Atkins: good for cholesterol

Low-carbohydrate diets are no more successful in the long-term than traditional low-fat plans, researchers have found.

But while devotees of regimes such as the Atkins diet find themselves no slimmer than the fat-free followers, they do reap one major benefit.

Researchers found they are left with much lower blood-fat levels.

Their findings fly in the face of critics' claims that the Atkins diet can cause cholesterol problems.

American scientists studied the weight loss of a group of obese patients.

While those on low-carb plans lost weight more quickly over the first six months, they failed to shed much more over the next six.

Those on low-fat, low-cholesterol diets continued to lose weight throughout the year. There was no difference over the full 12 months, with all dieters losing as much as 19lb each.

However, the low-carb group did see a greater reduction in blood fats.

Up to three million Britons follow the Atkins diet, which frowns on bread, rice, potatoes and pasta but allows unlimited amounts of meat, fish and eggs.

Experts have linked the regime to increased risks of heart disease, diabetes, kidney damage, gout, bone loss and stunted growth.

The Atkins diet is intended to change the body's chemistry by stopping its reliance on carbohydrates so that it will burn off more fat for energy instead.

But despite receiving the approval of celebrities such as Geri Halliwell and Jennifer Aniston, it has had to face claims that it is based on 'pseudo-science'.

In the latest research, scientists at Duke University Medical Centre in North Carolina asked 120 obese volunteers to follow either a low-carb, high-protein diet or a more traditional low-fat, low cholesterol diet.

After six months the Atkins-style dieters had lost an average of 26lb, compared with 14lb for those on low-fat diets, and had also lost more body fat.

Further benefits included increased levels of 'good' cholesterol - called HDL - which helps prevent clogging of the arteries and a reduction in blood fats linked to heart disease called triglycerides.

But a second study suggested that in the long-term the Atkins diet is no more effective in shedding weight than the traditional method of cutting out fatty foods.

Researchers at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Philadelphia split 132 obese patients into two groups, one of which followed a low-carb diet while the other stuck to a low-fat diet.

As with the other study, the Atkins-style group had lost more weight after six months.

But this time scientists continued to monitor body weight for a further six months and found that at this time there was no difference in results with both groups having lost anything up to 19lb.

The low-fat dieters had continued to lose weight after the first six months but those on a low-carb diet saw their weight remain steady in the second half of the study.

Dr Linda Stern, who led the Philadelphia study, said Atkins-style diets could be effective but more research was needed to see if they were safe and effective over longer periods of time.

Dr Walter Willett, from the Harvard School of Public Health, said lowcarbohydrate diets could 'no longer be dismissed' but warned people against choosing them as a quick fix to weight problems.

  • r.yapp@dailymail.co.uk

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