Controversies
An analysis conducted by Forbes magazine found that the sample menu from the Atkins Nutritional Approach is one of the top five in the expense category of ten plans Forbes analyzed. This was due to the inclusion of recipes with some high cost ingredients such as lobster tails which were put in the book to demonstrate the variety of foods which could be consumed on the diet. The analysis showed the median average of the ten diets was approximately 50% higher, and Atkins 80% higher, than the American national average. The Atkins diet was less expensive than the Jenny Craig diet and more expensive than Weight Watchers.
Low-carbohydrate diets have been the subject of heated debate in medical circles for three decades. They are still controversial and only recently has any serious research supported some aspects of Atkins' claims, especially for short-term weight-loss (6 months or less). In a comparison study by Dansinger and colleagues (2005), the goal was to compare popular diets like Atkins, Ornish, Weight Watchers, and Zone for the amount of weight lost and a heart disease risk reduction. In the study there were 247 individuals and it lasted for 1 year. All the subjects were overweight at baseline, and had an increased risk for cardiac diseases. One of the diets was assigned to each person. The Atkins diet group ate 20g of CHO (carbohydrate) a day, with a gradual increase toward 50 g daily. But according to Table 2 of the study, increased to well over 130g after the second month and up do 190g by the sixth month. At this point, the Atkins diet group were eating carbohydrates equivalent to the other three groups. The Zone group ate a 40-30-30 % diet of carbohydrates, fats and proteins respectively. The Weight Watchers group was to keep the “points” of their food in a determined range, based on their weight. The Ornish group ate a vegetarian diet with 10% of calories coming from fats. The weight, waist size, blood pressure, and a blood sample were taken, at the beginning, after 2 months, 6 months and 12 months. All four diets resulted in weight loss with no significant difference between the diets.
But many in the scientific community also raise serious concerns:
- Dr. Robert Eckel of the American Heart Association says that high-protein, low-carbohydrate diets put people at risk of heart disease. A long term study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2006 found that while women on low-carb diets were generally healthier than those on high-carbohydrate diets, women eating more protein and fat from vegetable sources, rather than from animal sources, had a lower risk of heart disease.
- A 2001 scientific review conducted by Freedman et al. and published in the peer reviewed scientific journal Obesity Research concluded that low-carb dieters' initial advantage in weight loss was a result of increased water loss, and that after the initial period, low-carbohydrate diets produce similar fat loss to other diets with similar caloric intake.
- The May 2004 Annals of Internal Medicine study showed that "minor adverse effects" of diarrhea, general weakness, rashes and muscle cramps "were more frequent in the low-carbohydrate diet group".
- Concerns have been raised regarding consumption of high levels of protein in individuals with medical conditions such as kidney disease or gout.
Opponents of the diet also state that the initial weight loss upon starting the diet is a phenomenon common with most diets, and is due to reduction in stored glycogen and related water in muscles, not fat loss. They say that no evidence has surfaced that any diet will cause weight loss unless it reduces food energy (calories) below the maintenance level and that weight loss from the Atkins diet may be the result of less food energy being consumed by the dieter, rather than the lack of carbohydrates. They further point out that weight loss on fad diets, which typically restrict or prohibit certain foods, is often because the dieter has fewer food choices available.
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