Atkins Comes Out Tops

After taking a beating from numerous scientific and non-scientific ‘experts’, the Atkins diet has emerged as the best of other, higher-carb diets – quite effective, in fact. A study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association compared 4 diets in a randomized trial lasting 12 months. Over 300 overweight or obese women aged 20 to 50 were allocated to use the Atkins diet (very low carb), the Zone diet (low-carb), the LEARN diet (low-fat/high carb, following national dietary guidelines) and the Ornish diet (very high carb, very low fat). Participants attended weekly during the first 8 weeks for instruction and support, and were then supposed to remain on their diet for 10 months.

After one year women on the Atkins diet lost significantly more weight than those on the Zone diet, and more (but not statistically significantly more) than those on the other 2 diets. The average loss was 10.4 lbs for Atkins , 3.5 lbs for Zone, 5.7 lbs for LEARN, and 4.8 lbs for Ornish. And the lipid levels and insulin, glucose, and blood pressure for the Atkins dieters were comparable, or more favorable, that the other dieters.

This study, done at Stanford , California , was well-designed and conducted, and provides pretty clear-cut evidence. Atkins triumphed, and was found to be perfectly safe, confounding its critics. The important thing to remember, of course, is that with any diet, long-term success requires permanent alterations in energy intake and energy expenditure, regardless of the dietary content. Calories count!