The Atkins Diet
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The Atkins diet is a high-protein, high-fat diet, with very low carbohydrate intake (Willett and Skerrett, 2004, 44-48). It has been shown to work for weight loss over the short-term, but there are doubts about its ability to work over the long-term. It is difficult to adhere to such a low-carbohydrate regimen long-term. Two recent studies reported in the New England Journal of Medicine found that people on the Atkins diet lost twice as much weight over a six-month period as those on a standard low-fat diet recommended by most major health organizations (Two, 2003). About 40 percent of patients on each diet dropped out in both studies. However, one study, conducted by the Veterans Affairs Department, found that those on the Atkins diet regained much of the weight by the end of the year, at which time the difference in weight loss between the two groups was not significant. The weight lost by people on the Atkins diet was also relatively minor compared to their starting weight (Emery, 2003). The average starting weight for participants in the first study was 288 pounds, but the average weight loss was only 13 pounds. In the Veterans Affairs Study, the average starting weight was 217 pounds, but the average loss after one year was only 9.7 pounds. There are doubts about the credibility of any diet that recommends people can eat as much fat as they want (Willett and Skerrett, 2004, 44-48). Proponents of low-carbohydrate high-protein diets claim that thes
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ever, recent evidence has shown just the opposite is true (High-protein, 2001, 1-3). Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, and Brown University looked at data from the National Weight Control Registry, and at the outcomes of 3,000 people who have successfully lost at least 30 pounds, and have kept this weight off for at least one year. The registry has been active since 1995.
These researchers found that only 8 percent of the people who fit this criteria had diets which fell in line with the Atkins diet's most liberal carbohydrate allowance of 90 grams per day when they calculated the amounts of protein, carbohydrate, and fats in the diets of 2,700 registry members (High-protein, 2001, 1-3). Dr Atkins most stringent carbohydrate allowance is 25 grams per day. Most of the dieters studied were eating a high-carbohydrate diet with about 225 grams for a 1,500 calorie plan.
One researcher who was surprised to see so few Atkins plan dieters among the study participants said she wondered if the diet worked only for short-term weight loss, but was too hard to continue for several years down the road for most people (High-protein, 2001, 1-3). When inv
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Approximate Word count = 1491
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)
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