The Atkins diet is a
low-carbohydrate
Low-carbohydrate diets restrict carbohydrate consumption relative to the average diet. Foods high in carbohydrates (e.g., sugar, bread, pasta) are limited, and replaced with foods containing a higher percentage of fat and protein (nutrient), pr ...
fad diet
A fad diet is a diet that becomes popular for a short time, similar to fads in fashion, without being a standard dietary recommendation, and often making unreasonable claims for fast weight loss or health improvements. There is no single defini ...
devised by
Robert Atkins in the 1970s, marketed with claims that carbohydrate restriction is crucial to weight loss and that the diet offered "a high calorie way to stay thin forever".
[
The diet became popular in the early 2000s, with Atkins' book becoming one of the top 50 best-selling books in history, and as many as 1 in 11 ]North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
n adults claiming to be following it. Atkins died in 2003 and in 2005 Atkins Nutritionals, Inc. filed for bankruptcy following substantial financial losses.
There is no good evidence of the diet's effectiveness in achieving durable weight loss; it is unbalanced as it promotes unlimited consumption of protein
Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respo ...
and saturated fat
A saturated fat is a type of fat in which the fatty acid chains have all single bonds. A fat known as a glyceride is made of two kinds of smaller molecules: a short glycerol backbone and fatty acids that each contain a long linear or branched c ...
, and it may increase the risk of heart disease
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels. CVD includes coronary artery diseases (CAD) such as angina and myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack). Other CVDs include stroke, hea ...
.[Longe, Jacqueline L. (2008). ''The Gale Encyclopedia of Diets: A Guide to Health and Nutrition''. The Gale Group. pp. 84-87. ]["Alleged Atkins Diet Victim Files Suit"](_blank)
Quackwatch. Retrieved October 14, 2020.[
]
Effectiveness and risks
There is weak evidence that the Atkins diet is more effective than behavioral counseling for weight loss at 6-12 months.[ The Atkins diet led to 0.1% to 2.9% more weight loss at one year compared to control groups which received behavioural counselling for weight loss.][ As with other commercial weight loss programs, the effect size is smaller over longer periods.] Low-carb dieters' initial advantage in weight loss is likely a result of increased water loss, and that after the initial period, low-carbohydrate diets produce similar fat loss to other diets with similar caloric intake.
The diet may increase the risk of heart disease
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels. CVD includes coronary artery diseases (CAD) such as angina and myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack). Other CVDs include stroke, hea ...
. A medical report issued by the New York medical examiner's office a year after the author's death showed that he had a history of heart attack, congestive heart failure
Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...
and hypertension
Hypertension (HTN or HT), also known as high blood pressure (HBP), is a long-term medical condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is persistently elevated. High blood pressure usually does not cause symptoms. Long-term high bl ...
. The Atkins diet has been criticized by the American Medical Association
The American Medical Association (AMA) is a professional association and lobbying group of physicians and medical students. Founded in 1847, it is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Membership was approximately 240,000 in 2016.
The AMA's state ...
, American Dietetic Association
The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics is a 501(c)(6) trade association in the United States. With over 112,000 members, the association claims to be the largest organization of food and nutrition professionals. It has registered dietitian nutr ...
and the American Heart Association
The American Heart Association (AHA) is a nonprofit organization in the United States that funds cardiovascular medical research, educates consumers on healthy living and fosters appropriate cardiac care in an effort to reduce disability and death ...
as nutritionally unbalanced.
Modified Atkins and epilepsy
Ketogenic diet
The ketogenic diet is a high- fat, adequate-protein, low-carbohydrate dietary therapy that in conventional medicine is used mainly to treat hard-to-control (refractory) epilepsy in children. The diet forces the body to burn fats rather than ca ...
s are used to treat epilepsy in children. There is some evidence that adults too may experience seizure reduction derived from therapeutic ketogenic diets, and that a less strict regimen, such as a modified Atkins diet, is similarly effective.
Description
The Atkins diet has been described as a low-carbohydrate, high-fat, high-protein fad diet
A fad diet is a diet that becomes popular for a short time, similar to fads in fashion, without being a standard dietary recommendation, and often making unreasonable claims for fast weight loss or health improvements. There is no single defini ...
. It promotes the consumption of meat
Meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted, farmed, and scavenged animals for meat since prehistoric times. The establishment of settlements in the Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of animals such as chic ...
, cheese
Cheese is a dairy product produced in wide ranges of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep. During production, ...
, eggs
Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ...
and other high-fat foods such as butter
Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 80% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread, melted as a condiment ...
