HEALTH: Atkins' diet may have merit

From: Robert J. Bradbury (bradbury@aeiveos.com)
Date: Mon Jul 08 2002 - 10:42:02 MDT


The New York Times Magazine has an interesting (long) piece about
the possibility that the Atkins' diet may have some actual
merit.

What if It's All Been a Big Fat Lie?
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/07/magazine/07FAT.html?pagewanted=print

I suspect that the benefits are going to be very genotype specific.
Unfortunately we don't yet know all of the genes involved in regulating
the production of insulin and responses to it so its hard to type
people to know which diet would be better for them.

Its worth noting that the concepts of the benefits of a low-fat
diet that has been pushed for the last generation were developed
before we understood that macrophages (that eventually turn into
foam cells and create arterial plaques) have receptors for oxidized
lipoproteins. We might be able to optimize health just as well
by just making sure that our fat soluble antioxidant intake (Vit. E,
Q10, ALA) is sufficient to prevent our lipoproteins from becoming
oxidized. If you consume more fat, then you need to consume more
antioxidants as well.

Robert



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