While I doubt Dr. Atkins himself would have approved, he’s out of the picture now, so can’t complain.  From the New York Times…

A small, four-week randomized controlled clinical trial that tested the new regimen found that overweight adults who consumed a high-protein, entirely vegan diet were able to lose about the same amount of weight as a comparison group of dieters on a high-carbohydrate, low-fat vegetarian dairy diet. But while those on the high-carbohydrate dairy diet experienced drops of 12 percent in their LDL cholesterol, those on the high protein vegan diet saw cholesterol reductions of 20 percent.

“We felt this was quite remarkable,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. David J. A. Jenkins, a professor of medicine and nutritional sciences at the University of Toronto and St. Michael’s Hospital. “The early statins reduced cholesterol by 30 percent,” he added, referring to the first generation of cholesterol-lowering statin drugs.

…Those in the “eco-Atkins” arm got their protein from vegan sources like soy, gluten or seitan, nuts and cereals as well as fruits, vegetables and vegetable oil.

Not sure I approve either, albeit for different reasons. As much as I love veggies, fruits and nuts, this doesn’t sound too appetizing.  It’s just a  little too stark for me.  In addition, eating only 60% of energy needs doesn’t leave much for exercise.

Nonetheless, whatever works, works.  It looks like most of the subjects were able to stick with it, which is really the important thing.  Vegetarians/vegans get short shrift in many popular diet plans, so it’s good to see studies like this… the more options people have, the better.

For those of you who don’t know any Yiddish, “chutzpah” is a word used to describe arrogant, brazen, shameless behavior.  My Mom used to use a lot of Yiddish expressions when I was growing up, so it was the first word I thought of as I examined a product site Paul linked me to: ”Right Size Online.”

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…according to a hot-off-the presses study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The Atkins diet may have proved itself after all: A low-carb diet and a Mediterranean-style regimen helped people lose more weight than a traditional low-fat diet in one of the longest and largest studies to compare the dueling weight-loss techniques…Average weight loss for those in the low-carb group was 10.3 pounds after two years. Those in the Mediterranean diet lost 10 pounds, and those on the low-fat regimen dropped 6.5.

More surprising were the measures of cholesterol. Critics have long acknowledged that an Atkins-style diet could help people lose weight but feared that over the long term, it may drive up cholesterol because it allows more fat.

But the low-carb approach seemed to trigger the most improvement in several cholesterol measures, including the ratio of total cholesterol to HDL, the “good” cholesterol. For example, someone with total cholesterol of 200 and an HDL of 50 would have a ratio of 4 to 1. The optimum ratio is 3.5 to 1, according to the American Heart Association.

Doctors see that ratio as a sign of a patient’s risk for hardening of the arteries. “You want that low,” Stampfer said.

The ratio declined by 20 percent in people on the low-carb diet, compared to 16 percent in those on the Mediterranean and 12 percent in low-fat dieters.

The full study can be found at the New England Journal of Medicine site.

A friend of mine recently shared her low carb dieting experience with me. Although she successfully lost weight on her program, she also experienced some nasty side effects, as a result of mercury toxicity. As detailed in this post, fish like tuna is often contaminated with heavy metals like mercury, and consumption should be limited accordingly. 

I asked her to put a post together to share her experience with you. So with no further comments, I’m handing the podium over…

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