MedMinute: Low-carbohydrate Diet Found Effective in Research Study
The debate about high-protein, low-carbohydrate diets such as the Atkins Diet continues. A new Duke study finds that such a diet led to sustained weight loss, but the study's lead researcher says questions remain about the diet's safety
Friday, July 12, 2002
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The high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet, popularized by Dr. Robert
Atkins, has been the subject of heated debate in medical circles
for three decades. Is the diet an effective method of weight loss?
Is it healthy? Now, preliminary findings of a new study at Duke
University Medical Center show that a low-carbohydrate diet can
indeed lead to significant and sustained weight loss. Dr. Eric
Westman, associate professor of medicine, was principal
investigator of the six-month study. Westman says researchers also found that subjects'
cholesterol levels improved, but he cautions that much more
scientific research needs to be conducted. 
