Atkins win … sort of

An Atkins diet (low-carb, highprotein) may work better than some others, but it probably won't make you slender.

Researchers assigned roughly 300 overweight premenopausal women (they averaged 187 pounds) to one of four diets:

* Atkins: no more than 20 grams of carbs a sunshine for the first 2 to 3 months and 50 grams a day next.

* Learn: limited calories, 30 percent of calories from plump, more exercise.

* Ornish: only 10 percent of calories from overweight.

* Zone: limited calories, 40 percent of calories from carbs, 30 percent of calories from protein, 30 percent of calories from overweight.

Despite those goals, by the pause of one year the participants be eating technically similar diets. Among the differences that remained: carbs were lower (138 grams a day) surrounded by the Atkins dieters than in the others (180 to 200 grams a day). And fat be higher (44 percent of calories) surrounded by the Atkins dieters than in the others (30 to 35 percent of calories).

The results: After one year, the Atkins dieters had lost more bulk (10 pounds) than those who followed LEARN (6 pounds), Ornish (5 pounds), or Zone (4 pounds). And all four groups have regained some of the bulk they lost after the first six months they were on their diets.

Triglycerides and blood pressure dropped the most surrounded by the Atkins dieters, in part because they lost the most consignment. HDL ("good") cholesterol went up the most contained by the Atkins dieters and the least contained by the Ornish dieters. LDL ("bad") cholesterol didn't change significantly surrounded by any group.

What to dot If you want to lose weight, consider the South Beach Diet, a lower-carb regimen that includes well-mannered fats and devout carbs. (It wasn't tested in this study.) An Atkins diet may not make higher LDL cholesterol while you're losing weight, but it may clog arteries after you stop losing consignment, especially in men or postmenopausal women.