Diet and Health FAQ

Tagged As: Atkins Diet Risk

Question:
Sorry for shouting but this is VERY important to anyone that is on the Atkins diet or any other low carbohydrate diet. I am a medical student, and after following Atkins diet, I read up about lack of insulin in the blood stream the horemone which makes you fat. This quote comes from Human Physiology and Mechanisms of Disease written by Guyton and is on page 583 of the 5th eddition: 'Especially dramatic is the long-term effect of insulin lack in causing extreme atherosclerosis, often leading to heart attcks, cerebral strokes and other vascular accidents.' Also the book shows how break down of fat leads to a thickening of the blood due to increased phosphlipid levels, and raises blood cholesterol. If you want any more proof that you are hurting yourself look on the leaflet that came with the ketostix produced by Bayer: Q What is a ketone and why should I test for this substance? A Small amounts of ketone in your body are usually not harmful. However, if you have too much it can be dangerous. Ketones are formed when you burn too much energy too quickly and if left untreated could lead to a diabetic coma. I am sorry to quit the Atkins diet as I have lost a load of weight, but I value my future health. I cannot tell you not to use this diet, it is up to you to choose, but at least now you are informed. I feer that the advocates of this diet will now flame me but these facts come from a text book recommended by my Medical school. This is not just my opinion.

Answer:
Since I used to work in a hospital and had contact with many doctors on a regular basis, I know that a lot of them have no common sense whatsoever, so I'm sorry but I'm going to have to ask you, did you just read that one quote in your book? Or the whole chapter? Did you take the quote out of context? I'm sure you're very intelligent since you're a med student and all but one quote out of one of your text books is not enough to refute all the studies that say low carb isn't dangerous. It might be a good idea if you could refer us to the study that was done to show that lack of insulin in the bloodstream can kill. There was a study done, wasn't there? Surely there's been some research done to prove that statement. I'm sure there's never been a case where someone had an opinion and wrote a text book and passed that opinion off as fact. That couldn't happen. Nope.