PEOPLE on the Atkins diet do lose weight quickly without damaging changes in their cholesterol levels, according to two new studies.

The results forced one leading nutritionist to admit that dieticians who had disparaged the Atkins diet for years could no longer dismiss low-carbohydrate diets. Walter Willett, of Harvard School of Public Health, added that the diet’s creator, the late Dr Robert Atkins, deserved credit for his observations.

The research is the latest dispatch in the diet wars between Atkins, who promoted a high-fat, meat-packed menu low in carbohydrates such as bread and potatoes, and the dietary establishment, which prefers low-fat diets.

Previously, most nutritionists have acknowledged that it is possible to lose weight on the Atkins diet but believed that it could have bad long-term health consequences.

The new studies go some way towards disproving that. But one also shows that calorie-counting low-fat diets work just as well if followed for a year, but are not as effective in the shorter term.

The Atkins Foundation helped to fund the research by Duke University Medical Centre in Durham, North Carolina but had no involvement in the work. In it, 120 obese adults between 18 and 65 were randomly allocated to an Atkins or to a low-fat diet.

After six months, the average weight loss on Atkins was 26lb, and on the low-fat diet 14lb, the team reports in Annals of Internal Medicine.

The Atkins dieters lost more body fat, had lowered levels of trigycerides (fats) in the bloodstream and raised levels of the “good” form of cholesterol — two changes that should enhance the health of their heart and circulation.

The results surprised the team. “This diet can be quite powerful” said Will Yancy. “The weight loss surprised me, to be honest with you. We also found that cholesterol levels seemed to improve more on a low-carb diet compared with a low-fat diet.” A second study — not funded by Atkins — in the same issue of the journal followed 132 obese adults, most suffering from diabetes, for 12 months. Half were assigned to an Atkins-like diet, half to a low-fat diet.

At the six-month point, the Atkins dieters had lost more weight, but then stabilised and the low-fat group began to catch up. By 12 months the low-carb dieters had lost 11lb-19lb, the low-fat dieters 7lb-19lb. But once again, blood changes favoured the Atkins dieters. Those with diabetes also controlled their blood sugar better on the Atkins diet.

Linda Stern, who led the study at the Veterans Affairs Medical Centre in Philadelphia, said: “A low-carbohydrate diet is a good choice because much of our overeating has to do with consumption of too many carbohydrates.”

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