Harvard study reopens Atkins controversy

A new study from a hospital associated with Harvard has reopened a controversy the widow of diet doctor Robert Atkins tried to end five years ago.

Beth Israel Deaconess researchers found a low carbohydrate, high protein diet (similar to the famous Atkins diet) led to a "significant increase in atherosclerosis" in mice, and "an impaired ability to form new blood vessels in tissues deprived of blood flow, as might occur during a heart attack."

This happened despite the fact that cholesterol levels remained low and stable.

At its height in the 1990s the Atkins craze transformed eating in America, with dieters buying big steaks without potatoes. or bacon and eggs without toast, thinking they were doing themselves some good.

In 2004 Atkins' widow Veronica issued a long statement denying that Atkins' famous diet had anything to do with a heart condition discovered after his 2003 death from a head injury sustained when he fell on a sidewalk.

Atkins Nutritionals filed for bankruptcy in 2005, emerging in 2006 with a more balanced approach. Atkins' first diet book, Dr. Atkin's Diet Revolution, was published in 1972.

The Beth Israel Deaconess work seems to contradict a Harvard study published in 2006, following 20 years' work, showing no link between heart disease and a low-carb diet. It did, however, suggest that vegetable fat and protein were better for the heart than animal sources.

A 2008 study at Tufts, meanwhile, indicated a link between low-carb diets and memory, a problem which disappeared once the diet was dropped.

In the press release on the latest Beth Israel study, authors Shi Yin Foo and Andrew Rosenzweig repeated the standard mantra, "a moderate and balanced diet, coupled with regular exercise," but the mantra does not answer the key question of compliance.

Dieting remains hard. My advice? Buy smaller plates.

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com