RE: Experiences with Atkins diet

From: Harvey Newstrom (mail@HarveyNewstrom.com)
Date: Sat May 24 2003 - 09:55:50 MDT

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    gts wrote,
    > 3) Of the ten parameters measured, only the differences in ONE of them was
    > statistically significant in all tests: HDL.
    >
    > HDL was better after the low-carb vs the low-fat diet at 3 months, at 6
    > months and at 12 months. No other parameter was so clearly different from
    > one diet to the other.

    It's not quite as obviously one-sided as you make it sound. Remember that
    over 40% of the participants were confirmed to quit their diets and many
    more were believed to be poor at following their diets. As such, I believe
    the end-of-year measurements are not as reliable as the earlier measurements
    which showed:

                                            Atkins: Conventional Diet:
    6 month triglycerides: +15.0% -7.6%
    3 month LDL(bad) cholesterol: +5.4% -7.4%
    3 month total cholesterol: +1.7% -5.4%

    The raw data is not as obviously one-sided as you imply. If the numbers
    were all good and stayed good for Atkins, I would agree. But there are some
    troubling data early on when adherence to the diets was better. Given these
    earlier numbers, I am not sure I would choose the Atkins diet.

    --
    Harvey Newstrom, CISSP, IAM, GSEC, IBMCP
    <www.HarveyNewstrom.com> <www.Newstaff.com>
    


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