, mayonnaise
Mayonnaise (; ), colloquially referred to as "mayo" , is a thick, cold, and creamy sauce or dressing commonly used on sandwiches, hamburgers, composed salads, and French fries. It also forms the base for various other sauces, such as tartar ...
and sour cream
Sour cream (in North American English, Australian English and New Zealand English) or soured cream (British English) is a dairy product obtained by fermenting regular cream with certain kinds of lactic acid bacteria. The bacterial culture, wh ...
in unlimited amounts whilst bread
Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour (usually wheat) and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cultures' diet. It is one of the oldest human-made f ...
, cereal
A cereal is any Poaceae, grass cultivated for the edible components of its grain (botanically, a type of fruit called a caryopsis), composed of the endosperm, Cereal germ, germ, and bran. Cereal Grain, grain crops are grown in greater quantit ...
, pasta
Pasta (, ; ) is a type of food typically made from an unleavened dough of wheat flour mixed with water or eggs, and formed into sheets or other shapes, then cooked by boiling or baking. Rice flour, or legumes such as beans or lentils, are som ...
and other carbohydrates are forbidden. Atkins' book ''New Diet Revolution'' has sold 12 million copies. It has been described as "the bestselling fad-diet book ever written."[
Preferred foods in all categories are whole, unprocessed foods with a low ]glycemic index
The glycemic (glycaemic) index (GI; ) is a number from 0 to 100 assigned to a food, with pure glucose arbitrarily given the value of 100, which represents the relative rise in the blood glucose level two hours after consuming that food. The GI of ...
, although restrictions for low glycemic carbohydrates (black rice, vegetables, etc.) are the same as those for high glycemic carbohydrates (sugar, white bread). Due to concerns from medical experts about the high-fat content of the diet, the Atkins Nutritionals company that market foods for the diet, recommends that no more than 20% of calories eaten while on the diet come from saturated fat
A saturated fat is a type of fat in which the fatty acid chains have all single bonds. A fat known as a glyceride is made of two kinds of smaller molecules: a short glycerol backbone and fatty acids that each contain a long linear or branched c ...
.
Proposed mechanism
The diet was inspired by a low-carbohydrate approach published by Alfred W. Pennington, based on research Pennington did during World War II at DuPont. The Atkins diet is promoted with claims that carbohydrate restriction is the "key" to weight loss.
In his early books such as ''Dr Atkins' New Diet Revolution'', Atkins made the controversial argument that the low-carbohydrate diet produces a metabolic advantage
Low-carbohydrate diets restrict carbohydrate consumption relative to the average diet. Foods high in carbohydrates (e.g., sugar, bread, pasta) are limited, and replaced with foods containing a higher percentage of fat and protein (e.g., meat ...
because "burning fat takes more calories so you expend more calories"; the Atkins diet was claimed to be "a high calorie way to stay thin forever". He cited one study in which he estimated this advantage to be 950 calories (4.0 MJ) per day. A review study published in ''Lancet'' concluded that there was no such metabolic advantage and dieters were simply eating fewer calories. Astrup stated, "The monotony and simplicity of the diet could inhibit appetite and food intake." David L. Katz has characterized Atkins' claim as nonsense.[ The idea of "metabolic advantage" of low-carbohydrate dieting has been falsified by experiment in a study of people following restricted-carbohydrate dieting.][ ]
Society and culture
Commercialization
Atkins Nutritionals
Atkins Nutritionals, Inc. was founded by Robert Atkins in order to promote the low-carbohydrate packaged foods of the Atkins diet. As of 2017, it is part of The Simply Good Foods Company. The company sells low-carbohydrate bars, shakes, and snacks ...
was founded in 1989 by Atkins to promote the sale of Atkins-branded products. Following his death, waning popularity of the diet and a reduction in demand for Atkins products, Atkins Nutritionals, Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on July 31, 2005 citing losses of $340 million. It was subsequently purchased by North Castle Partners in 2007 and switched its emphasis to low-carb snacks.["Atkins firm seeks financial help"]
''BBC News''. August 1, 2005. In 2010, the company was acquired by Roark Capital Group
Roark Capital Group is an American private equity firm with over $33 billion in assets under management. The firm is focused on leveraged buyout investments in middle-market companies, primarily in the franchise/multi-location, restaurant and fo ...
. In 2017, Roark Capital Group announced that it would merge Atkins Nutritionals with Conyers Park Acquisition Corp to form a public company called Simply Good Foods.
