Research Library

Confused about recent research findings? This article will give you the information you need to understand and interpret reports and summaries so that you can draw your own conclusions. Throughout this article, the emphasis will be on the functional value of research. In other words, what does the research mean to you so that you can make smart, informed decisions about the food you eat and the lifestyle you lead? We'll focus on basic principles that you can extract from the mass of data available, what the clear-cut take-home points are, and how the common-sense nutrition principles of the Atkins Advantage hold up in light of recent studies.

To accomplish that, we're going to address each of the five Atkins Advantage nutrition principles one by one. The principles are:

You'll see how each principle is supported by scientific and clinical medical research. We'll also see how the Atkins Advantage nutrition bars and shakes have been designed and formulated to support each of these principles.

All the reports of studies cited in these lessons are from peer-reviewed journals unless otherwise noted. That means that study results appear in a scholarly journal after being submitted to a process of evaluation by a panel of subject matter experts to determine whether or not they're worthy of publication. The good news is that peer-reviewed studies are scientifically sound. The bad news is that the study reports tend to be written in language that's often hard to decipher--or apply to real life!

Whenever you look at a research report, it's important to know what all of the variables are. If you want, for example, to determine the effects of different levels of protein intake as opposed to other macro nutrient levels, it's critical that other nutritional/health factors--the number of calories, the amount of fat, subjects' activity levels, etc.--remain the same. Otherwise, you can't really tell whether the results are due to the variables you're studying or some other variable to which you weren't paying attention. When a clinical study is mentioned in the Research Library on this site, you can be sure that nutrition professionals reviewed the study to be sure the project design was good, the results are accurate and the conclusions are valid.

Next Up

We'll look at high protein.

High protein always has been one of the most fundamental principles of the Atkins Advantage, and it's hard to overestimate the importance of protein as a major part of any healthy food regimen. Protein:

This all has been verified by any number of clinical studies that continue to verify the critical value of protein. To quote one review study:

"In this study, we conducted a systematic review of randomized investigations on the effects of high protein diets on dietary thermogenesis, satiety, body weight and fat loss. There is convincing evidence that a higher-protein intake increases thermogenesis and satiety compared to diets of lower-protein content. The weight of evidence also suggests that high-protein meals lead to a reduced subsequent energy intake. Some evidence suggests that diets higher in protein result in an increased weight loss and fat loss as compared to diets lower in protein." -- Hu Halton, "The effects of high-protein diets on thermogenesis, satiety and weight loss: a critical review." J Am Coll Nutr. 2004 Oct; 23(5):373-85. Dept. of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health

The Framingham Osteoporosis Study, published in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research in December 2000, studied protein consumption over a four-year period among 615 men and women. The amount of protein eaten daily ranged from a low of 14 grams a day to a high of 175 grams. The findings clearly indicated that the people who ate more protein throughout their lifetime had less bone loss in their older years.

And a study published in Obesity Research in 2002 looked at a high-protein versus a low-protein intake to determine whether the protein content had an effect on bone mineral density. It did. Bone mineral loss was greater in the low-protein group.

In the 2004 Journal of the American College of Nutrition, Researcher Ronni Chernoff, Ph.D., R.D., said, "The importance of dietary protein cannot be underestimated in the diets of older adults; inadequate protein intake contributes to increased skin fragility, decreased immune function, poorer healing and longer recuperation from illness."

The conclusion is obvious. For people of every age, protein at every meal is one certain way to enjoy the long- and short-term health benefits of the Atkins Advantage principle of higher protein.

How Much Protein Is Enough?

The question of how much protein you should eat is an important one. Many nutritionists now feel that the recommendation of about a half-gram of protein per pound of body weight is, at best, a bare minimum. For example, a 145-pound person would need at least 70 grams of protein a day, which translates to roughly 10 ounces, or about two and a half small chicken breasts.

