A recent study of the controversial Atkins diet has concluded that the diet works, but simply because “people on [low-carb diets] are consuming less calories”. However, the study indicates that the diet also may not be unhealthy, as some critics have contended. A few snippets:
In the increasingly polarized battle over America’s bulge, counting calories trumps cutting carbohydrates, according to new research that debunks the nation’s hottest diet craze.
A sweeping analysis of studies dating back to the 1960s suggests people on low-carbohydrate regimens such as the Atkins diet lose weight merely because of the reduction of calories, not some miraculous metabolic process. […] “There’s nothing magical about carbohydrates,” said Dena Bravata, a Stanford University social science researcher and lead author of the study. “Low-carb diets are effective in the short run, but it’s because people on them are consuming less calories.”
The review, the first of its kind, appears in today’s issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. It analyzed 107 articles containing data on 3,268 participants.
[…] But Bravata’s analysis of all existing studies found little evidence exists on the efficacy and safety of low-carb diets. Only five of the studies evaluated diets lasting longer than 90 days, and Bravata said adverse effects may not have shown up within the short period of the studies. She noted that losing weight typically leads to an improvement in some heart disease risk levels.
[…] Emphasizing that there is insufficient evidence that the Atkins diet is safe or unsafe, Bravata acknowledged that people having success on it might continue it as long as they do so under monitoring by a doctor. She said that for some people, Atkins is clearly “an effective strategy.”
