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American Morning
Diet Debate
Aired May 22, 2003 - 08:42 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: In this morning's "Paging Dr. Gupta" segment, good news for dieters who practice what Dr. Atkins preached for decades until his death last month. Sanjay is here to tell us about two NEW studies that give the high fat, high protein approach a qualified thumb's up. But we should remember right off the bat, this is not for everybody, right?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Certainly not for everybody. But it's amazing, this particular diet has been around for over 30 years, one of the most popular, but conversional diets out there, sold 15 million books over that time period, yet there's been little scientific proof of two things: one, does it work? And, b, is it healthy? These two new studies big studies and important because they're published in a prestigious journal, "The New England Journal of Medicine."
Let's take a look at them. The first one, just looking at people who are obese, they looked at people at three and six months, and then again, at a year, they found that the people on the low-carb diet lost more weight. That wasn't particularly new information, people on average weigh 217 pounds, the low-carb people lost 17 pounds, versus the low-fat diet people losing seven pounds. The weight loss was even about a year, so you lost and gained in about a year's time.
But here's the big number, 40 percent dropped out. A lot of people have said the Atkins Diet, or the low carbohydrate, high-fat diet, easier to maintain. Not so, according to this study, a lot of people, almost half of the people dropping out. There's also another study now looking at people with severe obesity. This is another important study. This was just six months long. Again, low carbs, high fat versus low fast diet. Again, they found that low carb people lost more weight, again at six months, and they also improved the metabolism, which is an important point, because diabetes and other disease oftentimes associated with obesity. It improved actually on the low-carb, low-fat diet.
But here's the real important thing, Heidi, because a lot of people say, is it healthy? The gut instinct is, how could can it be healthy if I'm eating pork rinds instead of healthy foods. Well, take a loot at some of the cholesterol numbers. That's a parameter that lot of people measure to try figure this out. Here you can see it, low carb versus low fat, the LBL. That's bad cholesterol. No change with the low-carb diet. HDL, the good cholesterol, actually, both of them increased, but there was a greater increase in the HDL, and finally, triglycerides again. You don't want too many of those around, a greater decrease with the low-carb diet. So all those numbers point in the right direction, but Heidi, I think you make the right absolutely the right point at the beginning of this.
A lot of people still don't agree on this particular point, and a lot of people say that even though the cholesterol members did seem in favor of the low carbohydrate diet, it still may be just downright unhealthy for you.
COLLINS: Right. And is it about the metabolism, as far as the way it works? You say your metabolism gets faster if you're doing the low carbs, right?
GUPTA: Three things really as to why the low carbohydrate diet works. First if, despite the fact people are steak and eggs for breakfast and things like that, there are so many carbohydrate calories in a typical diet, that if you cut down on carbohydrates, you're probably still cutting down the number of calories you overall eat.
Number two, is if you take in a lot of carbohydrates, carbohydrates help store fat. So if you don't have as many carbohydrates around, you're not going to store as much fat.
And then finally, exactly what you said, Heidi, you actually change your metabolism, you actually probably increase your metabolism with the Atkins Diet, and it helps you burn calories as well.
COLLINS: If you want to lose weight, do you go on the Atkins diet?
GUPTA: Do I? Does anybody?
COLLINS: No, the Average Joe.
GUPTA: Here's the thing, is that I think that we're a nation that's become so used to shortcuts. We like the notion that we can eat steak and eggs and still be losing weight. I think people know deep down, and doctors will probably concur, that it's probably still not the healthiest way to do things. And if you're actually concerned not just about sort of a shortcut way of losing weight, but also want a healthy lifestyle, a healthy long-term life style, probably a diet full of fruits and vegetables, full of all the thing that we know are good for you, is still the best way to go.
COLLINS: And exercise.
GUPTA: Exactly, absolutely.
COLLINS: You just can't get away from that that.
GUPTA: Sixty percent of the nation is overweight right now. That's a problem.
COLLINS: Wow. That's huge.
Do I have to eat these?
GUPTA: Yes. COLLINS: I'm hungry.
GUPTA: If you want on a treat on the Atkins Diet. A lot of people complain that you don't have -- you can't get sweets, because it eliminates a lot of the sugars, so people have come out with these high-protein brownies and cookies. So go ahead and try one and tell me what you think. Now, again, they are high protein, lower carbohydrates, lower fat. I tried one a little earlier.
COLLINS: You did? It's spongy. Actually, that's pretty tasty.
GUPTA: It's not bad, right?
COLLINS: It tastes a little like pound cake.
