March 20, 2001
Web posted at: 1:03 PM EST (1803 GMT)

By Elizabeth Cohen
CNN Medical Unit

ORLANDO, Florida (CNN) --
The American Heart Association has
drafted an advisory paper warning the
public about what it says are the dangers
of high-protein diets.

"They put people at risk for heart disease and we're really concerned about that,"
said Dr. Robert H. Eckel, senior author of the paper. "Long-term, the saturated
fat and cholesterol content of the diet will raise the ... bad cholesterol and
increase the risk for cardiovascular disease, particularly heart attacks."

Proponents of high-protein, low-carbohydrate diets, such as the Atkins diet,
promote them as a way of helping people lose weight and lower their cholesterol
while letting them eat unlimited amounts of red meat and high-fat dairy products.

Critics of high-protein diets acknowledge that
people do indeed lose weight, at least temporarily,
and as a result, cholesterol does drop -- again,
temporarily.

"But what I see after people have lost weight on
such a diet, then their weight stabilizes for a period of weeks or months and
often the cholesterol, particularly the bad cholesterol, now becomes more
elevated," said Eckel, professor of medicine at the University of Colorado Health
Sciences Center.

He said he has seen patients whose levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL), the
so-called bad cholesterol, have risen from 140 mg/dL to 220 mg/dL after they
lost weight on a high-protein diet. Any level over 130 mg/dL is considered
dangerous.

"That's an exaggerated case, but many people's LDL cholesterol goes up if they
remain on the diet after they've successfully lost the weight," Eckel said.

Eckel is chairman of the AHA's Nutrition Committee, which is writing the
advisory paper. He said the paper will be submitted to Circulation, the
association's journal, to be used as guidance for doctors advising patients.

The committee reviewed five high-protein diets: the Atkins diet, the Zone, Protein
Power, Sugar Busters and the Stillman diet.

According to Eckel, Protein Power has the highest fat content, with 54 percent
of total calories from fat. Atkins has the next highest, with 53 percent, and
Stillman, the Zone and Sugar Busters have 33 percent, 30 percent and 21 percent
respectively.

Colette Heimowitz, director of education and research for Atkins Health and
Medical Information Services, said if LDL cholesterol increases after weight loss
on the Atkins diet, it is because people aren't following the diet correctly.

Heimowitz said some people put too many carbohydrates back into their diets
after the two-week induction phase, rather than increase them slowly.

"If someone were to go on the induction phase, which is the first phase of the
diet, and go back to the old way of eating, which is a high-carbohydrate diet,
yes, they will gain their weight back and their cholesterol may go up," she said.

She also said the Atkins diet doesn't advocate eating only red meat and dairy
products -- it also tells people to eat chicken, fish and tofu, too.

At Tuesday's annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology in Orlando,
Dr. Robert Atkins is scheduled to debate his dietary nemesis, Dr. Dean Ornish,
who advocates a low-fat diet.

Sparks have flown before when the two doctors have debated -- once at a forum
sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and again at a meeting of the
American Dietetic Association -- but their discussion is expected to be
particularly acrimonious when the issue is heart disease.

Many nutritionists and cardiologists have become bitter over the popularity of
Dr. Atkins's diet.

quote:

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Originally posted by yiyangzhi:
I think one good thing that the Atkins diet did was to highlight that our diet is overwhelmingly consisting of refined carbohydrates, which lead to yo-yo spikes of our insulin levels, shutting down our fat-burning mode.

I still advocate a high protein, moderate carbos(fibrous/wholegrain)and low fat(mostly EFAs)diet. With ALA and ECA, my bodyfat dropped a few percentage points to 10%, and maintained my LBM. The only thing is my BP is elevated because my gear hasn't arrived and I can't wait to start my cycle!

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If you ate 100 grams per day of the healthy fats that I mentioned above, the effects on your health and your physique would be much different than if you got your fat from high cholesterol items such as egg yolks, whole milk, bacon, cheese, butter, etc.

And that's the bottom line....LOL

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