The Pritikin diet is the brainchild of Nathan Pritikin, an engineer who designed the diet after he developed heart disease in the 1960s. Pritikin opened the Pritikin Longevity Center in California in 1974, which his son Robert still carries on. Although Pritikin had no medical training and the principles he adopted were ahead of their time, many, such as increasing fiber, whole grains and fruits and vegetables, have since been incorporated into mainstream medical recommendations for preventing heart disease.
Dietary Premises
The basic premise of the Pritikin diet is to eat whole grains and high-fiber foods while restricting fats to less than 10 percent of your dietary intake. The diet also limits animal protein intake to no more than 3.5 oz. per day, with emphasis on fish, poultry or lean meats. Two servings of calcium-rich, nonfat foods per day are allowed, along with no more than 2 oz. of nuts per day and five servings of whole grains and four serving of vegetables. Egg are limited to egg whites only and seven per week, and alcohol is limited to four servings per week for women and no more than seven servings per week for men. Sugars and processed refined foods are also strictly limited.
Benefits
The Pritikin diet will definitely result in weight loss, since it provides only around 1,000 calories for women and 1,200 calories per day for men, according to Northwestern University, and the diet will lower the risk of heart disease, diabetes and obesity. Cholesterol levels, weight, blood pressure and blood glucose levels normally drop on the diet, according to the Pritikin Center.
Negatives
Pritikin severely limits dietary fats; his 10 percent recommendation is a big reduction from the 35 percent recommended by the American Heart Association. Fat helps you to feel full; limiting fats may increase feelings of hunger. The diet also falls short on providing healthy unsaturated fats, which have protective benefits for your heart. The high-fiber content may cause gastrointestinal problems such as gas and bloating. The diet is also deficient in calcium, B-12, vitamin E, iron and zinc.
Considerations
The main drawback to this diet is that it's hard to stay on for most people, since it provides little opportunity to "cheat." Research on low-fat diets doesn't always prove a reduction in heart disease, as a multicenter study published in the February 2006 issue of the "Journal of the American Medical Association" showed. Researchers found that following a diet consisting of no more than 20 percent fat along with an increase in whole grains and fruits and vegetables did not lower the risk of heart disease and stroke over an eight-year period. Reducing saturated fat and trans fat intake and upping fruit and vegetable intake did result in a trend in reducing heart disease, according to researchers.
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