Atkins Wins Diet Plan Faceoff

Low-Carb, High-Fat Regimen Beats Zone, Ornish And U.S. Diet Advice In Study, But Results Still Disappointing

(AP)  The low-carb, high-fat Atkins diet gets high marks in one of the biggest, longest head-to-head studies of popular weight-loss plans, beating the Zone, the Ornish diet and even U.S. guidelines.

Even so, critics say the results show how hard it is to lose weight and keep it off.

Overweight women on the Atkins plan lost more weight over a year than those on the low-carb Zone diet. And they had slightly better blood pressure and cholesterol readings than those on the Zone; the very low-fat, high-carb Ornish diet, and a low-fat, high-carb diet similar to U.S. government guidelines.

Stanford University researcher Christopher Gardner, the lead author, said the study shows that Atkins may be more healthful than critics contend.

But the study isn't a fair comparison because by the end, few women were following any of the diets very strictly, critics argue, although those in the Atkins group came the closest.

The study "had a good concept and incredibly pathetic execution," said Zone diet creator Barry Sears.

"It's a lot easier to follow a diet that tells you to eat bacon and brie than to eat predominantly fruits and vegetables," said Dr. Dean Ornish, creator of the Ornish diet.

Atkins followers lost about 10 pounds on average at 12 months, versus 3.5 pounds for the Zone dieters.

Women on the Ornish diet lost almost 5 pounds on average and those on the national guidelines plan lost almost 6 pounds. Scientifically, those 12-month results weren't different enough from the Atkins weight loss to rule out the possibility the differences occurred by chance.

The dieters lost the most weight early on, including an average of 13 pounds for the Atkins group at six months — nearly double the closest competitor, the national guidelines diet. After that, most began regaining weight, a trend most noticeable in the Atkins women.

With an average starting weight of about 189 pounds, even losing 13 pounds meant many women remained overweight.

"There's not a ton of weight loss here," Gardner acknowledged. Atkins "isn't the solution for the obesity problem," he said.

The study involved 311 women about 40 years old on average and was designed to measure the effectiveness of using a diet book to lose weight. Women were randomly assigned to read one of four diet books. They attended weekly classes for eight weeks where diet questions were addressed, but then were mostly on their own for the next 10 months.

[jebby_one]

what an irresponsible (so called) news report.

One's weight isn't the sole measure of being healthy or healthier. One can also lose weight by cutting off their arm. That probably wouldn't make them healthier, even though the resulting weight loss would likely be long lasting :)

No one knows the long term rsults of any of these fad diets. A high fat - low carb diet is contrary to generally accepted nutritional advice as extensively detailed in the supportive literature of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

[suziebach]

What about Weight Watchers? South Beach? LA Weight Loss? Not sure if these diets were studied as they are not mentioned, but, I would think they would be more popular than Ornish or The Zone...Ornish, never heard of that one.

[bc73750]

Ref: Early show nutritionist today on low carb study, Atkins came out on top.
Atkins critics need to at least read the book before they spout their preconceived ideas about the diet. It fixed my diabetes and helped me lose the weight. Only problem, you have to make this a way of living from now on. You cannot just lose a little weight and then go back to eating all the garbage that is put out as food in this country. By the way, low carbers get to eat all the healthy foods that God gave us. Green, orange, red veggies, eggs, real cheeses, meats, whole dairy products, berries, melons, nuts, apples. No processed stuff. Oops, my brain and nervous system still work perfectly alright.

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Sounds like the low fat, high carb that hasn't worked since McGovern used a Senate committee to say that fixes everything.

Thanks, Connie Weems, Kingfisher, OK