History
Atkins's ideas were first published in his 1972 book ''Dr. Atkins' Diet Revolution: The High Calorie Way to Stay Thin Forever''.[
The diet gained widespread popularity in 2003 and 2004. At the height of its popularity one in eleven ]North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
n adults claimed to be on a low-carb diet such as Atkins. This large following was blamed for large declines in the sales of carbohydrate-heavy foods like pasta
Pasta (, ; ) is a type of food typically made from an unleavened dough of wheat flour mixed with water or eggs, and formed into sheets or other shapes, then cooked by boiling or baking. Rice flour, or legumes such as beans or lentils, are som ...
and rice
Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima
''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...
: sales were down 8.2 and 4.6 percent, respectively, in 2003. The diet's success was even blamed for a decline in Krispy Kreme
Krispy Kreme, Inc. (previously Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc.) is an American multinational doughnut company and coffeehouse chain.
Krispy Kreme was founded by Vernon Rudolph (1915–1973), who bought a yeast-raised recipe from a New Orleans ch ...
sales. Trying to capitalize on the "low-carb craze", many companies released special product lines that were low in carbohydrates.
Around that time, the percentage of American adults on the diet declined to two percent and sales of Atkins brand products fell steeply in the second half of 2004.
A 2021 review article
A review article is an article that summarizes the current state of understanding on a topic within a certain discipline. A review article is generally considered a secondary source since it may analyze and discuss the method and conclusions i ...
observed that, 50 years after it was first mooted, the Atkins diet was "coming back on the quackery scene again".
Cost
An analysis conducted by ''Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
'' magazine found that the sample menu from the Atkins diet was one of the top five most expensive to eat, of the ten plans Forbes analyzed. This was due to the inclusion of recipes with some high-cost ingredients such as lobster tails which were put in the book to demonstrate the variety of foods which could be consumed on the diet. The analysis showed the median average cost of the ten diets was approximately 50% higher, and Atkins 80% higher, than the American national average. The Atkins diet was less expensive than the Jenny Craig
Jenny Craig, Inc., often known simply as Jenny Craig, is an American weight loss, weight management, and nutrition company. The company has more than 700 weight management centers in Australia, the United States, Canada, and New Zealand. The pro ...
diet and more expensive than Weight Watchers.
Failed lawsuit
In 2004, Jody Gorran sued the estate of Robert Atkins and his company seeking $28,000 in damages.["Dieter Sues Atkins Estate and Company"]
''The New York Times''. Retrieved October 14, 2020. Gorran stated that he had followed the Atkins diet for two years and it raised his LDL-cholesterol
Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) is one of the five major groups of lipoprotein that transport all fat molecules around the body in extracellular water. These groups, from least dense to most dense, are chylomicrons (aka ULDL by the overall densit ...
so much that a major artery became clogged and he required an angioplasty
Angioplasty, is also known as balloon angioplasty and percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA), is a minimally invasive endovascular procedure used to widen narrowed or obstructed arteries or veins, typically to treat arterial atheroscle ...
and stent insertion to open it. On the Atkins diet he was eating large amounts of cheese which is high in saturated fat. Gorran commented that "the issue with the Atkins Diet was not so much that my cholesterol went up but it's the fact that the Atkins empire constantly stated that in the absence of refined carbohydrates, eating a great deal of saturated fat would not be a problem and that was a lie." The lawsuit was dismissed in 2007 as the Atkins diet consists of only "advice and ideas" that are protected by the First Amendment
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
."Judge tosses suit of Florida man on Atkins diet"
Reuters. Retrieved October 14, 2020.
See also
* Online weight loss plans
Weight loss, in the context of medicine, health, or physical fitness, refers to a reduction of the total body mass, by a mean loss of fluid, body fat (adipose tissue), or lean mass (namely bone mineral deposits, muscle, tendon, and other conn ...
* Dukan Diet
The Dukan Diet is a high-protein low-carbohydrate fad diet devised by Pierre Dukan.
Description
The Dukan diet is a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet with four phases, each of which has specific rules.
History
In 1975, Pierre Dukan was a g ...
* KE Diet
* Ketogenic diet
The ketogenic diet is a high- fat, adequate-protein, low-carbohydrate dietary therapy that in conventional medicine is used mainly to treat hard-to-control (refractory) epilepsy in children. The diet forces the body to burn fats rather than ca ...
* List of diets
An individual's diet is the sum of food and drink that one habitually consumes. Dieting is the practice of attempting to achieve or maintain a certain weight through diet. People's dietary choices are often affected by a variety of factors, incl ...
* PSMF diet
References
External links
Official Atkins corporate site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Atkins Diet
Brand name diet products
Obesity
Diets
Fad diets
Low-carbohydrate diets
American inventions