Atkins hurts in long term

Health Beat

The Atkins Nutritional Approach, a relatively new way to lose weight fast, quickly has slimmed down a significant number of Americans. But, these temporarily thin dieters aren't aware of the adverse long-term effects such a diet has on the body.

The basic concept of the Atkins plan is to cut back on carbohydrates — the body's primary source of energy — and increase the protein intake. Doing this induces a change in metabolism, using the protein as fuel instead, according to www.atkinsdietresource.com. Some off-limit foods in the Atkins plan include bread and pastas, but also fruits and some vegetables because of their levels of carbohydrates. This is not a healthy way to eat, according to Michelle Cavoto, the University Health Center nutritionist.

"You would be hard pressed to find a health organization that will tell you, 'Don't eat your fruits and vegetables, 'which are an essential part of a healthy and balanced diet," Cavoto said. She worries that students who try the Atkins Diet don't realize that it is unrealistic to think they should never eat high-carbohydrate foods again. "It's not a long-term fix," she said. "Most people are never not going to eat bread again. It is an unnatural and unhealthy state of being for our body."

The Atkins Diet also does not "transition well," Cavoto said. When dieters are through with the program, they have to become more restrictive of what they eat to keep off the weight they already lost.

The Atkins Diet has been criticized because, in the long-term, it puts the body into a state of ketosis — where the body burns carbohydrates stored as fat. When there isn't enough glucose — which comes primarily from carbohydrates — in the bloodstream,fats have to be used as fuel. When the fats are used as fuel, they eventually will be converted to ketones. The danger in this process is that too many ketones in the blood cause the blood to be too acidic, according to www.atkinsdietalert.org.

A search of the Internet for ketosis brings many Atkins-friendly Web sites to claim that ketosis is not unhealthy.

However, Cavoto said protein also is being lost from the diet. Protein is one of the major components that helps muscle tissue to grow. Athletes who attempt the Atkins plan may notice a deterioration in their performance from of this loss of muscle mass.

Because the diet requires a high amount of protein intake, dieters often get a higher amount of fat, — especially saturated and trans fats — and cholesterol in their meals. Cavoto said that "we eat far too much protein in this country," which puts added stress on the liver, and adding high intakes of protein only make the situation worse.

Cavoto added that with a low-carb diet such as Atkins, most of the weight that is lost is water and muscle weight that quickly is regained once a person resumes eating normally. Rather than cutting out carbohydrates entirely, she recommends simply cutting back.

"Never, ever stay on any of the restrictive diets over two weeks," Cavoto said, and added that most people don't even last that long because excessive dieting of any kind will cause the blood sugar levels in the body to fluctuate radically, posing serious threat to vital organs.