Children on Atkins diet may not grow properly, warns dietician

PARENTS could harm their children by putting them on low carbohydrate diets such as Atkins, a dietician warned.

Dr Bruce Rengers, of St Louis University in Missouri, claimed that children on low-carb diets might not grow properly and could struggle in school.

He said such diets starved children of nutrients essential for proper development.

But a spokeswoman for Atkins Nutritionals called the doctor’s comments “incorrect and uninformed.”

After completing an academic review of research, Dr Rengers said: “If I were a parent, I’d want to give my kid every health advantage I could.

“I wouldn’t want to risk it by putting my child on a low-carbohydrate diet,” said Dr Rengers who is assistant professor of nutrition and dietetics at the university’s Doisy School of Allied Health Professions.

“They can’t sustain eating the way Atkins and other low-carbohydrate diets suggest. We should be teaching children to eat differently because they’re going to have to face the weight issue their whole life,” he said.

Atkins Nutritionals issued a statement “in response to the recent incorrect and uninformed statements” from Dr Rengers.

The statement, by Stephen Sondike, a nutritionist from Wisconsin Children’s Hospital and a member of the Atkins’ Physician Council, said: “It is obvious the traditional message that asks children to eat less of bad tasting food, which is similar to Dr Rengers’ recommendations, has done more harm than good, as paediatric obesity has increased by a factor of three.

“Dr Rengers states he’d like to give his children ‘every advantage he could,’ but would have them follow a failed philosophy which has been shown to increase overweight.”

Dr Sondike pointed out that the adolescents on the Atkins plan “eat more fruits, vegetables, and fibre than they did before they started the program.” He said Dr Rengers would be aware of that: “If he had read the (Atkins) book.”

But Dr Rengers said that when the body lacks carbohydrates it draws its energy from ketones, a by-product that comes from breaking down body fat.

“Ketones have a dulling effect on the brain. Low-carb diets work by fooling the body to think it’s starving,” he said.

He also warned that diets “stigmatised” children.

“If you’re putting a child into a starvation situation, they don’t grow as well and they are not as likely to do well in school,” he said.

“The child’s self-esteem may be damaged and he is more likely to eat out of stress.”

Instead, he suggested balanced, healthy meals and more exercise for children.