HealingDeva.com

[Terri R.]

Low carbohydrate/high protein (The Zone, Atkins, South Beach, and other diets)

For more than two decades Dr. Robert Atkins preached and sold the gospel of "protein is good, carbohydrates are evil." Until recently, this line of thinking was beyond the pale. Now, though, there is some new evidence to back the idea that a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet may help people lose weight. Whether such a diet that also includes bacon, steaks, butter, cheese, and other foods with plenty of saturated fat is good for overall health is another matter.

In theory, a high-protein/low carbohydrate diet could help increase satiety, that feeling of fullness that comes with eating. Fewer carbohydrates could also avoid fast and high rises, and falls, in blood sugar, which may also keep hunger at bay. Together, these could help you avoid overeating and make you satisfied with fewer calories.

That's the theory. Unfortunately, there are few good long-term studies to test it. In a review of low-carbohydrate diets, researchers found 107 that met their criteria; only five lasted longer than three months.(9) These short-term studies showed that low-carbohydrate diets were safe in the short term, but that weight loss was due mostly to reduced caloric intake, not necessarily to the low-carbohydrate nature of the diets. Such reductions often happen when people drastically change what they eat.

From: The Harvard School of Public Health
Full article: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/carbohydrates.html