Atkins Diet Health Concerns
Posted on March 17, 2006
Doctors are warning of health risks associated with the low-carb or Atkins diet following the case of a 40 year-old woman who developed a serious blood condition after following the Atkin's diet. The woman was suffering from ketoacidosis and doctors believe Atkins was to blame according to a BBC article.
Professor Klaus-Dieter Lessnau, who led the team from the New York School of Medicine, wrote: "Our patient had an underlying ketosis caused by the Atkins diet and developed severe ketoacidosis possibly when her oral intake was compromised from mild pancreatitis or gastroenteritis.The incident was written up by medics in the Lancet. A doctor from the Atkins Foundation said comments in the Lancet article were "troublesome" and "inappropriate." However, these are not the first complaints doctors have made about the Atkins diet and many doctors consider the diet unhealthy."This problem may become more recognised because this diet is becoming increasingly popular worldwide."
The Atkins diet suggests rapid weight loss by cutting carbohydrates out of a diet.
For a month before she fell ill, the woman had lived on meat, cheese and salads, said the doctors.
She monitored her urine twice daily using dipsticks.
During the period when she dieted, she lost around nine kilograms of weight.