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An estimated three million people in the UK have triedAtkins-type diets - perhaps because they want tobelieve they are an easy road to weight loss. Butbeware - there are no long-term scientific studies tosupport the diet’s claims and many health expertsbelieve they are likely to damage health. In a recentsurvey of UK state-registered dietitians, over 97 percent condemned the Atkins Diet, saying it gave ‘baddietary advice’.

It isn’t rocket science - high protein, low carbohydrate(HPLC) diets contain higher-than-recommendedamounts of cholesterol, fat, saturated fat and proteinand very low levels of fibre and other importantnutrients. They encourage a lifestyle that is likely tocause obesity, heart disease and other chronic diseasesand directly contradict good health advice.

Atkins Diets PhilosophyAtkins-type diets consist of meat, chicken, fish, eggsand cheese with some green and salad vegetables,butter and oil. All carbohydrate-containing foods suchas fruit, many vegetables, bread, cereals, rice, potatoes,pasta, biscuits and sugar are avoided.

They are designed to induce ketosis, an abnormalmetabolic state that also occurs in uncontrolleddiabetes and starvation, where substances calledketones are released into the bloodstream. Althoughthis makes dieting easier because it lowers appetite, italso induces fatigue, dizziness, nausea, constipation, anunpleasant taste in the mouth and stale breath. Thereare even more serious long-term health implicationsresulting from ketosis, which may include calcium loss,increased risk of osteoporosis and a propensity to formkidney stones.

Initial weight loss can be impressive but it isn’t the resultof losing fat. It is largely because the body first uses upenergy from carbohydrates stored as glycogen in theliver and muscles. It can also be because of increasedwater loss during the early stages. Both are likely to bereplaced when you come off the diet. In fact, the weightloss on HPLC diets is nothing special and over a sixmonth period work at about the same rate as other diets- an average loss of one pound per week.

Don’t Blame Carbohydrates HPLC diets cast carbohydrate as the main dietaryvillain even though not all carbohydrates have thesame metabolic effect. It’s true that many people eattoo much highly-refined carbohydrate, such as sugar,white flour and white rice as these foods are absorbedquickly, causing blood sugar to rapidly peak, which inturn stimulates the pancreas to produce a large amountof insulin. Insulin lowers blood sugar but also

stimulates body cells toconvert excess energyinto fat.

It makes sense toreduce thesecarbohydrates butnot by turning tohigh-fat, meat-based foodsbecause they alsoprovoke an insulinrelease - in the case ofbeef and cheese, aneven bigger one thanwhite pasta.

Diets should focus on plant-based, complex carbohydratessuch as whole wheat, brownrice and fruits, vegetables,grains and legumes whichare naturally high in fibre.High-fibre foods are moreslowly absorbed and preventa rapid rise in blood sugar andthe resulting insulin release.They are also more filling andtherefore actually help weightloss, according to the WorldHealth Organisation (WHO).

It is a common misconception thatstarchy foods are fattening yet theycontain less then half the caloriesof fat, are nutritious and are an essential part of ahealthy diet. They’re so important that the WHOreckons they should constitute between a half andthree quarters of our total energy intake. Vegetariandiets, of course, are more likely to be rich incarbohydrates, which is one reason why vegetarianstend to be slimmer than meat eaters.

Mortgaging Your HealthThere has been little scientific assessment of the long-term effects of HPLC diets but there is a welter ofnutritional studies showing that animal-based dietsincrease the risk of degenerative diseases such as heartdisease, high blood pressure and diabetes. The reasonsare clear - too much fat, saturated fat, cholesterol andprotein and a lack of fibre and health-protectingnutrients such as antioxidant vitamins found only inplant-based foods.

Atkins-type diets promote unhealthy eating by actuallyrestricting how much of these important foods are

Far from being a healthy way to lose weight, Atkins-type diets are largelybased on ‘pseudo-science’ and can cause long term damage. CharliePowell explains why.

Atkins on Trial