But that's only the bare minimum. Athletes and active people may need double that amount, as do muscular people, those under stress, and pregnant or nursing women.

Atkins Advantage® Products and Protein

Even a quick look at Atkins Advantage® nutrition bars and shakes will show you that they have higher protein than other nutrition bars and shakes. Not only do Atkins Advantage bars and shakes have more, but the protein comes from the highest quality sources that will yield a full array of amino acids:

• Whey protein isolate
• Soy protein isolate
• Sodium caseinate (milk protein)
• Calcium caseinate (milk protein)

Next Up

A look at the second Atkins Advantage principle: high fiber.

It might seem strange that something that is completely indigestible--thus offering no nutritional value at all--could play such an important role in good health, but it does. And it's one of the most fundamental elements of the Atkins Advantage nutrition principles.

Humans were eating high fiber as far back as the Stone Age, when our ancestors ate between 50 and 100 grams of fiber every day. Of course, they weren't doing it on purpose. It just came with the territory and was a natural part of their daily food intake.

But whether they knew what they were doing or not, that element did the same things then that fiber does today. Fiber performs the following important roles:

Not a bad day's work!

Present dietary guidelines recommend at least 25 grams of fiber a day--one-half to one-fourth the amount our cave-dwelling ancestors ate--and that may not be enough. A 2004 article in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition titled "Carbohydrate and Fiber Recommendations for Individuals: A Quantitative Assessment and Meta-Analysis of the Evidence" recommends that people should be consuming 25 to 50 grams of fiber every day.

The average American eats 14 grams of fiber a day. This data suggests significant changes in dietary patterns are necessary to achieve recommended total fiber intakes. Americans are only consuming half of the minimum daily requirement of fiber.

An article in the February 14, 1996 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association said that fiber "…is an important dietary component for the prevention of coronary disease," while another article in the June 2, 1999 issue of the same publication said, "…our findings in women support the hypothesis that higher fiber intake, particularly from cereal sources, reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease."

And if that's not enough, a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute concluded that "…cancer in the US population could be reduced about 31 percent (50,000 cases annually) by an average increase in fiber from food sources of about 13 grams per day."

Fiber Counts of Some Healthy Foods

To put things on a more practical level, here are fiber counts for some foods:

• 1/2 cup oatmeal + 1/2 cup blueberries + 1 apple = 7.1 gram of fiber
• 1/2 cup brown rice + 1/2 cup pinto beans + 1/2 cup broccoli = 10 grams of fiber
• 1 medium apple + 1/2 oz nuts + 1 slice whole wheat toast = 6.5 grams of fiber
• 1/2 cup broccoli = 1.2 grams of fiber
• 1/2 cup cooked Brussels sprouts = 3.2 grams fiber
• 1 slice whole wheat bread = 1.9 grams of fiber
• 1/2 oz. nuts = 0.5 grams of fiber
• 1/2 cup seedless raisins = 0.5 grams of fiber
• 1/2 cup cooked spinach = 0.5 grams of fiber

Atkins Advantage® Products and High Fiber

Take a look at the above list and you'll appreciate the fact that Atkins Advantage® nutrition bars contain a range of 4 to 11 grams of fiber per serving. The Advantage Morning ™ bars contain a range of 3 to 9 grams per serving, and our shakes have 4 grams per serving. This is higher--sometimes much higher--than the fiber content of other comparable leading products.

Next Up

Another very important nutritional principle: low sugar.

Fiber-rich vegetables, low glycemic fruits, as well as high-fiber whole grains are the cornerstone of a healthy lifestyle.

Low-Glycemic Foods

The word glycemic means "relating to sugar." The higher the glycemic impact of a food, the greater and more rapid its effect on your blood sugar when you eat it--and the more insulin required to return your blood sugar to normal. Since insulin is a fat-storage hormone, high blood sugar and high insulin can sabotage health. Eating lower-glycemic foods is definitely a smart nutrition choice.

