Zone Diet

July 30, 2002

http://www.vegsource.com/attwood/zone.htm

Debunking the " Zone Diet "

Enter the " Zone " :

A Giant Leap Backwards

by

R. Attwood, M.D., F.A.A.P.

nne, an old friend of mine, walked up to Barry Sears at the Tom Landry Sports

Medicine and Research Center in Dallas.

She complained that the program outlined in his book, Enter The Zone -- more

lean meat, egg whites, poultry and fish, while limiting many grains, vegetables,

and fruits -- just didn't work for her. She didn't feel good, and her

performance level (swimming) had declined. Anne was now back on her vegetables,

fruits, and whole grains.

" Stay with what works best, " he said, " but you know, Anne, it's not the fat and

protein that's so important. It's the effect of carbohydrates upon hormones and

insulin levels. "

Though this was contrary to everything I had told her about nutrition, the

book's message was loud and clear: " All those trendy high-carbohydrate diets, "

he had written, " may be increasing your risk of developing heart disease. "

Excessive complex carbohydrates, according to Sears, also causes obesity by

increasing insulin output and fat storage. This is the process, he insists, that

creates bad eicosanoids leading to heart disease and cancer.

" To complete a 'Zone-favorable' meal, " he advises, " always add fat, the building

blocks for eicosanoids. " While it's true that eicosanoids are hormones involved

in many metabolic processes, the relation of " bad " eicosanoids to obesity and

disease is at best a scientifically unproven gimmick. Unfortunately, however, it

has captured the unquestioning reader's imagination.

Every few years since the early 1950's, someone has based a book on carbohydrate

bashing. First, there were the Dr. Stillman's Diet and Dr. Atkins' Diet followed

by The Scarsdale Diet, and finally, Enter The Zone. Now there are others:

and Dan Eases's Protein Power and and Heller's

Health For Life.

And once again Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution is back on the bestseller lists.

According to Bonnie Liebman, at the Center For Science in the Public Interest,

it's nothing new. " Miracle diets come and go like hemlines, hair-dos, and

celebrity romances. " Furthermore, they don't work; and all of them have the

potential of raising low density lipoprotein (LDL) levels. And finally, what do

these diets do for the authors themselves? Both Dr. Atkins and Barry Sears have

exceeded the upper limits of weight recommended by federal guidelines.

A vegetarian diet, according to Sears, is as far as you can get from The Zone.

He ignores the fact that individuals who eat vegetarian diets have far less

heart disease and cancer, and tend to be leaner, not fatter. Moreover, most

clinical studies conducted during the last half century, clearly show that a

high-protein, high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet leads to higher rates of heart

disease, stroke, hypertension, adult onset diabetes, and many types of cancer.

The relationship of animal fat to cancer is stronger than ever before. According

to new studies released by the Environmental Protection Agency, potent

carcinogens from industrial wastes, such as dioxin and other chlorinated

compounds, are known to be concentrated in the animal fat of meat, fish, and

dairy products. On the other hand, vegetables, fruits, and grains contain only

small amounts of these compounds.

So why is the Zone diet so popular? It's followers defend it vehemently, largely

because they find the rapid weight loss irresistible. Like most low carbohydrate

diets, however, a great deal of the weight loss is dehydration. Ordinarily,

three grams of water are stored with every gram of carbohydrates in the form of

glycogen in the liver and skeletal muscles. When this is sharply limited, the

desperate " zonies " think they are losing up to a pound of fat a day. It's also

low in calories (about 1,700), causing the unhealthy depletion of lean body mass

along with the minimal fat loss.

Also, without careful monitoring, this type of diet may lead to " ketosis " (an

unnatural form of acidosis), which often causes some degree of anorexia and even

euphoria. Sears denies that this happens with the amount of carbohydrates he

allows.However, Dr. Atkins, another proponent of high protein, high fat, low

carbohydrate consumption, considers ketosis to be a useful and necessary state.

If ketosis sounds familiar, it's also the result when insulin-dependent

diabetics can't metabolize carbohydrates without their insulin injections -- a

state leading up to diabetic coma.

The Sears diet recommends that one get 30 percent of calories from fat, 30

percent from protein, and 40 percent from carbohydrates. Here, it should be

obvious that these are approximately the proportions already consumed in most

Western countries, including the United States, where heart disease and cancer

are rampant. Furthermore, with such low intakes of complex carbohydrates, it

appears that Sears' recommended diet would be deficient in vegetables, fruits,

and whole grains -- and would contain inadequate fiber. Adding insult to injury,

this level of protein consumption may promote calcium loss and osteoporosis.

Sears has very little to say about cholesterol levels in his book. He writes,

" if cholesterol is such a villain, why does the body make so much of it? " The

real heart disease risk, he says, is " hyperinsulinemia and bad ecosinoids. " He

is either unaware that practically all published reports indicate just the

opposite, or he hasn't thoroughly read his own book -- written with the help of

professional magazine writer, Bill Lawren. It's riddled with such comments as,

" eating fat doesn't make you fat. " It cautions that such foods as potatoes,

brown rice, bread, corn, carrots, pasta, bananas, dry breakfast cereals, apple

juice and orange juice may be harmful to your health. None of the references

quoted, backing these conclusions, have ever been published, and the book does

not contain a reference section or a bibliography.

So in summary, a half century of scientific research, first from Ansel Keyes'

population studies in the 1950's to T.Colin 's ongoing

Cornell-Oxford-China Nutrition project today, has given us a wealth of data

supporting the health benefits of carbohydrates. " The Zone " would be a giant

step backward. A little weight loss, which is quickly regained when the diet is

no longer tolerated, isn't worth the inevitable long-term health risk.

---------------------------------

July 30, 2002

In my opinion, AND THIS IS JUST MY OPINION, Sears and Atkins are both money

grubbing idiots. Thanks Tim for the article, I wish I could make the people in

my life understand that all carbs are not the same.

In fact, last night I had WHITE rice for dinner and my bg level was 229 2 hours

after. Thats extraordinarily HIGH, I shall stick to my usual brown.

Susi

Tim Mead wrote: