Atkins Nutritional Approach

The Atkins Nutritional Approach, popularly known as the Atkins Diet or just Atkins, is a way of looking at nutrition, perhaps the most marketed and well-known of the low-carbohydrate diets.

Criticism

Low-carbohydrate diets have been the subject of heated debate in medical circles for three decades http://www.lowcarb.ca/. 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).

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But many in the scientific community also raise serious concerns:

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• The National Weight Control Registry, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) tracked the habits of successful dieters over a longer term, 10 years. Despite this diet's overwhelming popularity compared to other diets, of the 5,000 Americans confirmed to have lost an average of 70 pounds (32 kg) and able to prove they have kept it off for at least 6 years of the decade of NIH’s data-keeping, less than 1% were confirmed to be Atkins adherents.
• Even in studies only one year long, this diet can fail to produce the greater weight-loss which is claimed to come from factors other than calorie-reduction such as ketosis: It was compared to dieters on Dean Ornish’s diet, Weight Watchers, and The Zone diet for 1 year. The Atkins Diet came last in terms of weight lost at the end of the year. (Dansinger, M.L., Gleason, J. L., Griffith, J.L., et al., "One Year Effectiveness of the Atkins, Ornish, Weight Watchers, and Zone Diets in Decreasing Body Weight and Heart Disease Risk", Presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 12 November 2003 in Orlando, Florida.)
• The May 2004 Annals of Internal Medicine study showed that Atkins Dieters had significantly more diarrhea, general weakness, rashes and muscle cramps. Atkins.com now suggests a fiber supplement.
• Also, acidity from the typically high protein intake can cause Osteoporosis (Feskanich D, Willett WC, Stampfer MJ, Colditz GA. Milk, dietary calcium, and bone fractures in women: a 12-year prospective study. Amer Jrnl Public Health 1997;87:992-7. See also follow-up in February, 2003 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Vol. 77, No. 2, 504-511); this includes 72,000+ people and 18 years of data. Cumming RG, Klineberg RJ. Case-control study of risk factors for hip fractures in the elderly. Amer Jrnl Epidemiology 1994;139:493-503.

With its emphasis on fatty foods, 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. Among those criticizing the healthiness of his diet, if not also skeptical of the claims of greater weight-loss than other, safer diets, are such reputable organizations as:

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a. “...the Atkins diet, as recommended, poses a serious threat to health.”

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