Atkins diet

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This was posted on another group so thought i'd share! :-)

 

Laura x

 

Atkins Diet Based On

'Pseudo Science'

By David Derbyshire

Science Correspondent

The Telegraph - UK

8-12-3

 

 

The controversial high-protein, low-carbohydrate Atkins diet is a

mass

experiment into public health based on " pseudo science " , a leading

nutritionist said yesterday.

 

Extreme " faddy " diets that cut out entire food groups were

unbalanced,

untested and could pose serious health problems, she warned.

 

It would be negligent to recommend the Atkins diet to anyone who was

overweight, said Dr Susan Jebb, of the Medical Research Council Human

Nutrition Research Centre, Cambridge.

 

Despite being derided by nutritionists for three decades, the Atkins

diet

has recently surged in popularity.

 

Dr Atkins's books outsell other non-fiction titles by three to one,

while

the diet has been endorsed by actresses Renee Zellweger, Minnie

Driver,

Jennifer Aniston and Catherine Zeta Jones and the singer Geri

Halliwell.

 

Atkins disciples are allowed unlimited proteins and fat but have to

cut

out carbohydrates such as bread, pasta and rice.

 

Dr Robert Atkins, who developed the diet in the 1960s, claimed that

carbohydrates overstimulate insulin production, triggering hunger and

weight gain. But Dr Jebb said the diet worked only because it reduced

calorie intake. Staying on it could be harmful in the long term.

 

Nutritionists are concerned that eating lots of protein could strain

the

kidneys and increase amounts of calcium excreted from the body,

affecting

bone growth and regeneration.

 

Studies have shown that people who eat most carbohydrates have less

heart

disease and that fibre found in carbohydrates may reduce bad

cholesterol

and reduce cancer risk, Dr Jebb said.

 

Carbohydrates were also the source of essential vitamins and plant

nutrients. Eating too much fat could double a woman's risk of breast

cancer.

 

Dr Jane Ogden, from King's College, who joined Dr Jebb at a briefing

at

the Royal Institution, London, said most of the benefits of the

Atkins

diet were in the mind. Its simple, clear rules, smattering of pseudo

science and the fact that it permitted tasty, high-fat food made it

popular.

 

But while the diet could be effective in the short term, like all

diets

it

was usually doomed to failure, she said.

 

The moment the body starts losing weight, it lowers the metabolic

rate

to

make it harder to shed further pounds. With any diet, about 60 per

cent

of

people lose weight in the first few weeks but over the next few years

95

to 99 per cent regain all the weight they lose, and many put on even

more.

 

" The reality of dieting is that you have to modify the behaviour that

you

have learned from being a baby, and that's extremely difficult, " Dr

Ogden

said.

 

© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2003.

 

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