How do we know the glycemic rating of a particular food? There actually are at least two different glycemic rating systems. The same food may have a different place on the index depending on where it was grown, when it was harvested and how it was prepared. Most important, the glycemic index does not take into account a food's serving size.

This last point can lead to misleading comparisons. Carrots, for example, have a high glycemic index for the standard 50-gram portion of digestible carbohydrates that is used as a basis for comparison. But it would take nearly a bushel of carrots to get that many digestible carbohydrates. So at least in some instances, the glycemic index isn't really applicable in the real world. Another measure--the glycemic load--is a more accurate way to measure a food's impact on blood sugar and insulin.

To get a better understanding of what low-glycemic means, be sure to read "The Low-Glycemic Approach to Healthy Eating."

Based on information developed in a number of studies published in recent years, the Atkins Advantage suggests two general rules regarding sugar content:

The implications here go far beyond better sustained energy levels. Consuming less sugar may be one of the best things you can do for your health and longevity:

• The theory of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) concerning the relationship between sugar and the aging process dates back many years. It is commonly known that people with diabetes die prematurely. AGEs are substances formed when blood sugar (glucose) attaches itself to proteins in the body's tissues. This results in cross-linked hard yellow-brown AGE compounds.
• Negative effects of AGEs include thickened arteries, stiff joints, feeble muscles, and failing organs. This is especially evident in elderly people. Diabetics suffer a very high incidence of nerve, artery and kidney damage because their high blood sugar levels greatly accelerate the chemical reactions that form AGEs.

Moving Forward

In the next section, we'll cover vitamins and minerals, as well as avoiding trans fats.

Before moving on, be sure to join your instructors and fellow community members on the Message Board to ask questions and discuss what you've learned. http://learningcenter.atkins.com/

In the first section of this article, we explored the first three principles of the Atkins Advantage and how these principles are supported by recent research.

In this section, we'll cover the last two principles. Then we'll sum up everything and offer some tips for applying the principles to your everyday life.

Let's take another look at all five principles of the Atkins Advantage as a quick reminder:

The Atkins Advantage™

Principle 4: Vitamins and Minerals

Just about everyone agrees that vitamins and minerals--along with other components like antioxidants and phytonutrients--are critical to good health.

However, most of us are getting only the bare minimum amounts of these in our daily diets.

A number of reports, such as this one from the Office of Dietary Supplements of the National Institutes of Health, have suggested that we are shorting ourselves on minerals like magnesium, which is important in blood pressure regulation and the metabolizing of carbohydrates.

A paper published in 2005 in the American Journal of Public Health titled "The Role of Vitamin D in Cancer Prevention" found a protective relationship between vitamin D and four different kinds of cancer. It suggests that increasing our vitamin D intake could reduce cancer incidence and mortality.

And dozens of recent studies have documented the value of antioxidants and other vitamin and mineral supplements to our health and well-being.

For example, the recently published Benefits of Nutritional Supplements states that every year there are:

• 14 million preventable cases of heart disease
• 1.2 million preventable case of cancer
• More than a half-million preventable strokes
• 2,500 babies born with neural tube defects that could have been prevented by a simple vitamin supplement

And that's just for starters.

The Vitamin and Nutrition Center offers a page of more than 20 links to various topics about the value of multi-vitamins. Each link includes an easy to follow summary of the study and a full citation if you want to learn more. One clinical study of more than a million people concluded that "Those participants that had just used a multivitamin alone, without Vitamins A, C, or E, had minimal reductions in cancer and heart disease rates. However, those participants who combined using multivitamins with vitamins A, C, and E significantly reduced risk of heart disease related deaths (mortality)."

In every area of health, from eyesight to mood improvement, studies continue to indicate that sufficient nutrients can deliver distinct and measurable results.

