Group Cites Evidence Atkins Diet Dangerous

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Health - Reuters

 

Group Cites Evidence Atkins Diet Dangerous

Thu Nov 20, 2:49 PM ET Add Health - Reuters to My

 

 

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A nutrition advocacy group said on Thursday

the popular Atkins diet has caused heart disease and could have

killed a teen-age dieter and urged the U.S. government to monitor

the high-fat weight loss approach.

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The Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine stressed it could

not prove the diet hurt or killed anyone, but one dieter said he was

convinced the approach clogged his arteries and the parents of a

teen-ager who died while on the diet also blame her meat-heavy

regimen.

 

 

The PCRM called on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention (news - web sites) to monitor diet approaches and check

for evidence that the Atkins and other high-fat, high-protein diets

may be harming people's health.

 

 

" You can never say this diet caused this death, " PCRM director Dr.

Neal Barnard cautioned. That is why he said the CDC should monitor

large groups over time to see if there is an association.

 

 

The CDC had no immediate comment.

 

 

But Atkins Nutritionals, Inc. said its diet was safe. " There is no

logic and no science to support any association between these

individuals and the ANA (Atkins Nutritional Approach), " said Colette

Heimowitz, vice president of education and research for the company.

 

 

The Atkins diet has made headlines around the world with a radical

approach that flies in the face of most medical advice. First

published in 1972 by Dr. Robert Atkins, who died after a fall last

April, it is based on the theory that carbohydrates make people fat.

 

 

It encourages dieters to shun bread, pasta, fruit and many

vegetables in favor of meat, butter and other fatty food.

 

 

" What I contend is that the Atkins diet gave me heart disease, " Jody

Gorran, a 53-year-old Florida businessman, said at a news

conference. He said his arteries clogged and cholesterol shot up

while on the diet.

 

 

DEATH OF TEEN DIETER

 

 

Paul and Lisa Huskey of Columbia, Missouri, say their 16-year-old

daughter, Rachel, died of a heart arrhythmia in 2000 while on the

diet. Dr. Paul Robinson, a pediatrician at the hospital where Rachel

died, said the diet could have caused her death by leaching calcium

and potassium from her body.

 

 

Many doctors and the American Heart Association (news - web sites)

have warned that the diet could be dangerous. The Heart Association

advocates a diet based on whole grains, fruits and vegetables.

 

 

It warned that over time the Atkins diet and similar approaches

could raise cholesterol. Other experts have said it might also

increase the risk of kidney disease and the PCRM adds osteoporosis

and colon cancer to the list of risks.

 

 

The PCRM, which advocates a strict vegetarian diet, set up an online

registry at www.atkinsdietalert.org for people to offer complaints

about the diet.

 

 

Barnard said 188 people had logged on and complained of minor issues

such as bad breath, constipation and a lack of energy. But then the

complaints became more serious and included kidney, heart and

gallbladder problems.

 

 

" These are all the conditions that physicians warned would be likely

to occur in individuals on low-carbohydrate, high-protein, high-fat

diets, " Barnard said.

 

 

Doctors say anyone who loses weight will lower cholesterol in the

short term.

 

 

 

 

 

More than 60 percent of American adults ore overweight or obese so

the need for effective diets is clear.

 

" The skinniest people on the planet are vegetarians and Asians, "

Barnard said.