Diet fanatics are everywhere.
People pick sides and defend them as if they were in a war.
One of the largest and loudest fanatic groups out there are the vegans and vegetarians.
Now I have nothing against vegan/vegetarian diets as I’m sure they do work well for some people.
But some of their proponents make claims that challenge both common sense and science.
One of those claims is that a low-carb, high-fat, high-protein diet that is rich in animal foods is either ineffective or dangerous.
They often claim that a low-fat vegetarian diet is the way to go, both ethically and for optimal health.
Ethically, maybe.
For optimal health, absolutely not.
Atkins (low-carb, high-fat) vs. Ornish (low-fat, high-carb, vegetarian)
We do have scientific evidence where a low-carb, high-fat diet is vastly superior to a low-fat vegetarian diet.
There was a fairly large randomized controlled trial published in 2007 comparing 4 different diets.
The A to Z Weight Loss Study: A Randomized Trial
It was published in the Journal of The American Medical Association by researchers at Stanford university.
One of those diets is the Atkins Diet (a low-carb, high-fat diet) and another is the Ornish diet (a low-fat, high-carb vegetarian diet).
The other two diets are the Zone (a moderate carb diet) and LEARN (similar to the official guidelines).
The study went on for 12 months. For simplicity, I’m going to focus on Atkins (low-carb) vs Ornish (low-fat, vegetarian). The results for the Zone and LEARN were intermediate between the Atkins and Ornish.
The study subjects were 311 overweight/obese premenopausal women and it went on for 12 months. It has quite a lot of power compared to many weight loss studies because it is fairly large and has an outstanding compliance rate with about 80% completing the study.
The Study Details
Each of the groups received a diet book and detailed instructions.
The group following the Atkins diet received the book The Atkins New Diet Revolution and those following the Ornish diet received Eat More, Weigh Less.
This study is an excellent representative of real life results and typical of most dieters, because most people on a diet aren’t housed and fed. They go out, buy a diet book and do their best to follow the advice.
They measured weight and a whole bunch of risk factors at 2, 6 and 12 months.
Both the Atkins and the Ornish diet were allowed to eat until fullness.
At the end of the study period, the individuals following the diets had gravitated a little bit away from the guidelines.
The Atkins group had started to eat more carb (about 30% of calories, still fairly low) and the Ornish group more fat (about 30%, typical for standard guidelines).
The Results – Low-Carb vs Vegetarian Low-Fat Diet
The Atkins group lost more weight than the Ornish group. -4.7kg (10.4lbs) vs. -2.6kg (5.7lbs) at 12 months. The difference was statistically significant at 2 and 6 months, while almost significant at 12 months.
Other markers of health were significantly improved on Atkins compared to the Ornish diet:
HDL Cholesterol: The “good” cholesterol, HDL, improved by 4.9 mg/dL on Atkins while it didn’t change at all on the Ornish diet.
Triglycerides: Decreased by 29.3 mg/dL on Atkins compared to 14.9 mg/dL on Ornish.
Systolic Blood Pressure: Decreased by 7.6 mmHg on Atkins, compared to 1.9 mmHg on Ornish.
Diastolic Blood Pressure: Decreased by 4.4 mmHg on Atkins, but only 0.7 mmHg on Ornish.
A few other things had greater improvements on the Atkins diet, but weren’t statistically significant. These include glucose and insulin levels, along with compliance (88% on Atkins compared to 78% on Ornish).
LDL cholesterol improved slightly on the Ornish diet at 2 months, but the effect had pretty much diminished at 6 and 12 months and the difference was not significant.
Basically, there were several important advantages for the low-carb diet and there were zero advantages for the low-fat vegetarian diet.
Generally speaking, the Atkins diet did best out of all 4 diets on all parameters measured, while the low-fat vegetarian diet did the worst.
This is the only study I know of that compares a low-carb diet to a vegetarian diet head to head. Next time a vegan/vegetarian comes by with a condescending look and tells you you’re killing yourself with all that meat and protein, tell them about this study.
Christopher Gardner, the Vegetarian Lead Researcher
The lead author of the study, Christopher Gardner, is a 25 year vegetarian and a nutritionist.
In contrast with most of those who share these attributes, he chose the open-minded point of view and presented the results as they were (instead of sticking his head in the sand in denial, which is common for both vegetarians and nutritionists).
Here is a video where he presents the results of the study.
