Weighing In on the Current Weight Loss Debate
The media, the lay press and a growing number of researchers have jumped on the bandwagon promoting low-carbohydrate diets as the best way to lose weight, vindicating the advocates of them.
Abstract
With nearly two out of every three American adults now either overweight or obese and cardiovascular disease (CVD) remaining the #1 killer of Americans, there is growing debate about what is the best way to eat to lose weight, to prevent weight gain and to also reduce the incidence of CVD. In the last few years, the media, the lay press and a growing number of researchers have jumped on the bandwagon promoting low-carbohydrate diets as the best way to lose weight. In addition, two new studies recently appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine that evaluated these low-carbohydrate diets for weight loss. One study was by Gary Foster, Ph.D., et al and lasted a year. The other study, which lasted six months, was by Frederick F. Samaha, M.D., et al. Many of the media and press reports on these studies are reporting that the studies showed very favorable results for the low-carbohydrate diet, vindicating the advocates of them. But is this what the results really showed? Has Atkins really been “vindicated?”