Atkins Responds to Recent New England Journal of Medicine Weight-Loss Diets Stu...( Low-Carb Diets Included in Study Not ...),Health

Low-Carb Diets Included in Study Not Atkins Diet

DENVER, Feb. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- A recent New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) study titled "Comparison of Weight-Loss Diets with Different Compositions of Fat, Protein, and Carbohydrates" (Feb. 26, 2009), concluded that reduced-calorie diets result in clinically meaningful weight loss regardless of which macronutrients (fat, protein and carbohydrates) they emphasize. Atkins Nutritionals, Inc. ("Atkins"), however, wishes to clarify that the two lower carbohydrate diet plans offered in the study are not representative of the Atkins Diet(TM), as some press coverage has indicated.

The NEJM study randomly assigned 811 overweight adults to one of four diets, each with different percentages of energy derived from the three macronutrients: fat, protein and carbohydrates. Two of the four diets prescribed lowered carbohydrate intake levels, comprising 45 and 35 percent of calories, respectively.

The first two phases of the four-phase Atkins Diet - where the majority of weight loss typically occurs - specify much lower amounts of carbohydrates than those prescribed in the NEJM weight-loss diets for weight loss. Atkins(TM) recommends that between 10 and 25 percent of calories come from carbs in the two weight-loss phases.

"The macronutrient distribution suggested in the two lower-carb diet plans was no where near the levels that have been shown to be effective for weight loss as cited in numerous previous low-carb studies," said Colette Heimowitz, M.Sc., Vice President, Nutrition and Education of Atkins Nutritionals, Inc. "Only after an individual has achieved his weight-loss goal - and assuming his metabolism allows - does Atkins suggest the higher carbohydrate intake level prescribed in the two lower-carb diets used in the NEJM study. These levels approximate the recommended levels a person with a healthy metabolism might achieve in
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