HAS THE AMERICAN DIABETES ASSOCIATION SPARKED YET ANOTHER ATKINS REVOLUTION?

EDITOR'S NOTE:

Some four years after the death of famed nutrition pioneer, Dr. Robert C. Atkins and some three years after the publication of Atkins Diabetes Revolution by Dr. Mary Vernon, colleague of Dr. Atkins and immediate past President of the American Society of Bariatric Physicians, the American Diabetes Association has reversed it's position on the Atkins Diet and the role of carbohydrate control in diabetes.

Dr. Atkins used to say"  "One day the medical and nutrition community will catch up to me." Apparently that has finally happened.

DR. VERNON COMMENTS:

After decades of relentlessly vilifying Dr. Robert C. Atkins and those of us who long ago turned to the research and the facts, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) is coming on line today, December 28, 2007, to say that carbohydrate restricted diets are effective for weight loss.

I suppose, at this time of year, I should be overwhelmed with gratitude that the ADA is finally catching up with the science.

Sorry, I am underwhelmed.  Make that underwhelmed x 2.

Oh, I am glad that patients, whose physicians use the ADA recommendations, will now have access to this potent and effective tool. Up until now, many patients were steered away from this method simply because the ADA was “waiting for the evidence”. (Strangely, the evidence the ADA is using to say that carbohydrate-restricted diets are safe and effective for a year was published in 2003).  Patients deserve access to the information-not patronizing advice.

I am most saddened by the lack of understanding. Carbohydrate restriction and the resulting control of insulin secretion is much more than weight loss. It’s not the weight-it’s the metabolic state your body is in, that generates disease or well-being.  I supppose we'll have to wait another 5-10 years before the ADA catches up with the rest of the science, science well understood by researcher from Harvard, Duke and even the National institutes of Health--but not yet the ADA.  Again, strange.  Of course, perhaps not so strange to the highly profitable processed foods, refined carbs and low-fat industries.

I’ll try to explain. Your body has two choices regarding fuel-store it or spend it. How is this decision made? By the type of food you eat. Sugars and starches (dietary carbohydrates) stimulate insulin secretion and release. This process begins the moment you put the food in your mouth-and maybe even before that. Insulin goes up--fat storage is triggered and fat burning comes to a proverbial screeching halt. (I do mean screeching--very small changes in insulin levels can stop fat from being moved into the mitochondria, your cell’s furnace.)  Protein may cause a tiny bump in insulin levels-and dietary fat does not stimulate insulin release at all. So pull the sugars and starches out of the diet and the signal to store fuel is gone--POOF!--as if David Copperfield had been waving a handkerchief.

If the signal to store is insulin, and insulin levels are now back to normal, because the signal that generated the excessive level is gone, your body naturally turns to it’s fat stores for energy.  Any fat you eat is also burned for energy--your liver is an equal opportunity metabolic unit for energy production. No sugar or starch around ? No problem.  The liver cheerfully begins burning stored and dietary fat to produce energy. Do you lose weight?  You can, if you need to. But you can change your risk factors and not lose a pound. I see this happen all the time-I have some 90 lb patients who started with triglycerides in the 300’s whose weight didn’t change but who now have normal triglyceride and HDL numbers--just by taking the carbs out. Often, even though they are weight stable, their body composition will have changed. I had a patient go from 35% body fat to 29% body fat in one year without changing a pound on the scale. Of course, the cholesterol and glucose numbers returned to normal, as well. It is not the weight.  The weight is a marker for the metabolic problem. Yes, the weight can make the problem worse. But to say that low carb diets are as effective as low fat diets for weight loss over one year is looking at the minimum outcome this dietary approach can generate.

So, ADA, congratulations on finally giving patients an option they can use effectively. It is way past time.  Now please catch up with the rest of the science and honor your commitment to help stem the tide of the nation's out-of-control diabetes epidemic.

Comments

[Amy Dungan]

This really is fantastic news.. even if it is long past time we heard it. I can see some doors finally opening for the low-carb community. It's about time!! Thanks for all you do Dr. Vernon!

[Jenny]

How many hundreds of thousands of people with diabetes have gone blind, lost their limbs, or gone on dialysis thanks to the ADA's decades of promoting the high carb diet? How many more will suffer these fates in the next decade thanks to this tepid endorsement which will go unnoticed by anyone except us long term low carb activists.

The ADA's magazines for patients are still full of high carb recipes. Their "educational" materials still warn people that achieving "Tight control" which they define as a 2 hour post-meal blood sugar of 180 mg/dl may be "dangerous." Even for people controlling with DIET alone!

When will the medical community expose the ADA for what it is--an advocacy group for big pharma and the junk food companies who prey off people with diabetes NOT an organization that promotes the interests of people WITH diabetes.

If anything the ADA's policies ensure that diabetes will continue to flourish, kind of like how the American Timber Association makes sure we still have timber.

They're still telling people to take Avandia, too.

[Dan]

Great post... YEA... Finally... why are these regulatory institutions so slow in understanding that this is a matter of life or death to some people... If this would have been handled by them years ago my Dad and Uncle would still be alive... they both died from complications due to Diabetes.. thanks Dr. Vernon... Please keep on fighting....

[Cindy Moore]

Thanks for the excellent post! The ADA is a joke, but so many believe they are experts!!

I've been working on my sister for years, maybe now she'll pay a little attention to me (yea, I doubt that!).

Thanks for posting! We miss you!

[Kassandra]

For me the ADA lost credibility years ago. They're floundering around in the dark and confusing everyone. Ever since they started taking bribes (I mean donations) from Monsato Corporation they haven't been much use to anyone.

Need someone else to step up to the plate.

[DWilliams]

Can you show me where the American Diabetes Association has reversed its stance on the Atkins diets and others like it. I'm not finding the reversal you are claiming.

[LNypaver]

I am a newly diagnozed diabetic. When I was given the literature from the ADA on how to control my sugar I was very surprised because it concentrates on the very foods that raise sugar. I have been investigating ever since and I am grateful to God that I found Dr. Vernon. Now everything makes sense. I have never taken any drugs and control my sugar with diet and exercise. Eventhough I watched what I ate according to the ADA's literature sometimes I could not explain why my sugar was 130 or 140. Now I know! Thanks Dr. Vernon and may God bless you.