Atkins diet link to winter gloom

CATHERINE LYST

INDIVIDUALS following the trendy Atkins diet could be more susceptible to depression this winter, according to a leading nutritionist.

The dieters’ lack of carbohydrate intake will lead to lower levels of seratonin, the "happy" chemical in their brains, according to Lorraine Perretta, a senior nutrition consultant.

"Carbohydrates don’t make seratonin but encourage the making if it," she said. "If people are cutting out carbohydrates they are more likely to suffer from depression.

"In a study of 50,000 people, those who ate a variety of foods were healthier and happier."

Ms Perretta, a senior consultant at mynutrition.co.uk and the author of a book called Brain Foods, was consulted for a study by McCain Foods, which produces a third of all chips worldwide.

However, registered nutritionist Dr Becky Lang said there was no evidence to back up the claim. "I think that’s one hell of a claim to make," she said.

"Seratonin levels do tend to be higher if you are eating a higher carb diet. However, there is no evidence to show that seratonin increases with certain diets.

"And mood is influenced by so many factors that the actual effects of diet are probably quite minimal. I’d be interested to see if the McCain study is published and what scientific evidence they have used to back up their claim.

"It’s possible this is a publicity thing to make people eat more carbohydrates, which I don’t think is a bad thing."

The claims were made yesterday, the official start of winter, and a time when the associated effects of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) begin to take effect.

Psychologists believe the contrasts between this year’s long, hot summer could have a pronounced affect on people’s moods.

Geoffrey Beattie, the psychologist famous for his appearances on Big Brother, said: "I think people will be struck by the contrast this year.

"It would be nice if the long, sunny summer could inoculate you against winter but I don’t think it works like that.

"About this time of year people are doing less and less and SAD affects sleep cycles, so people who suffer from it spend more time ruminating instead of exercising and interacting."

However, Dr Geoff Scobie, a senior psychologist at Glasgow University, believes the extra sunshine could have a positive impact. "If we’ve had a good summer we are likely to have built up some resistance to the limited light we get in the winter," he said.

"The problem we have is that we are not quite certain about the SAD symptoms.

"If it is related to the quality of light, people who spend most of their time in artificial light would tend to be more susceptible.

"And if it relates to the total amount of light we get during the year, then clearly we may have done rather better this year than previously.

"Monitoring people on the Atkins diet is a good experiment - if they all feel particularly bad this winter there must be some connection."

The Atkins diet encourages followers to eat high protein foods and cut out carbohydrates, such as potatoes, bread and pasta.

It has soared in popularity with endorsements from celebrities such as Renee Zellweger, Jennifer Aniston and Geri Halliwell.

However, some health experts are concerned about the diet’s long-term effects.

In August, Dr Susan Jebb, from the Medical Research Council’s Human Nutrition Research Centre in Cambridge, said it would be "negligent" to recommend the diet to anyone who was overweight.

Dr Jebb added that the claims made for the Atkins diet were based on "pseudo-science".

She argued that, despite a number of small studies, no-one knew what the long-term effects of the diet might be. But data gained from large diet investigations involving thousands of participants had set alarm bells ringing.

Dr Robert Atkins, who developed the diet in 1972, believed carbohydrates such as bread, pasta, rice and starchy vegetables, over-stimulated the production of insulin, resulting in hunger and weight gain.

But Dr Jebb said the diet was a leap in the dark because it meant such a dramatic change in eating habits.

Three million Britons are now on the controversial diet with, 7 per cent of British men and 10 per cent of women having tried it. In the past five years, four million Britons have tried it.

According to a recent poll, 85 per cent of those who have tried the Atkins diet believe it is effective, and almost 70 per cent would recommend it.

What a useless article. One quote by someone in the pocket of the frozen french fries industry and another in the pocket of the flour industry.

All of it is pure drivel. A waste of internet ressources. The words "according to a leading nutritionist..." have long stopped to inspire any sort of confidence in me.

