Heart Assn. warns vs. high-protein diets
DALLAS, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- A new American Heart Association science advisory
warns that high-protein diets restrict healthful foods that contain
essential nutrients and are not recommended for the general public.
The diets may be associated with increased risk for coronary heart disease
due to increased intakes of saturated fat, cholesterol and other associated
dietary factors, the AHA said. The advisory said, "Although these diets may
not be harmful for most healthy people for a short period of time, there are
no long-term studies to support their overall efficacy and safety."
The advisory, which appears in the AHA journal Circulation, is critical of
five specific diets: Atkins, The Zone, Protein Power, Sugar Busters and
Stillman.
Barry Sears, creator of The Zone diet and a spokesman for Robert Atkins,
creator of the Atkins diet, responded to the advisory with harsh criticism.
Nutrition experts had a variety of opinions.
The lead AHA author singled out some diets for more criticism than others.
"Diets that are high in fat that are continued for longer periods of time
for weight reduction have some concerns associated with them in terms of the
risk for hardening of the arteries -- in other words, heart disease and
eventually, stroke," said Robert H. Eckel, immediate past chairman of the
AHA nutrition committee. "I'm talking specifically about the Atkins diet and
the Protein Power diet."
Colette Heimowitz, spokeswoman for Atkins, told United Press
International, "There is plenty of new evidence to show that controlled
carbohydrates, as a way of life, reduces risks of diseases and addresses the
obesity epidemic as well as diabetes. "
Heimowitz compared Atkins to Charles Darwin, the founder of the concept of
evolution, and referred to the AHA as "Neanderthals."
Sears said the AHA should "be ashamed of what they wrote." He said the
article misrepresents his widely followed program when it says that with The
Zone diet, 127 grams of protein would be consumed.
"Nowhere in my literature have I ever talked about eating more than 100
grams of protein per day," Sears told UPI. The upper limit recommended by
the AHA is 100 grams per day. "It's almost as if it was written by an
undergraduate student," Sears said of the article.
According to David Heber, director of the University of California, Los
Angeles, Center for Human Nutrition, the Atkins diet poses problems if used
for an extended period of time. If Atkins is followed as written, balance is
introduced in the later stages, but some people stay in the earlier stages
for long periods of time, he said.
"I think what really stimulated this article more was the Atkins diet,"
Heber told UPI. Heber is author of "What Color Is Your Diet?" and a
professor of medicine at UCLA School of Medicine.
John Cooke, director of the sector of vascular medicine at Stanford
University Medical School in Palo Alto, Calif., told UPI: "I think that the
AHA is absolutely right on target, particularly for patients with heart and
vessel disease. The high-protein diet as recommended by Atkins is the wrong
thing for cardiovascular health, it's the wrong thing to do, it's the wrong
nutritional plan."
"If people got more protein via a plant-based diet, that would probably be
fine," Cooke said, but added that is not how people are implementing the
Atkins diet. "They're eating sausages, bacon, steak," he said.
A researcher who directly questioned the AHA advisory finding is Jeff
Volek, an assistant research professor specializing in low carbohydrate
nutrition research in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of
Connecticut at Storrs. Volek told UPI: "I wouldn't agree with the general
conclusions. The tone of the article is a little bit aggressive in lieu of
the lightly referenced data to speak against high-protein diets. I don't
think we have enough evidence to come out this strongly against them."
Laurence Sperling, the medical director of preventive cardiology at Emory
University in Atlanta, said: "I think it's a very sound advisory."
Sperling has his own version of a lower carbohydrate diet that includes
higher fats and proteins -- predominantly monounsaturated fats with an
emphasis on plant-derived proteins, such as soy, beans and nuts. Sperling
said he would support The Zone over the Atkins approach.
"Some of the scientific principles in (Atkins) are probably correct, but I
think people practice that to extremes," Sperling said. In so doing they can
cause themselves harm, he added.
(Reported by Joe Grossman in Santa Cruz, Calif |