The nutritional benefit of vegetables is a basic tenant of any healthy living approach, including the Atkins Advantage philosophy. The importance of vegetables--and the vitamins, minerals, fiber and nutrients they provide--has been so established by research that more research seems almost redundant. Yet the research just keeps coming. Recently, researchers at the University of California compared the health of two groups of mice: One was fed a diet with 30 percent of their calories coming from peas, beans, broccoli, carrots and the like, while the other was fed a 100 percent vegetable-free diet. Using a common marker for the development of atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), the researchers found that the vegetable-eating mice had a whopping 38 percent less atherosclerosis.

The study, published in the July issue of the Journal of Nutrition (vol. 136) also found that the vegetable diet resulted in lower levels of total cholesterol (12 percent lower), and, interestingly, lower levels of serum amyloid A, an important marker for inflammation.

Considered a "silent killer," inflammation is a component of many degenerative diseases, including diabetes, heart disease and Alzheimer's. Any dietary strategy that helps control inflammation is critically important to note. The researchers believe that the antioxidants in the vegetables (i.e., vitamin C, vitamin E, selenium and the carotenioids) were partly responsible for the anti-inflammatory effect. "These results further support the idea that increased vegetable consumption inhibits atherosclerosis progression through antioxidant and anti-inflammatory pathways," wrote lead author Dr. Michael Adams.

The study is in agreement with another analysis, published in January 2007 in The Lancet (vol. 367), which reported that eating five or more portions of nutrient-dense foods, such as fruit and vegetables, per day could cut the risk of stroke by 26 percent.

Atkins Advantage Products

Atkins Advantage® nutrition bars and shakes contain up to 23 vitamins, minerals and other supplements to help satisfy your daily requirement.

For more information, read "A Vitamin Regimen for Top Health." To learn more about supplements and complementary medicine, read "Don't Forget to Take Your Vitamins."

Next Up

The lowdown on good fats and trans fats.

A proper balance of naturally occurring fats--polyunsaturated, saturated and monounsaturated--is not only necessary, it's downright healthy.

The Big Hero: Omega-3

Undeniably, the healthiest fats we can eat are in the Omega-3 family. Omega-3s are found in fish, flax and walnuts. Nutritionally, the three most important fatty acids in this family are alpha-linolenic acid, which primarily is found in flax and flaxseed products, and eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid, which are found primarily in fish.

Whether you can pronounce them or not, you still can consume them--and you should! Omega-3 fats have been found to reduce inflammation, maintain the fluidity of cell membranes, lower the amount of cholesterol and triglycerides in the bloodstream and reduce the risk of obesity. Because they improve the body's ability to respond to insulin, they are one of the most highly recommended supplements.

Andrew Stoll, MD, is a highly respected researcher and faculty member at Harvard Medical School. He thinks so highly of Omega-3s that he wrote an entire book about them: The Omega-3 Connection. He calls them "the wellness molecule," and his book references dozens of studies that show the importance of Omega-3 consumption in the prevention and treatment of a good many medical and psychological conditions.

The Other Good Guys

Besides Omega-3, there are other fats that offer positive health benefits. An Omega-9 monounsaturated fat called oleic acid, found in olive oil and macadamia nut oil, is extremely heart-healthy, according to a number of studies.

Even saturated fats, which until recently had been thoroughly demonized, are beginning to show up in some studies as possibly important for optimal health. A September 2004 article in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests that saturated fats have always been a part of the human diet and that current efforts to minimize their intake as much as possible might be premature. For example, the saturated fatty acid found in coconuts--lauric acid--has been shown in a number of studies to have anti-microbial effects. Polynesian tribes whose members consume large amounts of saturated fat from coconuts have very low levels of heart disease.

The Chairman of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard Medical School, Walter C. Willett, M.D., has written in two different articles--one in Obesity Reviews, May 3, 2002, and the other in the American Journal of Medicine, December 30, 2002--that dietary fat is not a major determinant of body fat and plays virtually no role in obesity. In "Eat, Drink and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating," he writes that, "…a low-fat diet isn't the way to a healthier heart."

