Does the Atkins Diet Work?

May 21 -- Controversial diet maven Robert Atkins may no longer be around, but a tug-of-war still lingers over his belief the road to weight loss is paved with bacon cheeseburgers — hold the buns.

Now, two new studies may help resolve the dispute over the effectiveness of the so-called Atkins diet, which advocates low carbohydrate and high fat intake.

Popular among dieters but disputed by their doctors, the Atkins diet has remained a huge question mark in the quest for reliable weight loss. Many experts have remained critical of the approach, but with little evidence to back up their critique.

That is, until today, with the results of the first two studies to specifically examine the low-carb, high-fat diet. The new research, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, compares the weight loss of severely obese individuals eating according to Atkins with those eating according to a conventional low-fat, low-calorie nutrition plan.

The results? While the Atkins dieters slimmed down significantly more than the traditional dieters, there was no weight difference between the groups after one year. The researchers also reported no differences in side effects during the year-long study.

And while the authors caution that additional research is needed, they also discovered an increase in high-density lipoprotein (HDL), or "good" cholesterol and a decrease in serum triglycerides among dieters in the Atkins group. Those results are positive because low HDL and high triglyceride levels increase an individual's risk of developing heart disease.

So, while dieters might be pleased with the early results of the Atkins plan, the success may be short-lived, with the scale tipping right back to where it started. In part, say the studies' authors, that's evidence the diet plan is just not that easy for most people to stick to long-term.

"Any approach to calorie restriction that is not compatible with daily lifestyle patterns is difficult to maintain over the long term," explains an accompanying editorial on the studies, written by Dr. Robert O. Bonow from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, Ill., and Dr. Robert H. Eckel from the University of Colorado Health Sciences University in Denver, Colo.