HDL cholesterol (good cholesterol) levels were up 11 percent at one year in the Atkins’ diet group, compared to an increase of only 1.6 percent on the conventional diet. Serum triglycerides declined an average of 17 percent after one year on the Atkins’ diet versus no significant change among conventional dieters. Part of that improvement may result from greater weight loss, but the changes in HDL cholesterol and triglycerides were greater than expected from moderate weight loss alone.

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Atkins’ dieters lose more and improve lipids over conventional dieters

For those of you who keep insisting the Atkins’ diet is a fraud or does not work… open your small, pre-programmed, indoctrinated, pea sized brains and learn something.

More evidence… you and the nutrition establishment are full sh*t not Atkins’.

[url]http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-05/wuso-adl051903.php[/url]

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woooooooooooooooooohooooooooooooooooooooo!
one starving lazy fatass is less unhealthy than another starving lazy fatass!  What a breakthrough!

Atkins Diet Bolstered by Two New Studies
Wed May 21,10:01 PM ET  Add Health - AP to My Yahoo!


By JANET McCONNAUGHEY, Associated Press Writer

A month after Dr. Robert C. Atkins' death, his much-ridiculed diet has received its most powerful scientific support yet: Two studies in one of medicine's most distinguished journals show it really does help people lose weight faster without raising their cholesterol.

 

The research, in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine (news - web sites), found that people on the high-protein, high-fat, low-carbohydrate Atkins diet lose twice as much weight over six months as those on the standard low-fat diet recommended by most major health organizations.


However, one of the studies found that the Atkins dieters regain much of the weight by the end of one year.


Atkins, who died April 17 at age 72 after falling and hitting his head on an icy sidewalk, lived to see several shorter studies that found, to researchers' great surprise, that his diet is effective and healthy in the short run.


Although those reports have been presented at medical conferences, none until now has been published in a top-tier journal. And one of the studies in the journal lasted a year, making it the longest one yet.


"For the last 20 years that I've been helping people lose weight, I've been trashing the Atkins diet — without any real data to rely on," said Dr. Michael Hamilton, an obesity researcher who was not part of either study. "Now we have some data to give us some guidance."


Now, he said, he would neither trash it nor endorse it. "I'm going to say I don't know. The evidence isn't in," he said.


One study ran six months and was conducted by the Veterans Affairs Department; the yearlong study was led by Gary D. Foster, who runs the weight-loss program at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.


Atkins' diet books have sold 15 million copies since the first one was published in 1972. From the start, doctors branded the Atkins diet foolish and dangerous, warning that the large amounts of beef and fat would lead to sky-high cholesterol levels.


In both studies, the Atkins dieters generally had better levels of "good" cholesterol and triglycerides, or fats in the blood. There was no difference in "bad" cholesterol or blood pressure.


Dr. Frederick F. Samaha of the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center, who led the VA study, said both studies indicate that people do lose more weight on Atkins, "but the difference is not great."


The 132 men and women in the VA study started out weighing an average of 286 pounds. After six months, those on the Atkins diet had lost an average of 12.8 pounds, those on the low-fat diet 4.2.


The other study involved 63 participants who weighed an average of 217 pounds at the start. After six months, the Atkins group lost 15.4 pounds, the group on the standard diet 7.


But at the end of a year, the Atkins dieters had regained about a third of the weight. Their net loss averaged 9.7 pounds. The low-fat dieters had regained about one-fifth of the weight, for a net loss of 5.5 pounds.


The year-end difference was not big enough to tell whether it was caused by the diets, Foster said.


About 40 percent of the patients dropped out of each study. And while supporters of the Atkins diet say it is easier to stick with, people on the Atkins regimen were just as likely to drop out as people on the standard diets.


The important finding, Foster said, is that the Atkins diet appears to be a healthy short-term way to lose weight. Nobody has studied it long enough to tell whether it is a healthy way to maintain that loss, he said.

Collette Heimowitz, director of education and research at Atkins Health and Medical Information Services, said people there were not surprised by the weight loss and improved cholesterol.

"But I'm thrilled that serious researchers are taking a hard look at the program, so that health care professionals and physicians would find comfort in offering Atkins as an alternative to the one-size-fits-all hypothesis of low-fat, low-calorie," she said.

The studies did not convince Kathleen Zelman, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association.

"There's never been any denying that low-carbohydrate, high-protein diets such as Atkins do, absolutely, cause weight loss," she said. "But do they hold up over time and can you stay on them over time?"

From Foster's study, it does not look like it, she said.

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I see nobody wants to debate the lazy part, good call.

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...and when my blood-sugar drops, I get cravings (for sugar, carbohydrates) and there is not a damn thing I can do, except to BINGE.  On Atkins' diet, I no longer binge.

