US Teen Dies After Following High-Protein Diet
28 minutes ago
By Dana Frisch
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Missouri doctors describe the case of an
apparently healthy 16-year-old girl who collapsed suddenly and died after
spending one to two weeks on a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet.
Electrolyte imbalances due to the diet, and the resulting damage to her
heart function, were likely responsible, the physicians who cared for her
report in a recent issue of the Southern Medical Journal. The girl had no
known illnesses or medical conditions.
The teen had low potassium and calcium levels when she arrived at the
University of Missouri Health Sciences Center, most likely as a consequence
of the diet, the doctors state in their report. This disrupted the normal
electrical function of her heart, leading it to stop and causing her to
collapse, they write.
Dietitians and proponents of the Atkins diet, one example of a
low-carbohydrate/high-protein diet, say that other weight-loss measures
including eating disorders like bulimia or the use of diuretics were far
more likely to have contributed to the low electrolyte levels found in the
teen's blood.
Dr. D. Paul Robinson, a co-author of the paper, said in an interview that
while there might be other explanations for the teen's death, including an
abnormal heart rhythm, interviews with her parents did not suggest that she
had a history of bulimia or diuretic use. Robinson is an assistant
professor of child health in the division of adolescent medicine at the
University of Missouri, Columbia.
"Most kids with eating disorders, even if they're able to hide the bulimia,
they're constantly talking about being fat or needing to lose weight and
exercise," Robinson said. "My indication, from what I understand of the
interview with this girl's family, is that none of these things were the
case."
Colette Heimowitz, director of education and research at Atkins Health and
Medical Information Services, told Reuters Health that the Atkins approach
has been used by millions of Americans for 30 years now, and there have
been no documented cases of serious reactions or fatalities.
"The actual dietary approaches or practices that this particular teenager
followed for days or weeks couldn't possibly account for what (the
physicians are) attributing it to," said Heimowitz. She noted that the
irregular chemical levels detected during the autopsy could be associated
with drugs emergency medical personnel and doctors administered to
resuscitate the teen, or with other weight-loss efforts.
Robinson disagrees. "I don't think there is any way the resuscitative drugs
would have affected (the teen's electrolytic balance)," he said, noting
that when the teen came in, she had low potassium levels.
Very high-protein/low-carbohydrate diets result in a condition called
ketosis. In ketosis, the body has used up its preferred fuel reserves,
glycogen derived from carbohydrates, and instead burns fat. This generates
substances called ketone bodies, which can be smelled in the breath.
Wahida Karmally, a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association, told
Reuters Health that these diets can cause muscle breakdown, weakness,
nausea and dehydration. They limit the intake of entire categories of food
that provide certain nutrients, such as potassium, she explained. "These
effects can happen right away," she said.
"It is a worrying set of circumstances when kids die suddenly," Robinson
said. "The whole point of writing the paper is to ask clinicians to keep
their eyes open. If kids come in with sudden death and they're on this kind
of diet, we really have to start paying more attention to it."
SOURCE: Southern Medical Journal 2002;95:1047-1049.
|
