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The Atkins Nutritional Approach, popularly known as the Atkins Diet or just Atkins, is a fashionable but controversial high-protein, high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet. It was popularized by Dr. Robert Atkins (1930-2003) in a series of books, starting with Dr. Atkins' Diet Revolution in 1972. It has been astonishingly popular in recent times because of his revised book, Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution, in which he revised some of his ideas but remained largely faithful to the original concepts.
Atkins recommends restriction of the intake of carbohydrates in order to switch the body's metabolism from burning glucose to burning fat (chiefly stored fat). This process (called lipolysis) begins when the body enters the state of ketosis as a consequence of running out of carbohydrates to burn. Although Atkins claimed that ketosis helped the body burn fat more easily, nutritionalists are quick to point out that the body will burn stored fat for energy whenever the calories taken in are less than those burned.
For the first two weeks of the Atkins diet plan (called Induction), carbohydrate intake is limited to 20 net grams a day, meaning that protein and fat will, by necessity, form the bulk of the diet. Net carbohydrates can be calculated from a food source by substracting sugar alcohols (which are shown to have no effect on blood sugar level) and fiber from total carbohydrates. The dieters are encouraged to eat butter and cheese, to use hard fats when cooking, and to drink coffee with cream (although caffeine is outlawed and decaffeinated coffee intended as a substitute). Consumption of alcoholic beverages is discouraged as it temporarily halts the weight loss process until the liver finishes metabolising the alcohol.
In order to avoid health problems caused by vitamin and mineral deficiencies during this period, Atkins demands that vitamin and mineral supplements form an essential part of this phase of the diet.
The initial two week period is usually when many see the most significant weight loss - reports of losses up to six or eight pounds are not uncommon. Afterwards, carbohydrate intake is gradually increased until it reaches a level at which the dieter loses weight slowly and can reduce or eliminate the supplements. Once the target weight is reached, carbohydrate levels are again gradually increased until the dieter's weight becomes stable. Each of these carbohydrate levels varies from person to person, argues Atkins, and a one-size-fits-all approach simply won't work. To this end, Atkins advises the use of KetoStix, small chemically reactive strips used by diabetics. These let the dieter monitor when they enter the ketosis, or fat burning, phase.
Dr. Atkins argued that many eating disorders are the result of hyperinsulinism, or excessive secretion of insulin which comes through eating too many carbohydrates. According to Atkins, this causes food cravings and unstable blood sugar levels, which can cause mood swings, depression, and sleeping problems. Atkins claimed that his diet stabilizes insulin and blood sugar levels, eliminating cravings and often reducing appetite.
The Atkins Nutritional Approach seems to provoke extreme reactions, to the point where even just discussing it can be a problem. Dr. Samuel Klein, of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity, has reported encountering anger from academicians simply for daring to present data on the Atkins diet.
Low-carbohydrate diets have been the subject of heated debate in medical circles for three decades . They are still controversial and largely unproven by science - until recently, no serious research had been done on Atkins or other low carbohydrate diets. However, proponents cite anecdotal evidence which shows such diets help participants to lose weight.
Supporters claim the exclusive focus on reducing fat is oversimplified, and that low-fat diets are not automatically healthy ones. The western world is not suffering from a collective failure of will to exercise, but has been encouraged to eat more carbohydrates, which in turn stimulate appetite and more eating.
The recent rise in western obesity rates has coincided with a widespread belief in low-fat, high-carbohydrate as a healthy way of eating. By contrast traditional, high-fat French cooking has a lead to a much lower incidence of obesity, morbid obesity and chronic heart disease than in the high-sugar American diet, despite overall energy intake and exercise levels being the same.
A research study carried out by the Weight and Eating Disorders Program at the University of Pennsylvania, reported in May 2003 that the Atkins diet raised levels of HDL (or "good") cholesterol by an average of 11% and reduced the amount of triglycerides in the bloodstream by 17%. This counters one of the chief criticisms of Atkins' approach, which is that cholesterol is raised by eating fatty foods and meat.
In the study, conventional dieters' HDL cholesterol raised by only 1.6% while their triglyceride levels did not improve significantly. Weight loss was also statistically greater in the Atkins dieters after three and six months compared with the conventional dieters (although this did not remain statistically significant after a year). The study followed the diets of 63 obese men and women. (See New Scientist, May 21, 2003.)
There are reports indicating that studies have shown benefits for heart/stroke as well as diabetic patients, and that many experts are already discussing a low carb nutrition for diabetic patients who may then be able to live their lives without any insulin.
With its emphasis on fatty foods and meat, the Atkins diet has generally been considered by most medical and nutritional experts to be unsound. It also violates the food pyramid, which states that amounts of carbohydrates, protein and fats (in that order) must be regularly consumed to stay healthy. Some experts have even suggested Atkins' plan is quackery.
Opponents of the diet point out 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 claim that no evidence has surfaced that any diet will cause weight loss unless it reduces calories below the maintenance level. They further point out that weight loss on fad diets, which typically restrict or prohibit certain foods, is often due to the fact that the dieter has less food choices available.
Reports have also indicated that successful weight loss due to the Atkins diet may be the result of fewer calories being consumed by the dieter, rather than the lack of carbohydrates. It is true a diet of meat, cheese and other rich foods quickly becomes dull to many people, meaning that their appetite is somewhat naturally suppressed.
In addition, Atkins' claims that high carbohydrate diets cause overweight are contracticted by the fact that societies which treat carbohydrates as a staple, in particular countries in East Asia such as Japan, China and Thailand, where rice is often consumed at each meal and drinks and snacks are also made from the grain, often have remarkably low rates of obesity and overweight.
On May 27, 2004, Jody Gorran, a 53-year-old Florida businessman, filed a lawsuit against Atkins Nutritionals, Inc. and the estate of Dr. Robert Atkins, claiming that the Atkins diet regimen caused severe heart disease, making it necessary for him to undergo angioplasty. As of May 28, he has been seeking a court injunction banning Atkins Nutritionals from marketing its products without a warning of potential health risks, and asking for compensatory damages.
Dr. Robert Eckel of the American Heart Association says that high-protein, low-carbohydrate diets put people at risk for heart disease.
Atkins claims that ketosis produces a "metabolic advantage", although this view is controversial. According to the theory, in order to lose weight on the Atkins Diet, the body must enter ketosis. This is achieved in the induction period, during which the dieter consumes less than twenty grams of carbohydrates per diem; when the body is suddenly cut off from carbohydrates, it enters ketosis and begins burning body fat. This is the basis of the Atkins Diet, and, according to advocates, the reason why it works. Conventional dietary wisdom holds that your body will burn fat for energy any time the calories you consume are less than those you burn.
Thus, consuming low-carbohydrate products every now and then will probably not affect body weight, since simply limiting carbohydrates will not do anything unless:
Eating low-carbohydrate foods will not cause significant weight loss unless the above criteria are followed. Also, cutting carbohydrates is not equivalent to following the diet's guidelines.
This is in contrast to the South Beach Diet, which reduces carbohydrate intake but deliberately avoids inducing ketosis.
published 1999
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