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The Atkins diet advocates exercise dumbass.
It's just like any other diet that advocates exercise along with dieting.

Also, the last thing you do is starve on this diet.  I'm hardly ever hungry on this diet.  You're well informed aren't you?

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i did it hard core for a 3 months lost 15 lbs.. and limit the amount of carbs now... kept it off and feel awesome...

I guess Im stupid.

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The Atkins diet advocates exercise dumbass.
It's just like any other diet that advocates exercise along with dieting.

Also, the last thing you do is starve on this diet.  I'm hardly ever hungry on this diet.  You're well informed aren't you?

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Unfortunately, the long-term effects on your body organs are not yet known.  Atherosclerosis (fatty deposits on your arterial walls) as well as long-term ketotonic renal damage and wearing out of the liver due to increased bile production to digest lipids and an increase in the chances of permanent damage to your gall bladder are all potential problems over the long term.

It appears that the best solution to weight issues may just simply be to eat in moderation and exercise more.  Fad diets and drastic permanent changes in your diet (which is what Adkins is) will probably, in the long run, increase your risks of many health problems.

And I say this as a (budding) medical professional.

PS - great for you all that have lost weight.  But my suggestion is to now eat a moderate diet that includes all the major food groups and continue to exercise.  Don't take the chance of long-term organ damage by staying on this diet for more than 1 year.

from Dictionary.com
di·et1    ( P )  Pronunciation Key  (dt)
n.
1. The usual food and drink of a person or animal.
2. A regulated selection of foods, as for medical reasons or cosmetic weight loss.
3. Something used, enjoyed, or provided regularly: subsisted on a diet of detective novels during his vacation.

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Uh huh, and how many of those lard-asses that are "on the atkins DIET" are actually getting any excercise?
Anything that advertises itself as a "diet" is geared towards the lazy, period.
Balanced meals and excercise will get you more and better in the long run than any miracle cure.

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Another thing - Atkins diet has many stages.  While you are losing weight, you can figure out you maximum carbohydrate intake in order to maintain weight.  I find 50grams/day is about my maximum, but I WAS >800g/day!!! (easy to do)

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For the last 8 million years of our Hominid existence, our diet has consisted overwhelmingly of vegetable material.  This is the optimum diet for our body.  The Atkins diet is a complete perversion.  Anyone who stuffs mass quantities of meat and dairy into their body and expects to be healthy in the long run is a fool.

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The "hunters and gatherers" is relatively recent history, no more than probably 100,000 years ago.  I'm talking about the 8 million year history of our Hominid ancestors.  They didn't have the ability to make tools, and they didn't hunt animals.  They ate a diet that consisted overwhelmingly of vegetable material.

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There's the physical anthropology.  If you look at our teeth, we're clearly meant for a diet consisting overwhelmingly of vegetable material.

If you think your "canine" teeth are meant for "rending and tearing" flesh, then I'd like to invite you to do the following:  Go find a racoon and see how far you get trying to bite through it's thick hide and fur.

We may be omnivores, but we're really only opportunistic meat eaters.  Eating insects and scavaging opportunistically for small injured/dead animals.  Otherwise, we're 99% vegetable material.

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For the last 8 million years of our Hominid existence, our diet has consisted overwhelmingly of vegetable material.  This is the optimum diet for our body.  The Atkins diet is a complete perversion.  Anyone who stuffs mass quantities of meat and dairy into their body and expects to be healthy in the long run is a fool.

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"Humans are, and have always been, PREDATORS."

I don't believe that's true.  You have to consider our Hominid ancestors.  These were our distant ancestors, as far back as 8 million years, and they did not know how to make tools, and they did not hunt.  That's an  8 million year legacy of our bodies being adapted to a diet consisting overwhelmingly of vegetable material.

"Sure, we eat some plant matter, so do dogs and cats. Vegetarians have RUMINOID digestive systems, like sheep and cattle, that use the fermentive process for digestion. Carnivores, on the other hand, have a putrificative process for digestion. Want proof? How many stomaches does a sheep have? Does a cow have? and they have to eat CONSTANTLY to keep up with their physical needs. Carnivores have ONE STOMACH and they only have to fill it once or twice a day."

There are plenty of vegetarian animals that do not have a ruminoid digestive system.  There are plenty of vegetarian animals that have only 1 stomach.  For example, gorillas have 1 stomach with a putrification digestive system.  They also have very large scary teeth, but they are completely vegetarian.

"Vegetarianism is a lie that has been perpetrated on the masses by DU's who feel guilty about taking the lives of prey in order to survive."

I don't think politics is part of the debate.  At least it's not part of my thinking on the subject.