GUPTA: This Atkins diet has grown so popular, you're getting all these books out there, and you're starting to get treats like this, people who have a sweet tooth, but still want to try the Atkins Diet, there's now an option now for them as well, not that I'm hocking any goods.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired May 22, 2003 - 08:42 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: In this morning's "Paging Dr. Gupta" segment, good news for dieters who practice what Dr. Atkins preached for decades until his death last month. Sanjay is here to tell us about two NEW studies that give the high fat, high protein approach a qualified thumb's up. But we should remember right off the bat, this is not for everybody, right?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Certainly not for everybody. But it's amazing, this particular diet has been around for over 30 years, one of the most popular, but conversional diets out there, sold 15 million books over that time period, yet there's been little scientific proof of two things: one, does it work? And, b, is it healthy? These two new studies big studies and important because they're published in a prestigious journal, "The New England Journal of Medicine."
Let's take a look at them. The first one, just looking at people who are obese, they looked at people at three and six months, and then again, at a year, they found that the people on the low-carb diet lost more weight. That wasn't particularly new information, people on average weigh 217 pounds, the low-carb people lost 17 pounds, versus the low-fat diet people losing seven pounds. The weight loss was even about a year, so you lost and gained in about a year's time.
But here's the big number, 40 percent dropped out. A lot of people have said the Atkins Diet, or the low carbohydrate, high-fat diet, easier to maintain. Not so, according to this study, a lot of people, almost half of the people dropping out. There's also another study now looking at people with severe obesity. This is another important study. This was just six months long. Again, low carbs, high fat versus low fast diet. Again, they found that low carb people lost more weight, again at six months, and they also improved the metabolism, which is an important point, because diabetes and other disease oftentimes associated with obesity. It improved actually on the low-carb, low-fat diet.
But here's the real important thing, Heidi, because a lot of people say, is it healthy? The gut instinct is, how could can it be healthy if I'm eating pork rinds instead of healthy foods. Well, take a loot at some of the cholesterol numbers. That's a parameter that lot of people measure to try figure this out. Here you can see it, low carb versus low fat, the LBL. That's bad cholesterol. No change with the low-carb diet. HDL, the good cholesterol, actually, both of them increased, but there was a greater increase in the HDL, and finally, triglycerides again. You don't want too many of those around, a greater decrease with the low-carb diet. So all those numbers point in the right direction, but Heidi, I think you make the right absolutely the right point at the beginning of this.
A lot of people still don't agree on this particular point, and a lot of people say that even though the cholesterol members did seem in favor of the low carbohydrate diet, it still may be just downright unhealthy for you.
COLLINS: Right. And is it about the metabolism, as far as the way it works? You say your metabolism gets faster if you're doing the low carbs, right?
GUPTA: Three things really as to why the low carbohydrate diet works. First if, despite the fact people are steak and eggs for breakfast and things like that, there are so many carbohydrate calories in a typical diet, that if you cut down on carbohydrates, you're probably still cutting down the number of calories you overall eat.
Number two, is if you take in a lot of carbohydrates, carbohydrates help store fat. So if you don't have as many carbohydrates around, you're not going to store as much fat.
And then finally, exactly what you said, Heidi, you actually change your metabolism, you actually probably increase your metabolism with the Atkins Diet, and it helps you burn calories as well.
COLLINS: If you want to lose weight, do you go on the Atkins diet?
GUPTA: Do I? Does anybody?
COLLINS: No, the Average Joe.
GUPTA: Here's the thing, is that I think that we're a nation that's become so used to shortcuts. We like the notion that we can eat steak and eggs and still be losing weight. I think people know deep down, and doctors will probably concur, that it's probably still not the healthiest way to do things. And if you're actually concerned not just about sort of a shortcut way of losing weight, but also want a healthy lifestyle, a healthy long-term life style, probably a diet full of fruits and vegetables, full of all the thing that we know are good for you, is still the best way to go.
COLLINS: And exercise.
GUPTA: Exactly, absolutely.
COLLINS: You just can't get away from that that.
GUPTA: Sixty percent of the nation is overweight right now. That's a problem.
COLLINS: Wow. That's huge.
Do I have to eat these?
GUPTA: Yes. COLLINS: I'm hungry.
GUPTA: If you want on a treat on the Atkins Diet. A lot of people complain that you don't have -- you can't get sweets, because it eliminates a lot of the sugars, so people have come out with these high-protein brownies and cookies. So go ahead and try one and tell me what you think. Now, again, they are high protein, lower carbohydrates, lower fat. I tried one a little earlier.
COLLINS: You did? It's spongy. Actually, that's pretty tasty.
GUPTA: It's not bad, right?
COLLINS: It tastes a little like pound cake.
GUPTA: This Atkins diet has grown so popular, you're getting all these books out there, and you're starting to get treats like this, people who have a sweet tooth, but still want to try the Atkins Diet, there's now an option now for them as well, not that I'm hocking any goods.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
