By Alex Ginsberg
A recent study conducted by a doctor at Schneider Children's Hospital in New Hyde Park suggests that teenagers can lose more weight on the so-called Atkins Diet than on a standard low-fat diet.
“We found that the adolescents assigned to the Atkins Diet lost on average twice as much weight as the kids on the low fat diet,” said Dr. Marc Jacobson. “And they didn't do any harm to their cholesterol.”
Dr. Robert Atkins pioneered the now-popular diet that allows unlimited quantities of meat, fish and poultry while eliminating most carbohydrates. Long challenged by mainstream doctors, the Atkins Diet has only recently begun to be accepted by the medical establishment. Atkins himself died last month after he slipped and fell on an icy sidewalk near his office in Manhattan.
The study, conducted in conjunction with Mount Sinai Medical Center in Manhattan, examined 40 overweight adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17. Each was randomly assigned to either the Atkins Diet or the standard diet.
Jacobson said foods were divided into three categories for the subjects. “Green light” foods were permitted without limits, “yellow light” foods only in moderation and “red light” foods never. For example, steak was a “green light” selection for the Atkins group, but a “red light” selection for the standard group.
The subjects were examined every two weeks over a 12-week period. The study's findings were printed in the March 2003 issue of the Journal of Pediatrics.
The results were similar to findings recently published in two others studies, one at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center and the other undertaken at St. Louis' Washington University and Denver's University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. Those studies, which examined more subjects over a longer period of time, also found the Atkins Diet to be beneficial, but indicated that the greater advantage was in cholesterol reduction and cardiac health, with only marginal improvement in weight loss.
According to Jacobson, one drawback to the Atkins Diet was that subjects found it difficult to give up potato chips, pasta, French fries, rice and other foods rich in carbohydrates. Female subjects, Jacobson said, also had particular trouble adjusting their diets to include large amounts of meat.
The group on the standard diet also saw more improvement in their cholesterol, but no subject in either group was worse off than when he started, Jacobson said.
Although Jacobson believed the results were fairly conclusive, he said there was still some uncertainty as to how the Atkins Diet worked.
“We don't know exactly, but it probably works because reducing the carbohydrates causes a decrease in insulin secretion, which then promotes the burning of fat,” Jacobson said.
He added that the study should held lend credence to a regimen that has had difficulty gaining acceptance.
“The findings are important in the sense that many people have vilified the Atkins Diet and I don't think there's any scientific basis for that,” said Jacobson. “It may be a valid method of weight loss. It certainly is worthy of scientific study.”
Reach reporter Alex Ginsberg by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 157.