In short, healthy fats are necessary for you to remain healthy throughout your life.

Next Up

Let's talk about trans fats.

You've probably heard about trans fats by now because new labeling laws have gone into effect that require listing them on the Nutrition Facts panels of food products, if they're present.

Well, okay, it's kind of required, but we'll get to that in a moment. First, let's review why trans fats--also known as partially hydrogenated vegetable oils--are so detrimental to your health.

Trans fats can be made from just about any vegetable oil that's liquid at room temperature. It's done because hydrogenating a liquid oil raises its melting point so it can be solid at room temperature, and it increases its shelf life.

But those two advantages come at a terrible price, in terms of human health.

To learn more about why you should avoid trans fats at all costs, read "The Dangers of Trans Fats."

A lot of vital information about trans fats comes from the landmark Nurses' Health Study, which began in 1976 and involves 121,700 nurses between the ages of 30 and 55. The study itself is remarkable both because of the size of the group and its ongoing nature. The study is still continuing, with the next follow-up scheduled in March 2007.

An enormous amount of data has been collected, but the information that is most relevant here is that women who consumed the greatest amount of trans fats had a 50 percent higher risk of heart attack, compared to women who consumed the least amount.

Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health suggest that replacing trans fats with "good" fats, which we discussed in Lesson 1, can reduce diabetes risk by up to 40 percent.

These are compelling numbers, and many other studies have demonstrated a link between trans fat consumption and diabetes, obesity, and confirmation of the earlier findings of heart disease.

It has been determined that trans fats make the arteries more rigid, and contribute to clogging. They harden cell walls and over time render the cells effectiveness in their functions. Trans fats also lower HDL, the "good" cholesterol, and raise the levels of LDL, the "bad" cholesterol.

There's a lot more information on the Nurses' Health Study, along with links to other publications covering an enormous range of health issues. For more information, read this summary.

Looking at the Labels

As mentioned earlier, new federal regulations are now in effect that require the inclusion of trans fats on the Nutrition Facts panel of food products. But there's a loophole.

If a product contains less than half a gram of trans fats in a single serving, that doesn't have to be listed on the Nutrition Facts panel, and the label can trumpet "NO TRANS FATS" if the manufacturer wants to do so.

The problem is that there's no requirement that a manufacturer use a reasonable serving size to determine the information on the Nutrition Facts panel. Consequently, a manufacturer might let the tail wag the dog, as it were, and set the serving size based on keeping the amount of trans fats under a half gram. One might set a serving size at a fourth of a cupcake, simply because each cupcake contained 1.9 grams of trans fats. But because one-fourth of that would be 0.475 grams of trans fats, the manufacturer could say there were no trans fats. But how often does anyone eat one-fourth of a cupcake?

The cupcake example we've used is hypothetical, but there is a real, supposedly healthy margarine that's probably in the dairy case of your supermarket right now. It contains less than a half gram of trans fats per serving, but if you use it "liberally" as suggested, you might easily consume 14 grams of trans fats a week.

Considering that the American Heart Association Scientific Conference on Dietary Fats announced in 2002 that "the optimal diet for reducing the risk of chronic disease is one in which trans fatty acids from manufactured fats are virtually eliminated," and that in July of that same year, the Institute of Medicine stated that the upper dietary intake for trans fats should be zero, that's a lot of bad on your bread.

So the Nutrition Facts panel isn't enough. You also need to read the list of ingredients, too. Watch for the words, "partially hydrogenated" in front of some kind of oil. It may be listed as a specific type of oil like safflower, or it may just say "partially hydrogenated vegetable oil." Either way, any time you spot the words "partially hydrogenated," you're holding an artery bomb in your hand, so put it back and walk away.

To learn more about trans fats, be sure to read "Trans Fats: Truth in Labeling?"

Wrapping it all up.