How the Atkins Diet Fares in Cholesterol

Atkins-Like Diet Worse for Cholesterol Compared to South Beach, Ornish Diets, Study Says

By Salynn Boyles
WebMD Health News

Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

April 1, 2009 -- People who follow a low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet for weight maintenance, even for as little as a month, may worsen risk factors for heart disease compared to two other popular diets, a newly published study shows.

Researchers set out to compare the impact of the Atkins, South Beach, and Ornish diets on measurable risk factors for heart disease in people who were not overweight and were not trying to lose weight.

The idea was to examine the effects of the diets when they are used for weight maintenance and not weight loss.

Earlier this year, a widely reported study found that for weight loss, restricting calories is the key and that it matters little whether you count carbs, fat, or protein.

But the newly published research suggests that there are big differences in the diets in terms of effects on cardiovascular risk factors when followed by people who aren’t losing weight.

“If you are losing weight on a diet, that is probably beneficial for your health no matter which of these diets you follow,” lead researcher Michael Miller, MD, tells WebMD. “The question is, ‘Once someone has established a weight they are comfortable with, does it matter which diet they follow?’ And it appears that it does.”

Atkins, South Beach, and Ornish

The study included 18 healthy adults who were not overweight, who followed each of the three diets for one month, followed by a one-month "wash-out" period in which they ate normally. Caloric intake was increased during any phase of the study if a participant began to lose weight.

The low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet designed to approximate the first, and most extreme, phase of the Atkins diet included 50% of calories from fat and 22% to 38% of calories from saturated fat sources like meat, cheese, and other whole-fat dairy products, Miller tells WebMD.

During their month on the Mediterranean-based South Beach diet, study participants ate 30% of calories in the form of fat, but olive and other vegetable oils, nuts, lean meats, and fish were the main fat sources.

While on the low-fat, high-carbohydrate Ornish diet, 10% of calories came from fat.

The researchers conducted blood tests throughout the study to assess risk factors for heart disease, including LDL (bad) cholesterol, triglycerides, and C-reactive protein, which is a measure of inflammation in the body.

They also used ultrasound to study changes in blood vessels' flexibility -- specifically, their ability to widen to accommodate blood flow. Atherosclerosis, the hardening of the arteries, hinders that process and is associated with heart attack and stroke risk.

The study revealed that:

• While on the low-carb, high-fat diet, LDL cholesterol levels increased slightly, compared to decreases of about 12% and 17% respectively, during the South Beach and Ornish phases of the study.
• After a month on the Atkins-like diet, study participants showed less blood vessel flexibility than they did after a month on the Ornish diet.
• CRP levels remained in the normal range with all three diets, but levels went down slightly while participants were on the South Beach and Ornish diets and they went up slightly on the high-fat, low-carb diet, Miller tells WebMD.

The study appears in the April issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

The Dark Side of Vegetarianism

WEDNESDAY, April 1 (HealthDay News) -- Despite its proven health benefits, a vegetarian diet might in fact be masking an underlying eating disorder, new research suggests.

The study, in the April issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, found that twice as many teens and nearly double the number of young adults who had been vegetarians reported having used unhealthy means to control their weight, compared with those who had never been vegetarians. Those means included using diet pills, laxatives and diuretics and inducing vomiting to control weight.

There's a dark side to vegetarianism, said Dr. David L. Katz, director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University School of Medicine. He had no role in the research.

"Adolescent vegetarians [in the study] were more prone to disordered eating and outright eating disorders," Katz said. "This is not due to vegetarianism but the other way around: Adolescents struggling to control their diets and weight might opt for vegetarianism among other, less-healthful efforts."

Vegetarianism, or a mostly plant-based diet, can be recommended to all adolescents, Katz said. "But when adolescents opt for vegetarianism on their own, it is important to find out why because it may signal a cry for help, rather than the pursuit of health," he said.

Katz said he thinks a balanced vegetarian diet is among the most healthful of dietary patterns, and the study suggests some of the benefits.

"Adolescents practicing vegetarianism were less likely to be overweight than their omnivorous counterparts and, were the measures available, would likely have had better blood pressure and cholesterol, too," he said. "Eating mostly plants -- and even only plants -- is good for us, and certainly far better for health than the typical American diet."

The study's lead researcher, Ramona Robinson-O'Brien, an assistant professor in the Nutrition Department at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University in St. Joseph, Minn., agreed.

"The majority of adolescents and young adults today would benefit from improvements in dietary intake," she said. The study found, for instance, that the vegetarians among the participants generally were less likely to be overweight or obese.

"However, current vegetarians may be at increased risk for binge eating, while former vegetarians may be at increased risk for extreme unhealthful weight-control behaviors," she said. "Clinicians and nutrition professionals providing guidance to young vegetarians might consider the potential benefits associated with a healthful vegetarian diet, [but should] recognize the possibility of increased risk of disordered eating behaviors."

