Low carbohydrate, high protein diets might be helpful in shedding weight quickly, but they can be unhealthy. Researchers from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health in Minneapolis found that low-carbohydrate diets for weight management are far from healthy. These diets can cause constipation, diarrhoea, headache, bad breath and ketosis, which leads to raised levels of ketones, or acids, in the body. They cited the unpleasant effects and a lack of trials to test the long-term effects of low-carbohydrate diets. In a case report, doctors at New York University School of Medicine said they had treated a 40-year-old obese woman, who had followed the Atkins diet, for a life-threatening illness known as ketoacidosis. The diet, based on research by Dr Robert Atkins who died in 2003, involves eating proteins such as meat and cheese and limiting carbohydrates such as bread and pasta. The patient had an underlying ketosis caused by the Atkins diet and developed severe ketoacidosis, adding that mild pancreatitis or stomach infection may have contributed to the problem. High levels of ketones in blood cause ketoacidosis. It can lead to coma and death if untreated. Special care should be taken with diet plans because patients wanting to shed weight may have a wide range of risk factors for diseases.
British Medical Journal,
March 2006