I’m a vegetarian myself, out of ethical reasons more than anything else.
Although I’m convinced it is healthier as well…
I believe the main problem with many vegetarian/vegan diets is that they are pretty carb-heavy, and not necessarily healthy automatically just because they are vegetarian :
It’s one thing to consider whether a vegetarian diet is healthier on the whole than a meat based one, and it’s another thing to live on mars bars…which are vegetarian as well…I think! :-D )
Mark
Hey Mark, just learned that science is trying to genetically engineer meat. If you are concerned with the ethics of being a carnie you could give that a try. Label GMO’s. Live long and prosper.
Mark, you nailed the crux of vegetarianism. The label alone doesn’t make it healthy; it’s our food choices. I used to have this problem with vegetarian diets; too many carbs! But even then, I found myself losing more weight than when I was in a high animal based protein diet. I still love being a vegetarian for ethical reasons, but keep an open mind for those who don’t share my views. I’m sure we could agree in something else.
Good information. Was impressed with data and how it was presented. I am not a nutritionalist, but am very interested in this topic. Read many books and articles and have this data swimming in my head. Would be amazed if I could actually apply to my lifestyle. Super morbid obese @ 84% BMI, sleep deprived, stress level off the charts, and single mom of 3.
Stephanie, maybe you could start with small changes toward applying these principles. Any change you make, even small ones, in the right direction make a difference. Just pick one thing a week to change. LIke the first change could be replacing all beverages with water and don’t focus on anything else. Then the next week you could add a 10-15 minutes walk into your day. Just make small changes and over time you will see big change. You have a dangerously high BMI and that is scary.
Oh Stephanie, come on, you can do it. A low carb diet is sooooo simple and effective.
Go girl!
“…remember that prolonged dieting (this one [meaning the Atkins diet], low-fat, low-calorie, or a combination) tends to shut down thyroid function. This is usually not a problem with the thyroid gland (therefore blood tests are likely to be normal) but with the liver, which fails to convert T4 into the more active thyroid principle, T3. The diagnosis is made on clinical ground with the presence of fatigue, sluggishness, dry skin, coarse or falling hair, an elevation in cholesterol, or a low body temperature. I ask my patients to take four temperature readings daily before the three meals and near bedtime. If the average of all these temperatures, taken for at least three days, is below 97.8 degrees F (36.5 C), that is usually low enough to point to this form of thyroid problem; lower readings than that are even more convincing.” – Dr. Atkins
Loved the presentation. Very informative. Thanks!
Dr Atkins was so far ahead of the times. He’s still changing lives.
You are comparing the two extremes in this study, I am a vegetarian, but it doesn’t mean my diet is low fat at all. I use good amounts of olive oil and organic butter, cheese and eggs, and try to limit my carbs to less than 100 – 150 grams a day. All you are doing here is convincing people that the health benefits of eating meat far outweigh the ethical reasons for not eating meat. Maybe you don’t have horrific animal abuse problems in Iceland, but there certainly is in the US, UK and large countries.
Thanks Kris for pointing out this lecture, it had few studies which are good for the ever growing collection of low-carb-studies-are-whipping-low-fat-studies.
And Amelle, although being a pro meat eater I believe everyone should respect others ethical reasons when it comes to diet, like Kris says in the beginning of the article.
Hi. Non meat eaters don’t have the omami taste well developed. So as a vegan I could not continue even eggs. So now my problem is to find good protein options. Ethical or taste or cultural reasons apart, what are the best protein options for vegans? Kris, I am asking you particularly! Thanks.
You can probably find better sources on vegan nutrition than me.
Maybe beans, soy or something. I believe it can be important to mix different foods to get a more complete amino acid profile, as most plants on themselves don’t contain all the amino acids the body needs in the right ratios.
Thanks a lot.
When I was in college, some of the most sickly looking people I knew were vegetarians. Some people treat it like a religion and there is no getting through to them. If it works, great. But personally, our bodies were genetically designed to consume meat. Maybe the problem is the meat we produce these days is unhealthy, not necessarily the meat itself. Regardless, there are few things better than a great steak imo.
I believe balance is the key but I lean more towards the low carb lifestyle which keeps me leaner. I try to stay away from sugar and simple carbs especially. Lean proteins like fish and grilled chicken breast work well for me. I do enjoy fruit and I eat lots of veggies. Being a Libra I am into balance.