Tuesday May 04, 2004 8:56am

Little Rock (AP) - Arkansas Children's Hospital says the Atkins Diet is not for children.

A dietitian at the hospital in Little Rock says low carbohydrate diets in general are harmful for children and could affect their schoolwork or stunt their growth.

Dietitian Lisa Emmert says she is worried parents may put their children on the popular Atkins Diet when the state starts sending home students' Body Mass Index values on report cards.

Emmert says the low-carb diets result in people not eating fruit and not eating enough vegetables. She says the result could be that children would not get enough vitamins, minerals and fiber.

Low carbohydrate plans urge dieters to give up breads and pastas in favor of meats and cheeses. Emmert recommends that children younger than age 18 not go on the diets.

http://www.katv.com/news/stories/0504/144329.html

Now that is so far from the truth. Mr. Emmert should have done his homework before running to the media.

Yes, well all know that a diet of fruit loops, pop tarts and soda is so much better for kids.

Let's be a little realistic here. The kids who come home from school with a bad BMI "report" are not the ones who eat a steady diet of fruits, vegetables and whole grains. You are telling me that cutting down on empty carbs and increasing their protein intake are going to impair their school work and stunt their grow ?

Man that guy is so out in the left field, he isn't even ON the field anymore.

Sorry, I pay NO attention to what any 'dietician' says any more.

Everything . . . and I mean everything. . . I've heard from dieticians has turned out to be dead, flat WRONG.

I ain't dead.

My kidneys didn't fall out.

My cholesterol didn't go up.

I didn't get consitipated.

I eat TONS of veggies. . . .

Ahhh, what's the point?

Ignore the dolts.

I believe that even Dr. Atkins said that children under the age of 12 shouldn't be put on induction levels of carbs. However...that doesn't mean that parents can't cut out the junk foods and highly processed stuff and give their children more fruits, veggies and whole grains instead.
My kids (ages 8 and 9) follow maintainance levels of low carb at 100-125 grams of carb per day...they get plenty of veggies, fruits, whole grain breads, yogurt, cheese, etc...along with the occasional "regular" treat. They both get A's in school and my oldest is in the 85th percentile for height. So much for their grades suffering and stunted growth! Oh yes...my youngest has logged 10 miles of running so far at recess this year.
Sheesh...this dietician should be more concerned about kids starving themselves to lose a few pounds or developing eating disorders than about their choosing to eat less junk food and more whole foods. Face it...once kids hit high school, they're going to diet any way they please regardless of what their parents say.

Height is supposed to be more related to protein intake.

Oh, for crying out loud! These dieticians sound like Chicken Little.

Having been a fat kid growing up, I can say if anyone is worried about stunted growth, they should wonder why all the sugar and high carb junk food doesn't cause it. My diet was so bad, even induction on Atkins would have been an improvement for me at any age. (not that I would recommend this, but is true for me).

I am sure if a child of normal weight was put on Atkins induction, they might miss some nutrients. But who is going to put them on a diet in the first place?

I guess according to this person, it's better not to limit carbs so they will eat a hodgepodge of everything and hopefully the kids will get all the nutrients. Heck with the other health risks involved. Talk about a hit and miss diet!

Any parent who puts their child on induction-level carbohydrates is being irresponsible, but in my opinion an atkins maintenence plan is optimal for people of all ages.

Actually, a ketogenic diet is sometimes used to treat refractory epileptic seizures, even in children (although this is rare).

True, but in those cases the more pressing medical need is control of the child's seizures or nutrition will become a non-issue because of their deaths. Children who are still growing rapidly (in the vertical direction) have very different nutritional needs than someone whose goal is to shrink as rapidly as possible (hopefully in the horizontal direction).
Most pediatricians these days are actually not in favor of having young children lose weight. Rather, they favor the approach of trying to keep the child from gaining more weight while their height catches up.
I think in most cases it shouldn't even be necessary to reduce a child's carb intake to induction levels. For a good portion of them, simply cutting the junk food out of their diets and replacing it with healthier choices such as veggies, lower glycemic fruits, some whole grains, adequate proteins and healthy fats is more than sufficient to turn things around in a positive direction. Considering what the average child in America today is likely to be eating on a regular basis, going lower/controlled carb would be a vast improvement regardless of what this dietician thinks.

I dissagree. Childhood is the best time to eat induction level carbs. There are many nutritious foods that can be eaten on induction level carbs plus children have more of a need for fats to aid them in vitamin absorption. I think that we have become physically dependant on carbs and even though we are on low carb woe our bodie's continue to crave them, even at maintenance level. If we keep them ( carbs ) very low, from the start, then the body won't crave them. It will function as it did in the past, on very low carbs.

This can be especially noted by the fact that some school systems are looking at reducing high carb meals from their menus. This concept is meant to address the obesity issue in the schools. The majority of carbs consumed by kids come from breads, pastas, chips, candy etc and I don't think that they really need any of these on a daily basis.

Reducing a child's carb consumption doesn't necessarily mean that they need to lose weight. Remember, this isn't a diet. Low carb can contribute to good health and can be used to put ON weight.

I disagree with your statement about childhood being the best time to eat induction-level carbs. Even Dr Atkins said not to put children on that level.

I agree that the time to teach them good habits is while they're young, I just feel that severely restricting all carbs is dangerous to proper growth and development.

I have to disagree with you, potatofree, that carbs are necessary for growth and development. Carbs are used by our bodies strictly for energy and fat storage. Protein and fat are used for development and growth. And even systems that "prefer" glucose for energy purposes can be supplied by protein conversion.

Some carb foods do deliver micronutrients (vitamin C, etc.) that we can't get from protein/fat sources, but I think even we low-carbers over emphasize the importance of carbs to our health.

This is not an opinion of whether kids should be low-carb or not. I'm just addressing the role of carbs in growth and development.

I think the schools play a part in the children being over weight too. In my day there was always a pizza, burger, or other meat type of food, a salad and a fruit with milk and juice. Look what the kids get to pick from today. Not sure everyone has the choices the kids here in MI have, but our kids can get pop from the soda fountain or vending machine, chips, cakes, all kinds of junk food from vending machines and food cart. They can pick any number of things for the meal if they want. Like bread sticks and dip, now that is a great lunch. They can pick a pretzle or french fries. All kinds of things now that never were a choice in school. And the guidlines were so much better back then, if you bought (or got free or reduced) lunch, the school had to give you all of the food on your try, if you didn't want it, you could throw it out, but you had to take it. I wonder what has happened to the guidlines and the state gov making sure each child was served a healthy lunch each day?

Now my kids are not on carb restrictions, but there is not much here for them anymore to pick from. I buy fruit, apples, grapes, bananas, oranges, granola bars, sf pudding or jello, they can have milk or cereal, but mine get the cherrios or rice cripies without sugar, lots of water in the fridge, salads, and some crackers now instead of chips. They eat normal and are all pretty healthy. When I started this, I got us a membership for the local YMCA. The kids love going, and it got me up and going too. I think that if more kids were made to be more active, they wouldn't have to worry much about what they eat. My oldest son started football, and though he was not fat, he still had some baby chunk to his cheeks and tummy. He changed nothing else but playing football. I think he had to of lost a good 15 pounds that summer. My youngest girl has lost a pound in the last month. I don't encourage her to lose, I encourage her to get healthy and be active.