Mon, Jan-03-05, 09:36
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Anyone?? Bueller?
Posts: 16,240
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Plan: Atkins
Stats: 140/135/125
BF:
Progress: 33%
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Abumrad's obesity studies lead trend in diet research
IN DEPTH: TIGHTENING THE BELT
From the December 31, 2004 print edition
Abumrad's obesity studies lead trend in diet research
Christie Smythe
Washington University has become the first institution in the nation to receive an endowment for a professorship dedicated to obesity studies -- funded by the estate of the instigator of the low-carb diet craze. The $1.5 million grant from the New York-based Dr. Robert C. Atkins Foundation will be distributed to the university over five years.
Nada Abumrad, a leading cellular lipid researcher, arrived at the university several months ago from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook.
Abumrad was recruited for the position to follow up on her success in identifying a cell membrane protein's role in helping transport fatty acids in the body. She's done previous research on the protein and the other factors related to obesity at Syracuse University, Vanderbilt and SUNY.
In the Atkins professorship, she plans to further study the protein to determine whether the amounts are higher in people who are obese or who have diabetes, and whether targeting the protein can help some combat obesity and obesity-related diseases.
Dr. Samuel Klein, director of the university's Center for Human Nutrition and chief of the Division of Geriatrics and Nutritional Science, initiated discussion with the foundation to obtain the grant. He's conducting his own Atkins Foundation-funded research on the long-term effects of low-carbohydrate diets.
Klein's renowned work in obesity studies and the resources for clinical study available at the university were major attractions for Abumrad. In addition to directing the Center for Human Nutrition, funded by the National Institutes of Health, Klein also is the medical director of both the university's Weight Management Center and the Nutrition Support Service at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.
"There is a lot of support for me to expand my work," Abumrad said.
Those resources, both from the Atkins Foundation endowment and the center, come with no strings attached -- no requirements that research prove the health claims of the Atkins and other low-carbohydrate diets, Abumrad said.
Atkins started the foundation in 1999 partly in response to criticism from the traditional medical community that he lacked research to show whether the low-carbohydrate, high-fat and high-protein diet was safe and beneficial to people's health. Popularity of the diet prompted warnings from the American Heart Association that the diet could play havoc on people's cholesterol levels, strain kidneys and produce a litany of other health problems if used for a long period of time.
Little is known about the long-term effects to prove otherwise. Low-carbohydrate diets have also fallen out of favor in past year, according to market research firm NDP Group, based in Port Washington, N.Y. The percentage of Americans on low-carb-type diets has fallen from about 9 percent last winter to about 5 percent in November this year.
The Atkins Foundation, which has about $40 million in assets, is in the process of funding more than 30 studies, most of which were requested by researchers interested in studying the effects of the diet on various health conditions, according to Dr. Abby Bloch, vice president of programs and research for the foundation. But to ensure that research is viewed as legitimate by the medical community, Bloch stressed there are no requirements that Atkins Foundation-funded researchers test the diet's claims.
Abumrad said her work at Washington University has little directly to do with the diet, but "there is a connection." She will be evaluating the amount of the fat-transporting protein in people who use different methods to lose weight, such as liposuction and diets, including Atkins-like diets. As well as testing the amount of the protein, she will be checking to see which diets promote overall health.
Christie Smythe is a contributing writer to the St. Louis Business Journal.
http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/.../03/focus3.html |
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