Vanity3
Sat, Apr-24-04, 21:30
Is Low Carb Really Healthy?
UPDATED: 7:04 AM EST February 13, 2004
http://www.thewbalchannel.com/health/2839173/detail.html
BALTIMORE -- You've no doubt heard the latest debate over the low-carb Atkins diet.
The medical records of the late Dr. Robert Atkins were released earlier this week. They call into question the state of his health, when he died last year from a fall.
All this adds to the controversy of the increasingly popular diet. WBAL-TV 11 News Donna Hamilton has this special Health Alert.
The low-carb craze is everywhere -- restaurants, grocery stores, even fast-food outlets are counting carbs and pushing protein. Now one group is upping the ante by calling high-fat, high-protein diets -- the Atkins diet in particular -- downright dangerous.
LOW-CARB CONTROVERSY
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
Atkins Nutritionals
Tell Us Your Low-Carb Story
Dr. Neal Barnard is the president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. He says people haven't heard the full story.
"Yes, lots pf people are constipated, they have bad breath, their energy goes down, but those are minor complaints. One in 5 have heart problems, another 1 in 5 has kidney problems."
Dr. Barnard says that's what he hears from people who sign up on their Web site which asks people about bad reactions to Atkins.
53-year-old Jody Gorman was brought in from Florida by the physicians committee for this interview. Gorman blames Atkins for his heart problems. He started on the diet in May of 2000; he was on it for two and a half years.
"It worked wonders for me. I lost 10 pounds. I had literally stabilized my weight. I felt great."
Jody ate steak, Caesar salad, mayo, eggs -- no white flour of bread, or pasta, no sugar. He loved it.
"To me, it was perfect up until the end when I developed heart disease."
It was October 2003.
"I had a crushing type of pain in my chest just from walking."
An eventual angiogram showed a 99 percent blockage in one artery. Jody had received a CT heart scan about 6 months before beginning Atkins.
"It showed zero, no blockages no calcium buildup."
"I have a hard time with other physicians holding that up as credible science."
Dr. Stuart Trager is an orthopedic surgeon at Pennsylvania hospital in Philadelphia -- he's also the chairperson of the Atkins Physicians Council.
"I personally lost weight and followed this approach 4 years ago, when I wanted to get in shape and qualify for the Boston Marathon."
Dr. Trager says he was training harder and recovering more quickly on the diet. It made him more interested in the science of the Atkins approach. He takes exception to what he calls anecdotal evidence that the diet hurt someone.
"Where I'm troubled is a group like PCRM, a group of radical vegans trying to exploit their own agenda on heels of an obesity epidemic and taking advantage of individuals, using an anecdote to compare to real science."
Both sides do agree that long-term scientific studies need to be done to truly get to the bottom of this debate. In the meantime, you'll get this:
"Are health problems happening more frequently to people who are on this diet? We suspect that's exactly the case."
And this:
"People need real solutions that work for them in the real world, the benefit of Atkins is it works for real people in the real world."
And unfortunately it doesn't end there. According to government statistics, nearly two-thirds of all adults in this country are overweight.
Donna Hamilton, WBAL-TV 11 News.
UPDATED: 7:04 AM EST February 13, 2004
http://www.thewbalchannel.com/health/2839173/detail.html
BALTIMORE -- You've no doubt heard the latest debate over the low-carb Atkins diet.
The medical records of the late Dr. Robert Atkins were released earlier this week. They call into question the state of his health, when he died last year from a fall.
All this adds to the controversy of the increasingly popular diet. WBAL-TV 11 News Donna Hamilton has this special Health Alert.
The low-carb craze is everywhere -- restaurants, grocery stores, even fast-food outlets are counting carbs and pushing protein. Now one group is upping the ante by calling high-fat, high-protein diets -- the Atkins diet in particular -- downright dangerous.
LOW-CARB CONTROVERSY
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
Atkins Nutritionals
Tell Us Your Low-Carb Story
Dr. Neal Barnard is the president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. He says people haven't heard the full story.
"Yes, lots pf people are constipated, they have bad breath, their energy goes down, but those are minor complaints. One in 5 have heart problems, another 1 in 5 has kidney problems."
Dr. Barnard says that's what he hears from people who sign up on their Web site which asks people about bad reactions to Atkins.
53-year-old Jody Gorman was brought in from Florida by the physicians committee for this interview. Gorman blames Atkins for his heart problems. He started on the diet in May of 2000; he was on it for two and a half years.
"It worked wonders for me. I lost 10 pounds. I had literally stabilized my weight. I felt great."
Jody ate steak, Caesar salad, mayo, eggs -- no white flour of bread, or pasta, no sugar. He loved it.
"To me, it was perfect up until the end when I developed heart disease."
It was October 2003.
"I had a crushing type of pain in my chest just from walking."
An eventual angiogram showed a 99 percent blockage in one artery. Jody had received a CT heart scan about 6 months before beginning Atkins.
"It showed zero, no blockages no calcium buildup."
"I have a hard time with other physicians holding that up as credible science."
Dr. Stuart Trager is an orthopedic surgeon at Pennsylvania hospital in Philadelphia -- he's also the chairperson of the Atkins Physicians Council.
"I personally lost weight and followed this approach 4 years ago, when I wanted to get in shape and qualify for the Boston Marathon."
Dr. Trager says he was training harder and recovering more quickly on the diet. It made him more interested in the science of the Atkins approach. He takes exception to what he calls anecdotal evidence that the diet hurt someone.
"Where I'm troubled is a group like PCRM, a group of radical vegans trying to exploit their own agenda on heels of an obesity epidemic and taking advantage of individuals, using an anecdote to compare to real science."
Both sides do agree that long-term scientific studies need to be done to truly get to the bottom of this debate. In the meantime, you'll get this:
"Are health problems happening more frequently to people who are on this diet? We suspect that's exactly the case."
And this:
"People need real solutions that work for them in the real world, the benefit of Atkins is it works for real people in the real world."
And unfortunately it doesn't end there. According to government statistics, nearly two-thirds of all adults in this country are overweight.
Donna Hamilton, WBAL-TV 11 News.