Atkins Diet Is Not Safe
Main Category: Nutrition / DietAlso Included In: Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness
Article Date: 20 Mar 2006 - 23:00 PDT
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The low-carbohydrate high-protein Atkins diet is not safe and should not be recommended for weight loss, state researchers in this week's issue of The Lancet.
In a Case Report Klaus-Dieter Lessnau (New York School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA) and colleagues describe a life-threatening complication of the Atkins diet in a 40-year-old obese woman. The patient, who had strictly followed the Atkins diet, was admitted to hospital for a condition called ketoacidosis. The condition occurs when dangerously high levels of acids called ketones build up in the blood. Ketones are produced in the liver during starvation. A low carbohydrate diet such as Atkins can lead to ketone production, state the authors.
Professor Lessnau concludes: "Our patient had an underlying ketosis caused by the Atkins diet and developed severe ketoacidosis, possibly when her oral intake was compromised from mild pancreatitis or gastroenteritis. This problem may become more recognised because this diet is becoming increasingly popular worldwide."
In an accompanying Comment Lyn Steffen (University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Minneapolis, MN, USA) states: "Low-carbohydrate diets for weight management are far from healthy, given their association with ketosis, constipation or diarrhoea, halitosis, headache, and general fatigue to name a few side-effects…As researchers and clinicians, our most important criterion should be indisputable safety, and low-carbohydrate diets currently fall short of this benchmark. Professional dietetic associations in the US, Australia, and Europe, emphasize eating healthy foods and being physically active." (Quote by e-mail; does not appear in published paper)
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Contact: Professor Klaus-Dieter Lessnau, Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine, NYU School of Medicine, 300 East 93rd Street #18B, New York NY 10128, USA. T) +1 212 434 2000 klessnau@pol.net
Comment: Dr Lyn Steffen, University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55454, USA. T) +1 (612)625-9307 steffen@epi.umn.edu
Contact: Joe Santangelo
j.santangelo@elsevier.com
Lancet
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MLA
14 Feb. 2012. <http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/39808.php>
APA
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/39808.php.
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Visitor Opinions In Chronological Order (3)
Kill Bob!
posted by Jane Watson on 28 Mar 2006 at 6:41 pmThe Atkins diet is safe - so find thousands of us who have followed a low-carb lifestyle for 3 decades. One case of ketoacidosis does not a study make. High carb diets (recommended by most health 'experts' over the last 30+ years) are arguably a significant contributory factor in obesity, diabetes, metabolic syndrome etc etc etc. Yes, the food industry will continue to fund research to prove sugar is good for us (and you will continue to publish it) but 'manufactured' food - not the food of our ancestors - is the 'unhealthy' option.
Check your facts
posted by Morten on 11 Aug 2010 at 7:03 pmIf this woman had actually bothered to read the book, she would have known to see a doctor and have her kidneys examined before starting the diet.
Also there seems to be some confusion between ketosis, which is a state you want to be in with the Atkins diet, and ketoacidosis, which is a very serious health condition.
In general, only people who can't read well, should be in danger. If you adhere to the advise of doctor Atkins, you would check your health with a doctor before starting the diet.
To see a professor and another medically trained person blaming the Atkins diet, when they should know better, is just sad.
Atkins IS Healthy!
posted by johnell taylor on 29 Apr 2011 at 7:25 amWhat could be more unhealthy than Obesity? With recent studies resulting in reports that people in Western societies are consuming more than twenty times as much sugar than they did in the 1800's is it any wonder that millions of new cases of obesity in the Western societies every year? Much of this sugar is hidden in foods that shouldn't, or doesn't NEED to, contain any at all - such as that found in salad dressings, for just one simple example. Manufacturers of refined foods are well aware that the consumption of sugars leads to further craving of sugars due to the fact that for the first half-hour after ingestion blood sugar levels start to rise, insulin is released which metabolises the excess blood sugar which then drives the resultant glucose in the bloodstream down to its normal limit, excess BS (blood sugar) continues to plummet resulting in hypoglycemia which will continue for the next two hours. The first thing you will notice is tiredness, & difficulty concentrating - and a craving for MORE sugars. The manufacturers of these foods KNOW you'll be back for more. So many studies have been completed now (just look on the internet!) that prove Dr Atkins' Nutritional Approach LOWERS bad cholesterol, blood pressure AND Triglycerides, and RAISES HDL (good cholesterol) ... So HOW can this be bad for you? People who pooh-pooh Atkins obviously haven't done their homework or just LIKE to have a howl. Used correctly, the Atkins approach has helped MILLIONS of obese people across the globe change their lives for the better - not just by losing weight, but by offering a solution to KEEPING IT OFF FOR LIFE. It is a Nutritional Lifestyle, NOT A DIET that you go on then come off when you'v reached your goal-weight - AND YOU NEVER need be hungry. We all know someone who has a cereal breakfast with a little fruit & skim milk, & munches a little 'rabbit-food' for lunch with a diet-cola, then heads to the gym straight after work...Where is he/she going to get the energy required to sustain the muscles they're trying to tone and sculpt, when what is actually happening is their muscle tissues ARE BEING BROKEN DOWN TO PROVIDE THAT ENERGY! Protein IS what's really required - it's not called 'The Body's Building-Blocks' for nothing! For the past 50 thousand years (that we KNOW of) man has been leading a hunter-gatherer lifestyle - meaning that the majority of sustenance has come from animal proteins and fats, with any carbohydrate supplement coming mainly from nuts, seeds, berries, grasses and the like. Only since the advent of agriculture (in the last 5-7 thousand years) have we had access to substantial quantities or varieties of carbohydrates in the form of farmed crops. Modern societies that consume the most carbohydrates are now the fattest because our bodies are simply NOT designed to eat in such a way. The Atkins approach to nutrition is a simple return to the way of our ancestors - a way that has worked very well because of the way our bodies are MEANT to function in the PROCESSING of food - Now, I'll ask again - HOW can THAT be bad for us? Ms. Johnell Taylor, Qld, Australia (Lost 17kg's of BODY FAT - NOT healthy muscle tissue or water - and KEPT IT OFF for five years, and my sister who was obese lost half her body weight in fat [67 kg's] in just 9 months 'doing Atkins' - Yeah, Lo-Carb nutrition must be really bad for you!)
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