EvelynS
Sun, Aug-08-04, 04:17
This was in the Independent this morning:
Ten million of us are on diets. Now we will discover if it's a fat lot of good
Celebrities endorse it. Millions of us struggle with it. And doctors warn against it. Now, as part of its drive against obesity, the Government is launching an official investigation into the claims of Dr Atkins and his rivals in the £10bn British diet market
By Nicholas Pyke and Francis Elliott
08 August 2004
Ten million of us are on diets. Now we will discover if it's a fat lot of good
Leading article: When nanny knows best
The Government is preparing to launch the first official investigation into the Atkins diet as part of a major inquiry into Britain's epidemic of obesity.
The National Institute of Clinical Excellence (Nice) will next month convene a panel of up to 20 doctors, nutritionists and dieticians to evaluate "low-carb" diets such as the one pioneered by the American Dr Robert Atkins, and the multimillion-pound diet industry as a whole.
At any one time an estimated 10 million Britons are dieting, one in three following regimes that, like Atkins, cut out all carbohydrates such as bread and potatoes, a trend that has caused alarm in the medical profession. Atkins is known as a "bacon and eggs" diet, because it endorsesunlimited amounts of fat, meat and protein, despite the risks associated with an unbalanced diet.
The inquiry into the prevention and management of obesity in England and Wales is the largest yet undertaken by Nice, which will work alongside the Health Development Agency on the project. Thousands of people, including singer Robbie Williams and actress Jennifer Aniston, say they have benefited from the Atkins approach. Celebrity backing has made the diet famous worldwide.
But Atkins has run into hostility from the medical profession. Britain's top nutritionist, Dr Susan Jebb, has condemned the theory behind Atkins as "nonsense". People lose weight using the diet, she said, because they eat less not because, as it has been claimed, Atkins dieters burn fat more efficiently. Dr Jebb, head of nutrition at the Medical Research Council, is one of many to criticise the Atkins diet as an unknown risk because there is no evidence about its long-term effects.
One study claimed that a low-carb diet could reduce women's chances of becoming pregnant. There are also concerns that high-protein diets may be linked to kidney problems, while eating carbohydrates could help reduce cholesterol and lower the risk of heart disease as well as improving digestive function and cutting the risks of bowel cancer.
There was further criticism, and some black humour, when it emerged that the founder of the diet, Dr Atkins, who died after slipping on a New York pavement in 2003, weighed a clinically obese 18 stone at the time of his death. A spokeswoman for Atkins rejected the criticism: "The Atkins Nutritional Approach is a scientifically validated strategy for weight control and good health based upon controlling carbohydrates. Currently 33 studies support and more than 700 published, peer-reviewed studies support the concepts underlying it.There is no convincing clinical evidence to suggest that it has any adverse effects on health."
Ministers are shocked by the increasing scale of obesity, and by a recent hard-hitting report from the Commons Select Committee on Health. It criticised ministers for failing to address the problem. Obesity has grown by almost 400 per cent in 25 years, with three-quarters of adults now overweight or obese. Childhood obesity has trebled in 20 years.
The inquiry, which will publish its draft findings in a year, will influence doctors' choice of treatment for overweight patients. News of the study has provoked a storm of lobbying from diet companies, including Atkins, and patients' groups. Low-fat diets, slimming clubs and "meal replacements" will also be assessed. Atkins has sent documents to the Department of Health, pressing its case that its dietary approach is safe and effective, and it will be one of more than 150 "stakeholders" consulted as part of the inquiry.
Atkins Health and Medical Information Services was recently given favourable publicity in a parliamentary question from the crossbench peer the Countess of Mar, who pointed to evidence of the diet's benefits. Nice last month agreed the "final scope" for the inquiry. The formal evaluations of the evidence will begin next month.
Meanwhile the diet business is booming. Britons spent around £10bn on diet books, magazines, food supplements and pills last year. Sales of potatoes fell by 4.5 per cent.
Dr Atkins published his first diet book in America in 1972, but it is only in recent years that his diet has become a global brand. Britain is the second biggest market after the US, followed by Japan and pasta-loving Italy.
The privately owned Atkins company last year launched its own branded food range to accompany the diet books. It is shy about revealing its profits, but admits that sales now run into hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Turnover is thought to be around £60m.
But the Atkins diet may have had its day. It has recently been rivalled in popularity by the South Beach diet, devised by the Miami cardiologist Dr Arthur Agatston. The South Beach Diet book, which has sold more than seven million copies worldwide, offers a more complex picture than the Atkins diet by suggesting that some carbohydrates are better for the body than others.
