Atkins diet has passed the cholesterol test
The ‘experts’ who criticise these diets merely mimic the dogma of conventional medicine propagated by the American Medical Association and the British Dietetic Association.
What is most unfortunate about these uninformed opinions is that those who could benefit from a low-carbohydrate diet are misled.
Moreover, because of prejudices surrounding these diets, some people are reluctant to broach the subject with their doctor and begin the diet without first having the appropriate tests done to confirm that this treatment is safe for them.
While the American Medical Association views these diets as a formula for cardiovascular ruin, at least three formal studies carried out over the past few years have demonstrated that people on the Atkins diet not only lost weight, but they also saw a significant improvement in their cholesterol profile.
Despite the fact that a safe cardiac profile was demonstrated by the above mentioned studies, the American Medical Association will not support further research in this area.
There is no evidence to support the idea that such diets weaken the heart muscle.
We do know that cholesterol lowering drugs decrease the levels of COQ10, an important nutrient in the body that, as well as its other functions, is believed to strengthen heart muscle, improving cardiac function.
Obesity, along with type two diabetes, has reached epidemic proportions in the western world.
Foods labelled ‘low-fat’ are loaded with useless carbohydrates and are, in fact, major contributors to obesity and type two diabetes.
Foods which score high on the glycemic index are a major contributor to the diseases we see in society today, including obesity, heart disease, diabetes, stroke, arthritis and some cancers. There is no quick-fix or miracle diet and the low-carbohydrate diets do not convey this message. While Atkins-type diets are not necessarily for everyone, this should not preclude or prevent others from enjoying their numerous benefits.
Following the Atkins initial induction phase, certain carbohydrates (primarily those which score low on the glycemic index) in complex nutritious form are reintroduced, albeit at a lower level than the ‘pyramid formula’.
The main foods to avoid are those with refined carbohydrates in the form of processed foods and sugar which basically have no nutritious value.
Statements suggesting that this diet is dangerous and should be avoided prevent a potentially useful treatment from being added to the arsenal of methods available to combat the multitude of diet related diseases we are witnessing in the modern world.
Dr TEG Stewart,
Castleknock,
Dublin 15.
