In the past few weeks, I have been thinking about fish oil and the Atkins diet because:
- Our former family physician recommends fish oil to all his patients, no matter what their cholesterol levels are. Seems like some physicians have gone to conferences to learn about the advantages of fish oil.
- The news has shown stories with a comparison of the Atkins diet, Mediterranean diet, and a "low fat" 30% fat diet and shown that there was little long term difference in weight loss.
- One of my running buddies is convinced that fish oil is terrific because of its Omega-3s.
Naysayer that I am, here is some food for thought:
The Atkins, low carbohydrate, high protein diet (and it's cousin, the South Beach diet) claim that although Americans have been following a low fat diet for years, Americans are fatter and sicker than ever - so low fat diets don't work. In reality, we have lowered our consumption of fat because of the miracles of food technology, but have substituted high-sugar junk food and high-protein animal foods. We are not on low fat diets!
The Atkins Center for Complementary Medicine (in one of their few published studies, not peer reviewed) put 51 obese people on their diet; the 41 people who maintained the diet for six months did lose 20 pounds - through severe calorie restriction - and the media reported a slight decrease in blood cholesterol. What was not reported about the Atkins study was:
- 68% experienced constipation
- 63% reported bad breath
- 10% noted hair loss
- 51% reported headaches
- They also stated other adverse effects, such as calcium oxalyate and urate kidney stones, vomiting, amenorrhea, vitamin deficiencies, and a 53% increase in excreted calcium (weakening bones).
Another study in Australia found that on the Atkins diet "Complications such as heart arrhythmias, cardiac contractile function impairment, sudden death, osteoporosis, kidney damage, increased cancer risk, impairment of physical activity, and lipid abnormalities can all be linked to long-term restriction of carbohydrates in the diet."
As a side requirement of the Atkins diet, Dr. Atkins recommends that many of his patients take nutritional supplements, up to 30 pills a day! While buying all these supplements helps Atkins' bottom line, it does little for health. (All this from The China Study, Colin Campbell). And remember, when Atkins died of heart failure after claiming to have been on his diet for 36 years, he was obese. (Beware of unhealthy experts with financial incentives to promote something).
In the recent news stories, the Atkins diet showed the biggest weight loss, but no mention was made of the health consequences. Then, on the news one night, I heard that the thought-leader pushing the fish oil took payment from the Atkins Institute!
Here is the scoop on fish oil (link to McDougall site for entire discussion):
"Fish oils contain large amounts of cholesterol and will raise the blood cholesterol of people. Even when the fish oil is purified of cholesterol, the omega-3 fat itself will cause the LDL-bad cholesterol to rise ... fish oil treatment for 2 years does not promote favorable changes in the diameter atherosclerotic coronary arteries."
"...fish oils suppress the immune system, which can promote cancer and increase susceptibility to viral infections; and can cause severe bleeding. Fish fat also inhibits the action of insulin, thus increasing a person's tendency to suffer from diabetes."
Here is the link to McDougall about the comparison of the three diets.
The best diet: whole food, plant-based, complex carbohydrate, no added oils diet. No adverse side effects, demonstrated weight loss, reduced cholesterol, reduced blood pressure, and a whole host of other benefits.