Atkins Diet And Cholesterol

Reducing blood cholesterol, a major risk factor in heart disease, is one of the primary objectives of diets recommended by most health-related organizations and nutritionists. Most of these diets recommend eating fewer fatty foods and more carbohydrates. The late Dr. Robert Atkins recommended the opposite and de-emphasized total cholesterol's importance. Your total cholesterol should be below 200 milligrams per deciliter, or mg/dL, with bad LDL cholesterol below 100 mg/dL and good HDL cholesterol above 60 mg/dL, according to the National Cholesterol Education Program.

Emphasis

Atkins acknowledged that most diets focus on reducing cholesterol, a fat in your blood, as the most important factor in heart disease. He wrote in "Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution" that total cholesterol has "limited predictive power" in figuring out who will get heart disease. He emphasizes repeatedly that triglycerides, another blood fat, is the most important heart-disease risk factor and wrote that your good, or HDL, cholesterol is your most important cholesterol number.

Comparisons

The Atkins diet advocates eating mostly foods with fat and cholesterol, including eggs, fish, meat and poultry. It limits most high-carbohydrate foods, including bread, cereal, fruit, pasta, rice and starchy vegetables. The National Cholesterol Education Program, though, reports that saturated fat is the "main culprit" in increasing blood cholesterol and that you should eat less fat and dietary cholesterol. The U.S. government, the American Heart Association and "Controlling Cholesterol The Natural Way" advocate that you get 50 to 60 percent of your calories from carbohydrates.

Effects

Atkins acknowledged that most nutritionists believe that low-fat, low-dietary cholesterol diets reduce total cholesterol levels. However, he wrote in "Diet Revolution" that "cholesterol levels were inversely correlated with dietary fat and cholesterol intake." He said people on the Atkins diet for eight weeks lowered their triglycerides by an average of 55 percent, increased their good cholesterol and reduced their total cholesterol. One dieter's total cholesterol fell from 207 to 134 mg/dL, the book said.

Tests

Your blood should be tested six weeks after beginning the Atkins diet, according to "Diet Revolution." Atkins wrote that triglycerides should be your first concern and that most Atkins dieters' total cholesterol increases are caused by higher good cholesterol. He also said you should ask your doctor to test the two subtypes of bad, or LDL, cholesterol because the Atkins Diet raises the "beneficial low-risk LDL," which he identifies as lipo-protein A.

Analysis

A study funded by the U.S. government concluded that a low-carb diet "modeled after the Atkins plan" increased dieters' good cholesterol levels by 23 percent in two years, according to the Aug. 3, 2010, edition of "Annals of Internal Medicine." A low-fat diet increased good cholesterol by 12 percent. Both diets cut bad cholesterol. However, "Atkins-type diets" raised bad cholesterol levels by at least 10 percent in approximately one-third of people, according to the University of California-Berkeley's November 2004 "Wellness Letter."