The researchers collected data on 2,516 teens and young adults who participated in a study called Project EAT-II: Eating Among Teens. They classified participants as current, former or never vegetarians and divided them into two age groups: teens (15 to 18) and young adults (19-23).

Each participant was questioned about binge eating, whether they felt a loss of control of their eating habits and whether they used any extreme weight-control behaviors.

About 21 percent of teens who had been vegetarians said they used unhealthy weight-control behaviors, compared with 10 percent of teens who had never been vegetarians. Among young adults, more former vegetarians (27 percent) had used such measures than current vegetarians (16 percent) or those who'd never been vegetarians (15 percent), the study found.

In addition, among teenagers, binge eating and loss of control over eating habits was reported by 21 percent of current and 16 percent of former vegetarians but only 4 percent of those who'd never followed a vegetarian diet. For young adults, more vegetarians (18 percent) said they engaged in binge eating with loss of control than did former vegetarians (9 percent) and those who were never vegetarians (5 percent), the study found.

Young adult vegetarians were less likely to be overweight or obese than were those who'd never been vegetarians. Among teens, the study found no statistically significant differences in weight.

"When guiding adolescent and young adult vegetarians in proper nutrition and meal planning, it is important to recognize the potential health benefits and risks associated with a vegetarian diet," Robinson-O'Brien said. "Furthermore, it may be beneficial to investigate an individual's motives for choosing a vegetarian diet and ask about their current and former vegetarian status when assessing risk for disordered eating behaviors."

More information-Go to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The new "New Thing."

ß-Alanine Supplementation does not Improve Performance of Body Composition After 10-weeks of Supplementation and Resistance Training.

Carnosine is a di-peptide which is synthesized in muscle and central nervous system tissue from histidine and ß-alanine. ß-alanine supplementation and/or resistance training has recently been linked to increases in muscle carnosine concentrations. It has been postulated that increases in carnosine improved buffering capacity which corresponds to improvements in anaerobic and aerobic exercise performance. Very few studies have examined the effects of ß-alanine supplementation coupled with resistance training on muscle carnosine concentration and performance. Therefore the aim of the present study was to examine a 10-week resistance training program coupled with the consumption of 6.4 g/day of ß-alanine. Twenty six physical education students were randomly divided into a ß-alanine and a placebo supplementation group. All subjects resistance trained four days per week for 10 weeks and took 6.4 g ß-alanine or placebo per day. Biopsies, performance, and body composition were assessed prior to and after the 10 week intervention. There were no significant increases in whole body strength between the ß-alanine(+19.67%) and the placebo treatments (+17.46). Additionally, no differences in isokinetic strength were noted between the ß-alanine (+12.1%) and the placebo (+12.6%). When body composition and body mass were examined there were no differences between the two treatments. The ß-alanine supplemented group did express higher muscle carnosine concentrations after the 10 weeks of supplementation when compared to the placebo treatment. Based upon these results it was concluded that supplementing the diet and training with Beta Alanine doesn't result in an ergogenic effect as indicated by muscle markers of muscle strength and changes in body composition.

Kendrick, IP, Harris, RC, Kim, HJ, Kim, CK, Dang, VH, Lam, TQ, Bui, TT, Smith, M, and Wise, JA. Amino Acids 34:547 – 554. 2008.

Weight Loss Products: Warning Expands

• FDA Warns About 72 Tainted Weight Loss Products By Miranda Hitti

  March 20, 2009 -- The FDA today expanded its list of tainted weight loss products that consumers shouldn't buy or use.

  In December the FDA warned about more than 25 weight loss products that contain undeclared, active pharmaceutical ingredients that may be risky.

  Now, that warning list includes 72 illegal weight loss products that the FDA wants consumers to avoid. Those products contain any of the following undeclared active pharmaceutical ingredients:

  fenproporex -- a controlled substance not approved for marketing in the U.S.
• fluoxetine -- an antidepressant available by prescription only
• bumetanide -- a potent diuretic available by prescription only
• furosemide -- a potent diuretic available by prescription only
• rimonabant -- a drug not approved for marketing in the U.S.
• cetilistat -- an experimental obesity drug not approved for marketing in the U.S.
• phenytoin -- an anti-seizure medication available by prescription only
• phenolphthalein -- a solution used in chemical experiments and a suspected cancer-causing agent that is not approved for marketing in the U.S.

The health risks posed by these products can be very serious and include high blood pressure, seizures, tachycardia (rapid heartbeat), palpitations, heart attack, and stroke.

Sibutram, a controlled substance, was found in many of these products at levels much higher than the maximum daily dosage for Meridia, the only FDA-approved drug product containing sibutramine. These higher levels of sibutramine can increase the incidence and severity of these health risks.

Fenproporex, another controlled substance, can cause arrhythmia (abnormal heart rhythm) and possible sudden death.

For the FDA's full list of all 72 tainted weight loss productsgo to: www.agapefitness.com/articles_news.php