Wow, the industries that rely on our overconsumption of carbs are really starting to panic, if their public relations campaigns are sounding like this. I almost feel sorry for them.

>>"yesterday, the official start of winter..."

Whuh? Aren't they a little early? It's December 22 on my calendar.

.....and Dr Susan Jebb, who keeps being quoted in such articles, has taken a significant research grant from that well known independent research body, the Flour Advisory Board (see Rustpot's post about it). So now tell me she's giving unbiased nutritional advice!!
I suffer from SAD anyway and have no evidence that low-carbing makes it worse. In fact, if anything, by reducing my blood sugar swings, low-carbing has stabilised my moods.
I used to eat carbs to produce 'happy serotonin'. Trouble is, the carbs made me fat and miserable.
Now I low-carb and exercise, use a light box and take 5-HTP for the SAD - I'm a much thinner and happier person.

As a person who does tend to have mood swings in the depressive area which are certainly affected by light and seasons, I will be glad to be the guinea pig on the depression issue.

Before I started Atkins I had become very depressed and was on anti-depressants, but after starting the diet, I got off of them and have been doing great ever since. So I think that the alleged seratonin depletion effect of low-carbing is absolute baloney.

In fact I started this diet in March (March can be a snowy month in Colorado--which it was, we got dumped with 3 feet of snow earlier this year), and noticed no particular increase in depressiveness related to the diet.

It's the SAD that can provoke the other SAD, methinks.

What's in a SAD? A junky processed carb by any other FDA name (like heart-healthy) would still be an empty sweet....

Actually, biochemistry would suggest that NOT eating carbs would be a good way to combat depression.
Aside from the whole blood sugar/mood swing issue, which is very real, there is the fact that anything you oversupply in your body reduces the amount your body makes.
If you supply a lot of carbs, which increases the amount of serotonin, then your body will not make serotonin without that carb prod. So you feel down, and eat more carbs to make your body make more serotonin, but without the carbs the body makes less serotonin and you eat more carbs...see?
When I studied the biochemistry of addiction, this was exactly the way it went. Alcohol or cocaine increases your endorphins, but without the drugs the body has less endorphins, so you take the drugs...round and round.
The only way to normalize the body is to reduce the substance that is throwing it out of whack. In this case, reducing the carbs.
It IS the carbs, stupid!
Personally, how do I feel, now that a friend this morning noticed my size 10's were baggy on me?
I feel GRRRRRRRRRRRRREAT!

They are obviously talking about the wrong way of eating.

"In a study of 50,000 people, those who ate a variety of foods were healthier and happier."

Well I eat vegetables, fruit, meat, poultry, fish, cheese, eggs, low carb pasta, low carb pasta sauce, low carb cereals, low carb chocolate, low carb beer, and so on.

Can't be talking about us!

"Monitoring people on the Atkins diet is a good experiment - if they all feel particularly bad this winter there must be some connection."


So they did not even do any study on LCers- just made up what they thought LC WOE is and speculated in a vacuum.

Well,

I used to suffer from bouts of depression and mood swings. Since I dumped the sugar and carbs I don't. Simple. I'm a much happier person now, even when bad things happen. I think suggesting lc causes SAD is BS!

I would like to ask Dr Susan Jebb and all the others with her opinion, Where is the evidence about the safety of the long term effects of a low fat high carb diet?

Here's a slightly revised version, just to illustrate how stupid that article is:

Actually, the effects of THIS diet are going to be very striking! I am SO much happier with MYSELF as a result of all the weight I'm losing, that somehow depression just doesn't even seem to be on the map!

I live in Las Vegas, Nevada where the sun shines about 320 days out of the year and I have never felt the effects of SAD. Except maybe when I realize how close Christmas has gotten and how much shopping I still have to do. Before I started this WOE I was not depressed but was probably less happy than I am now. I believe self confidence and generally felling good are much more significant contributing factors to happiness than diet or anything else.