Study: Atkins Good for Cholesterol
DANIEL Q. HANEY, AP Medical Editor

CHICAGO (AP) - Multitudes swear by the high-fat, low-carbohydrate Atkins
diet, and now a carefully controlled study backs them up: Low-carb may
actually take off more weight than low-fat and may be surprisingly better
for cholesterol, too.



For years, the Atkins formula of sparing carbohydrates and loading up on
taboo fatty foods has been blasphemy to many in the health establishment,
who view it as a formula for cardiovascular ruin.


But now, some of the same researchers who long scoffed at the diet are
putting it to the test, and they say the results astonish them. Rather than
making cholesterol soar, as they feared, the diet actually appears to
improve it, and volunteers take off more weight.


Still, the number of overweight people studied this way is small, and the
research does not examine possible long-term ills or advantages, including
how long people keep the pounds off.

So for now, the researchers say that much more research is necessary before
the Atkins diet can be given an across-the-board endorsement, but at least
they believe it is safe enough to take into much larger studies.


At least three formal studies of the Atkins diet have been presented at
medical conferences over the past year, and all have reached similar
results. The latest, conducted by Dr. Eric Westman of Duke University, was
presented Monday at the annual scientific meeting of the American Heart
Association (news - web sites), long a stronghold of support for the
traditional low-fat approach.


Westman, an internist at Duke's diet and fitness center, said he decided to
study the Atkins approach because of concern over so many patients and
friends taking it up on their own. He approached the Robert C. Atkins
foundation in New York City to finance the research.


Westman studied 120 overweight volunteers, who were randomly assigned to the
Atkins diet or the heart association's Step 1 diet, a widely used low-fat
approach. On the Atkins diet, people limited their carbs to less than 20
grams a day, and 60 percent of their calories came from fat.


"It was high fat, off the scale," he said.


After six months, the people on the Atkins diet had lost 31 pounds, compared
with 20 pounds on the AHA diet, and more people stuck with the Atkins
regimen.


Total cholesterol fell slightly in both groups. However, those on the Atkins
diet had an 11 percent increase in HDL, the good cholesterol, and a 49
percent drop in triglycerides. On the AHA diet, HDL was unchanged, and
triglycerides dropped 22 percent. High triglycerides may raise the risk of
heart disease.

While the volunteers' total amounts of LDL, the bad cholesterol, did not
change much on either diet, there was evidence that it had shifted to a form
that may be less likely to clog the arteries.

"More study is necessary before such a diet can be recommended," Westman
said. "However, a concern about serum lipid (cholesterol) elevations should
not impede such research."

No single study is likely to change minds the issue, especially since an
initial weight loss is hard to maintain on any diet. Some answers could come
from a yearlong study being sponsored by the National Institutes of Health
(news - web sites). That experiment, being directed by Dr. Gary Foster of
the University of Pennsylvania, will test the Atkins diet on 360 patients.

In the meantime, the heart association's president, Dr. Robert Bonow of
Northwestern University, said the organization will reconsider the Atkins
diet as more research results become available.

"Having our top academic centers look at this is wonderful," he said. "We
are still dealing with small numbers of patients. We just need more data."

Dr. Sidney Smith, the heart association's research director, said it was a
surprise that the Atkins diet did not raise LDL cholesterol. "One small
study like this flies in the face of so much evidence. We can't change
dietary recommendations on the spot," he said.

Dr. Alice Lichtenstein, a nutrition expert at Tufts University, said she
thinks too much is made of the amounts of carbohydrates and fats in people's
diets as they try to shed weight.

"There is no magic combination of fat versus carbs versus protein," she
said. "It doesn't matter in the long run. The bottom line is calories,
calories, calories."

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