Atkins Diet Mortality – 130,000 Men and Women

By: Rob Adams
09/08/2010 02:19 PM ET

Atkins Diet mortality – 130,000 men and women. The Atkins diet, which is based on animal protein, increases all-cause mortality rates in both men and women. Approximately 85,000 women who were followed for 26 years and 45,000 men who were followed for 20 years.

Valerie Bertinelli and Jenny Craig praise the Atkins Diet, but now researchers are finding that all-cause mortality rates were increased in both men and women. The study also suggests that it could lower your lifespan. However, the rates were decreased in those eating a plant-based diet with low animal protein.

Atkins Diet promotes low-carbohydrate meals, which is usually mixed with animal protein. Dr. Atkins always said that the American diet is too high in refined carbohydrates such as sugar, white flour and concentrated sweeteners. Those ingredients promote a variety of chronic diseases.

People do lose weight on the diet because they restrict their intake of refined carbohydrates. However, the answer may not be about replacing refined carbohydrates with animal protein. It’s much more healthy to replace refined carbohydrates (“bad carbs”) with healthy carbs instead. It’s not low-fat vs. low-carb. An optimal diet is high in healthy carbs such as fruits and vegetables and whole grains, legumes, soy products, nonfat dairy and egg whites in their natural forms and some good fats such as the omega 3 fatty acids found in fish oil and salmon.

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