insulin makes the body hunger for more sugar, creating a vicious cycle and causing obesity."

Not so, said University of Washington endocrinologist Michael Schwartz. He told Fumento, "There is no compelling evidence that in normal individuals day-to-day fluctuations of the blood glucose level are an important determinant of how much food is consumed."

Schwartz also wrote in the journal Science, "Although the concept that insulin triggers weight gain has little scientific merit, it remains a key selling point for advocates of diets that are low in carbohydrate and high in protein and fat."

Fumento challenges Atkins' belief that eating fats causes people to become satiated.

The literature on this is both voluminous and clear, Fumento says. "Fat and carbohydrates reduce hunger equally, although protein may have a slight edge."

If either the hyperinsulinemia or fat-satiety theories are true, Fumento explains, "it would certainly show up in the decades of studies comparing diets of varying fat and carbohydrate content."

But it doesn't.

He explains that the April 2001 Journal of the American Dietetic Association reviewed "all [such] studies identified," over 200 total. Conclusion: "Weight loss is independent of diet composition."

In other words, it's not what you eat - it's how much you eat.

Moreover, he writes, a recent review in the April 9, 2003, Journal of the American Medical Association found "insufficient evidence to conclude that lower-carbohydrate content is independently associated with greater weight loss compared with higher-carbohydrate content."

"Obesity experts who do publish such studies, including those directly comparing Atkins dieters to high-carb dieters, say Atkins works only because it excludes so much of what we normally consume that we end up eating fewer calories. But soon people get bored and repack the pounds," Fumento wrote.

Fumento concludes: "Only proper eating and exercise will cause permanent weight loss, as I and countless other former fatties can attest."

"Water is heavy, but it is not fat."

Oh my - so I lost 25 lbs of water? How upsetting.

"...the hypoglycemic index"



So there you have it, folks! The great lawyer (yes, lawyer, not doctor, nutritionist or biochemist) Micheal Fumento has spoken again! All of you who thought you've lost dozens or more of pounds of fat, you're wrong: it was water! All those times you've felt full, you're wrong: you're actually very hungry! LCing doesn't work - it just lessens your appetite, improves your blood sugar and nutrition, drops pounds, improves your lipid profile, and makes you feel fantastic - but it doesn't work.

I read some other stuff by Fumento a while back. I had always thought that this guy was just another diet book author trying to protect his point of view, but this guy is absolutely crackers. Amongst other things he said that the Atkins diet is a cult and no one had ever lost a large amount of weight on a low carb diet. And get this, those of you who visit forums like this and 'claim' to have lost weight are in reality working for the Atkins company.
The man is a sicko.

!!! Now you're telling me that my paycheque, which I believed was coming from the Canadian Armed Forces, is really from the Atkins company?!!! Lord, save us from this cruel conspiracy!!! Here I thought I was a success story, and it turns out that I'm still overweight, severely dehydrated, ravenously hungry and I'm on the payrole of Atkins Nutritionals!

I just want to point out two things from my experience...

1. Every other time I've lost weight (maybe 10 times since I was 18) I DID regain it within 12-18 months. After losing 36 pounds on Atkins 18 months ago, I've maintained the exact same weight by continuing to LC 6 days a week with very little effort. I have no doubt that as I continue I will NEVER regain it.

2. It is virtually universal that critics of LC always miss two facts in their diatribes:

a. Their description of Atkins is almost always an oversimiplified description of Induction alone...they always the miss the fact there are multiple stages and that maintenance is not really "eating bacon and eggs every morning and steaks for dinner every night".

b. They always describe the common notion of a simple, well-balanced, healthy diet as sufficient. They always neglect the possibility that losing weight requires different processes than maintaining a healthy weight.

Another issue in this article is the statement about "normal" people's blood sugar fluctuations. My belief (at least for me) is that, when it comes to blood sugar fluctuations, I (like many people here) am NOT normal. Presuming I was otherwise normal and just FAT is the mistake I made for too long before discovering LC>

HEY! I must be getting cheated! Who do I speak to about getting my paycheck? Give me a break - we are ALL in the employ of the Atkin's company?

Wow and I must be a living water balloon - I had no idea I could lose 31 pounds of water and still have a lot more to go. Heck with buying my kids toys for Christmas - I'll just let the kids toss me around - every kid loves a water balloon toss! Think of all the money I'll save!

Thanks for the laugh - I needed that!

So, far I have yet to give the Atkins company a cent. I haven't touched their food and my Atkins paperback was received as a gift. The meat, produce and dairy industries are doing pretty well by me.

WOW - I went from a size 12 to a size 5/6 and it was all water weight???? Who woulda thunk it??? Give me a break!

I don't care what kind of diet you're on. Low fat, low carb. Once you go back to your old eating habits you're going to put the weight back on. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out. Thats why ALL diet plans, low fat, low carb, whatever, are supposed to change your eating habits FOREVER! If someone has lost 20, 30, 50lbs. on a low fat plan, then goes back to eating big macs for lunch everyday and having ice cream sundaes for dessert-they're going to put the weight back on! DUH!

LC'ing DOES work. I'm living proof!

"in normal individuals day-to-day fluctuations of the blood glucose level are an important determinant of how much food is consumed."
Yup...I'm not normal.

"Normal"... Well...I guess that leaves out the estimated 1/3 plus of Americans that are estimated to be insulin resistant as well as the women with PCOS (an estimated 1 in 10) who are insulin resistant through that disease, the 60 some million Americans who are diabetic (and probably half as many again who are and don't know it yet). Gosh...it almost makes you wonder how many Americans fit the definition of "normal"?

Mr. Fumuento may not realize it, but with that quote he's actually agreeing with Dr. Atkins in that insulin spikes followed by blood sugar drops drive a lot of people to eat a lot of carbs, which makes them feel better for a while until the whole process repeats itself.

Atkins described the falling down sleepiness that I feel after a high carb lunch and the cravings that come from eating too many carbs..

No. I'm not imagining it..with Atkins the cravings are under control....no more running to the snack bar for carbs even though I'm not hungry..

It may be true that I'm eating fewer calories but I can only do that because the cravings are gone

Slimcat

I've read his stuff, too, and couldn't agree with you more. I think his mission in life is to bash Atkins. Too bad he can't focus on something that is a REAL problem...he could do us all a real service that way.