ATKINS DIET BANNED

Aug 25 2003

Hospitals block new slimming craze Docs tell patients to stick to NHS grub

Simon Houston

link to article

SCOTTISH hospitals are to ban the controversial Atkins diet from ward menus.

Patients will be told to forget the low- carbohydrate eating plan as long as they are under NHS care.

The high-protein diet allows meat, fish, eggs, cream, cheese and some vegetables while slashing carbohydrates such as bread and pasta.

It has been condemned as "pseudo- science" by the Government-funded Medical Research Council amid concerns that it could lead to serious health problems in some people.

And some hospitals say they will actively discourage any patient who says they are on the diet.

Nearly half of Scotland's 15 hospital trusts will refuse to cater for weight- watching patients who demand it.

Yesterday, a spokeswoman for North Glasgow University Hospitals Trust said: "We have a healthy eating policy which the Atkins diet doesn't sit comfortably with.

"We encourage patients to eat lots of fruit and vegetables and potatoes, which the Atkins diet bans.

"If someone came into one of our hospitals requesting the diet, we would take the matter to our dieticians who would advise them against it. It is not something we feel we could endorse.

"However we have had very few cases of people requesting the diet and know of no cases of patients refusing to follow our advice on the subject."

The Ayrshire and Arran Acute Hospitals Trust will also refuse to provide the Atkins diet to patients, saying their menus are nutritionally analysed by state registered dieticians.

And Dumfries and Galloway Acute Hospitals Trust won't recommend the diet for health reasons.

Others who won't make it available include Fife Acute Hospitals Trust, Forth Valley Acute Hospitals Trust, Grampian University Hospitals Trust, Highland Acute Hospitals Trust and Yorkhill Hospital Trust.

But at Tayside University Hospitals trust, a spokesman said that their dieticians would allow a patient to choose a low carbohydrate diet from the menu list if that was their choice.

And Lothian University Hospitals Trust said that they have a number of items to choose from on the menu, including a number of low carbohydrate options.

But Scots dietician Fiona Hinton of the Edinburgh Dietetic Centre said there were still lots of questions to be answered about the eating regime.

She said: "We do get a lot of questions about the diet, because there is so much attention and publicity surrounding it and a lot of people are interested.

"As a dietician, I'm certainly interested in some of the research going on into Atkins at the moment.

"But it's not something we'd recommend to people at the moment because of certain concerns we have - there is not enough research into the effects in the long term.

"There are also reservations about any diet which cuts out or reduces the intake of any particular food group so the effect on someone's intake of nutrients would give us a lot of concern."

And Dr David Ashton, from the Healthier Weight Centre in Birmingham, said: "The problem with the Atkins diet is that the consumption of saturated fat is so strongly associated with the development of heart and other diseases.

"We need much more scientific evidence before we could possibly think of recommending such a diet for large numbers of people."

CASE STUDY 1

Rachel, 16, died after losing 20lbs in six weeks

TEENAGER Rachel Huskey had been following the Atkins diet when she collapsed during a school history lesson and later died.

The 16-year-old, nicknamed "fat girl" by bullies, weighed 17stone when she went on the eating programme, losing 20lbs in six weeks.

But the brilliant pupil, of Missouri, died of arrhythmia, or a sudden irregular heart beat, in August 2000.

An autopsy showed she had been in good physical health and neither her heart nor other major organs were in any way abnormal.

An investigation by experts into Rachel's death found levels of potassium and calcium in her blood had been critically low.

Medics said the depletion of these essential electrolytes could have caused the "ventricular fibrillation" which killed her.

Dr Atkins recommended dietary supplements to counteract the possible loss of potassium, calcium and magnesium.

CASE STUDY 2

BEAUTY therapist Terri Craig is a firm believer in the Atkins diet.

The 41-year-old lost a stone and a half over six weeks on the plan.

But while she has been delighted with the change, she admits she was concerned by the health fears of some critics.

The married mother of two, of Crossford, in Lanarkshire, said: "I had heard about the risks and what experts had said but I was inspired when I saw a report on TV talking about the benefits for things like cholesterol.

"I was impressed and I discussed it with my doctor, who said she was neither for it or against it because the jury was still out.

"But she advised me to be careful and not stay on it for too long.

"I went on it for the first two weeks' induction phase and I stuck to it quite strictly. I lost one stone.

"I did suffer from headaches, which the book warns of, but I drank a lot of water and they went away.

"By the end of it, I felt great and I was amazed at how different I looked. Everyone I met commented on it and I was just so pleased. I then went on it for another four weeks - but I wasn't as strict and only lost another half stone.

"I was still impressed. That was several months ago and I haven't put any back on so far.

"I might do it again, but it is drastic so it's not for everyone. You have to make sure you don't over do it on the meat and eat plenty of veg as well.

"I would definitely give it the thumbs up."

We are getting a seriously hard time about Atkins in the UK at the moment. It is very trendy to knock it in the papers. We have had a couple of front page headlines in the past fortnight because of the Scottish hospital decision. I get a bit fed up defending it sometimes and it is a bit upsetting when people who have watched me shrink over the past six months feel the need to come and ask me how I am feeling. I know it is because they care but they should know that I am not daft and if I was feeling poorly I would stop following it. Last week someone actually said to me 'just eat less and exercise more'. Blimey, I hadn't thought of that!

