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Studies Says: Atkins Best Diet Around

The Atkins Nutritional Approach, better known as the Atkins Diet is the most marketed and well-known of the low-carbohydrate diets. Now, a Stanford University study shows that it is also the most effective of diets available. Christopher Gardner of Stanford University, who was lead author of the research, said the study showed that Atkins could be healthier than maybe thought. The study found that overweight women on the Atkins plan lost more weight, over a year, than those on the low-carb Zone diet. Women o the Atkins diet had slightly better blood pressure and cholesterol readings than those on the Zone, the very low-fat, high-carb Ornish diet, and a low-fat, high-carb diet, which is similar to government guidelines.

Atkins was adopted by Dr. Robert Atkins in the 1960s from a diet he read in the Journal of the American Medical Association and utilized to resolve his own overweight condition following medical school and graduate medical training. After successfully treating over 10 thousand patients, he popularized the Atkins diet in a series of books, starting with "Dr. Atkins` Diet Revolution", in 1972. In his revised book, "Dr. Atkins` New Diet Revolution," Atkins updated some of his ideas, but remained faithful to the original concepts of the diet.

The Atkins franchise had been highly successful, however, various factors have led to its dwindling in success, and the company Atkins Nutritionals headquartered in Ronkonkoma, New York, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July of 2005 and emerged in January 2006. Although the brand has been absent for some time it still remains public due to licensed-proprietary branding for food products and related merchandise.