Are low carb diets a recipe for disaster?
Dr. Atkins’s diet has been at the heart of heated controversy in recent times.
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM, www.pcrm.org) reported that :”about 30 percent
of individuals on an Atkins diet experienced increases in LDL (“bad”) cholesterol of at least 10 percent in a study published May 18, 2004, in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Two study participants dropped out because of elevated cholesterol levels and a third developed chest pain and was subsequently diagnosed with coronary heart disease.”
High protein low carb recipes based diets such as Dr Atkins diet have been criticized by major health organizations including the American Heart Association, the American Dietetic Association, and the American Kidney Fund.
The Nutrition Committee of the Council on Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Metabolism of the American Heart Association states, “High-protein diets are not recommended because they restrict healthful foods that provide essential nutrients and do not provide the variety of foods needed to adequately meet nutritional needs. Individuals who follow these diets for a long period of time are therefore at risk for compromised vitamin and mineral intake, as well as potential cardiac, renal, bone, and liver abnormalities overall.”
The PCRM also says they have received more than 560 complaints of illnesses and fatalities allegedly related to Atkins-type diets – low carb recipes – through an on-line registry…including more than two dozen reports of potentially life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias and the reported death of a 16-year-old girl in Missouri who was following a low carb diet.
According to PCRM President Neal Barnard, M.D Atkins diet proponents “push dieters to avoid healthy foods, like rice, beans, and pasta, while ignoring the risks of high-cholesterol, high-fat meat and cheese. The idea that cholesterol and saturated fat don’t matter is a dangerous myth.”
In additon to CHD – coronary heart disease – Atkins diet has also been blamed for a number of other “atrocities”, such as: colon cancer, impaired kidney function, osteoporosis, complications of diabetes, and to cap it all: constipation,headache, bad breath, muscle cramps, diarrhea, general weakness.
In an article titled: “Low Carb Diet Truth – Why Atkin’s Low Carb Diet Doesn’t Work”, Keith Klein (www.ineedcarblo.com) notes that “Low carb diets don’t produce long-term results. These diets do not work, and are bad for the health.”
Also, “In the case of the low-carb diet, the down-side outweighs the up-side by a huge margin.
A problem that adds to the confusion is the simple fact that cutting back on carbohydrates works, at least for a quickdrop in body fat and body water.
The piece of the puzzle missing for most dieters is the long-term effects on the body due to such a drastic
reduction in carbohydrates.”
To solve the long-term effects problem, low-carb diets such as the South Beach Diet and the Atkins Diet introduce carbohydrates after the 14 days initial phase. After the first restrictive phase the diet plan allow participants to add more food choices to their daily diet.
But what does the other side say? As expected, we hear a totally different story. Read the pros to the Atkins Diet here.
