BREAKING NEWS!

[Update by Eric:] From Reuters: Diet study tips scale in favor of Atkins.

NOTE: This release based solely on what news accounts were available the afternoon of Tuesday, March 6th, 2007. I'll elaborate as I have more information.

Today's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association carries important news : In a head to head comparison of four popular weight loss diets, the most effective was the low carb Atkins diet.

The year-long study, done at Stanford University's Disease Prevention Research Center, looked at 311 premenopausal women, divided into four groups. One group did Atkins, one group did The Zone (40% carbs, 30% protein, 30% fat,) one group followed the LEARN diet, a food pyramid-based low fat, high carb plan that also includes exercise, lifestyle, and relationship recommendations, and one group followed the ultra low-fat, vegetarian Ornish program.

The results? After 1 year, the Atkins group had lost 10 pounds. Doesn't sound like much, but that's twice as much as the women on the low fat LEARN and Ornish programs lost, and about three times as much as the women on the Zone. The study concluded that - at least for women - the low carb Atkins approach is best.

Furthermore, there were no signs of ill-effects from the fat-rich, animal-food-heavy Atkins diet - indeed, the women on Atkins achieved the greatest reductions of any group in body mass index, triglycerides, and blood pressure. Dr. Randall Stafford, co-author of the study and specialist in heart disease prevention, says "This study will change my practices. In the future I'm going to be more supportive of patients who come in already on an Atkins diet, and I'm certainly going to suggest this as a possible, reasonable approach to weight loss."

And about that 10 pounds not sounding like much? One participant said that for her, a loss between 10 and 15 pounds translated into two dress sizes, nothing to sneeze at.

One caveat: They recommend that people actually read Dr. Atkins' book, rather than assuming they know how the diet works. Having seen all kinds of things never sanctioned by Doc A. passed off as "the Atkins diet," I have to agree.

I should add that Robert Atkins is a personal hero of mine, and it gives me great satisfaction to see his work vindicated once again in this very public way.

I think I'll go thaw a steak.