How many times are they going to drag that poor, dead girl out ??? The autopsy report stated that diet was ONLY ONE possible cause. Others included: Taking Drugs, Bulimia, and/or Anorexia. As for low electrolytes...I believe Dr. Atkins only recomended supplements out of an abundence of caution. I watch what I eat to make sure I get enough Potassium, Calcium, and not too much Sodium. I had my Cholesterol/Electrolytes checked after 8 months:

Sodium -- 140 (Normal: 135-148)
Potassium -- 3.9 (Normal: 3.5-5.5)
Calcium -- 9.5 (Normal: 8.5-10.6)

BTW, despite their claims about Saturated Fat [and Heart Disease]:

Cholesterol -- 175 (Healthy: <200)
LDL -- 122 (Healthy: <130*)

*If I didn't have a family history of Heart Disease, Healthy LDL would be <160.

Let me tell you a story about hospitals. I had back surgery once, was doing fine. Someone came in, hooked me up to an iv. A few minutes later, i felt like i was going into a coma. I buzzed a nurse and asked what was in it. Glucose, among other things. I explained I was a diabetic, this could kill me. A Dr was called, said it was mostly for hydration. And I needed the glucose because I hadn't been allowed to eat for 24 hours before the surgery. My lips were numb, I itched between my fingers and toes. Didn't have my meter, but I'm sure it would have read 600 or more. A few minutes later, the kind nurse unhooked it saying, "you're probably hydrated enough." And these are the people who worry about Atkins? Forsooth.Bill

"Worried Priests in the Temple" syndrome: they're obviously circling the wagons.
Reminds me of the arrogance of the Cardinals and Bishops in Galileo's day, who REFUSED to look through his telescope (which they branded a "devil's instrument") to obtain observational evidence that the moon was a cratered, rather than perfect celestial body ("sacrilege! - all heavenly spheres are perfect" - low fat dieting is perfect!) and moons orbiting around Jupiter (again, sacrilege! all spheres orbit around the Earth, which is the center of the universe, you know, just like the low-fat diet paradigm).
And for goodness sake, "don't confuse the dietician-priests with the facts". But worry not, the Vatican recently admitted they were wrong about persecuting Galileo - and hey - it only took them half a millenia to admit it. At least Dr. Atkins wasn't placed under House Arrest like Galileo was.

The New York Post dragged her out yesterday and ran the story as if it had just happened.

HER BATTLE OF BULGE IS FATAL FOR TEENAGER DOING ATKINS
By PHILIP RECCHIA
(This link will only be valid for the next few days. After that it goes into a searchable arichive.)

I spent the whole night reassuring my loved ones I was not going to die because I was taking my vitamins and drinking lots of water. But honestly, even if I weren't, I'm eating healthier now than before!! How can they not see that? I'm so frustrated.

Two points,
1) If the Atkins diet was what these people think it is, no veges just meat and fat, I wouldn't be on it.
and
2) Don't use the word "Atkins" just describe what you do and don't eat. Without the "A" word the diet is accepted all over.

danny

Hey GaryW- interesting little sidelight on Galileo- he got in trouble AGAIN, late in life - he had a theory about the compostion of stuff, sort of a groping toward atomic theory. Somehow the church decided this was a threat to the doctrine of trans-substantiation in the eucharist, so they hassled him. Not as bad that time, tho.

Anyway Scottish low carbers can just not eat the potatoes or bread and dessert served to them in hospitals and stick to meat, fish and veg as it comes on the plate. The kitchen staff aren't going to care and there won't be anybody saying they are not eating their meals.. you are generally given a tiny bit of menu choice anyway in most hospitals and could request berries for desert. Another way around it is to just request a low GI diet which would be acceptable to them...that would do in terms of not being offered sugary things and you can then pass on the bread.

Val

i cant belive this...

thing is now im worried about staying on the atkins... because of the writing techniques of these journalists.

The thing that really pisses me off is thatyou see everyday these people who dont understand how being overweight can make life alot different and regard us as "those silly fat people who will do anthing to justify their fried egg and bacon in the morning."

I actually put on weight on an all fruit diet, and am on atkins under doctors orders!!!

If these journalists and "experts" are so easy to bash the diet, why dont they find a way that they consider is acceptable, scientifically backed up and most importantly WORKS.

I remember going to see a dietition and she said "you have to lay off the cakes" i replyed "i dont eat cakes or sugary things im not keen on them" and proceded to relay my diet at the time (cerial in the mornin, sandwich for lunch, meat and veg for dinner) and when that baffled the dietition i could not belive what i heard next, she said "no no... you THINK you dont eat sugary things but you do... you just choose not to remember them" i was insulted as she had just walloped all of my hard work.

...

i cant remember what my point was.. so i think i'll end here

When you've got self-styled experts armed with bad dietary dogma and bogus psychology, that's what you get. You're refusing to remember, because their theories can't be wrong, no matter what real life evidence shows. Like the old joke about the psychiatrist trying to convince the mental patient that he (the patient) is not a ghost - gets the guy to agree ghosts don't have flesh and blood, then grabs the patient's finger, sticks it with a pin. The patient looks at the drop of blood and says, "well wadda ya know - ghosts DO bleed!" If you drop weight, get great cholesterol numbers, whatever, on Atkins, the true believers might say, you were eating 300 grams of carbs each day, you just don't remember. You can't be this healthy if you're not on our diet. Bah. Humbug.