Additional reporting by Tanya Angerer
Ten million of us are on diets. Now we will discover if it's a fat lot of good
Celebrities endorse it. Millions of us struggle with it. And doctors warn against it. Now, as part of its drive against obesity, the Government is launching an official investigation into the claims of Dr Atkins and his rivals in the £10bn British diet market
By Nicholas Pyke and Francis Elliott
08 August 2004
Ten million of us are on diets. Now we will discover if it's a fat lot of good
Leading article: When nanny knows best
The Government is preparing to launch the first official investigation into the Atkins diet as part of a major inquiry into Britain's epidemic of obesity.
The National Institute of Clinical Excellence (Nice) will next month convene a panel of up to 20 doctors, nutritionists and dieticians to evaluate "low-carb" diets such as the one pioneered by the American Dr Robert Atkins, and the multimillion-pound diet industry as a whole.
At any one time an estimated 10 million Britons are dieting, one in three following regimes that, like Atkins, cut out all carbohydrates such as bread and potatoes, a trend that has caused alarm in the medical profession. Atkins is known as a "bacon and eggs" diet, because it endorsesunlimited amounts of fat, meat and protein, despite the risks associated with an unbalanced diet.
The inquiry into the prevention and management of obesity in England and Wales is the largest yet undertaken by Nice, which will work alongside the Health Development Agency on the project. Thousands of people, including singer Robbie Williams and actress Jennifer Aniston, say they have benefited from the Atkins approach. Celebrity backing has made the diet famous worldwide.
But Atkins has run into hostility from the medical profession. Britain's top nutritionist, Dr Susan Jebb, has condemned the theory behind Atkins as "nonsense". People lose weight using the diet, she said, because they eat less not because, as it has been claimed, Atkins dieters burn fat more efficiently. Dr Jebb, head of nutrition at the Medical Research Council, is one of many to criticise the Atkins diet as an unknown risk because there is no evidence about its long-term effects.
One study claimed that a low-carb diet could reduce women's chances of becoming pregnant. There are also concerns that high-protein diets may be linked to kidney problems, while eating carbohydrates could help reduce cholesterol and lower the risk of heart disease as well as improving digestive function and cutting the risks of bowel cancer.
There was further criticism, and some black humour, when it emerged that the founder of the diet, Dr Atkins, who died after slipping on a New York pavement in 2003, weighed a clinically obese 18 stone at the time of his death. A spokeswoman for Atkins rejected the criticism: "The Atkins Nutritional Approach is a scientifically validated strategy for weight control and good health based upon controlling carbohydrates. Currently 33 studies support and more than 700 published, peer-reviewed studies support the concepts underlying it.There is no convincing clinical evidence to suggest that it has any adverse effects on health."
Ministers are shocked by the increasing scale of obesity, and by a recent hard-hitting report from the Commons Select Committee on Health. It criticised ministers for failing to address the problem. Obesity has grown by almost 400 per cent in 25 years, with three-quarters of adults now overweight or obese. Childhood obesity has trebled in 20 years.
The inquiry, which will publish its draft findings in a year, will influence doctors' choice of treatment for overweight patients. News of the study has provoked a storm of lobbying from diet companies, including Atkins, and patients' groups. Low-fat diets, slimming clubs and "meal replacements" will also be assessed. Atkins has sent documents to the Department of Health, pressing its case that its dietary approach is safe and effective, and it will be one of more than 150 "stakeholders" consulted as part of the inquiry.
Atkins Health and Medical Information Services was recently given favourable publicity in a parliamentary question from the crossbench peer the Countess of Mar, who pointed to evidence of the diet's benefits. Nice last month agreed the "final scope" for the inquiry. The formal evaluations of the evidence will begin next month.
Meanwhile the diet business is booming. Britons spent around £10bn on diet books, magazines, food supplements and pills last year. Sales of potatoes fell by 4.5 per cent.
Dr Atkins published his first diet book in America in 1972, but it is only in recent years that his diet has become a global brand. Britain is the second biggest market after the US, followed by Japan and pasta-loving Italy.
The privately owned Atkins company last year launched its own branded food range to accompany the diet books. It is shy about revealing its profits, but admits that sales now run into hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Turnover is thought to be around £60m.
But the Atkins diet may have had its day. It has recently been rivalled in popularity by the South Beach diet, devised by the Miami cardiologist Dr Arthur Agatston. The South Beach Diet book, which has sold more than seven million copies worldwide, offers a more complex picture than the Atkins diet by suggesting that some carbohydrates are better for the body than others.
Additional reporting by Tanya Angerer