[Deliciously_Saucy]

Robert H. Eckel, MD, director of the general clinical research center at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver agrees. He tells WebMD, "Our worries over the Atkins diet go way past the question of whether it is effective for losing weight or even for keeping weight off. We worry that the diet promotes heart disease. ... We have concerns over whether this is a healthy diet for preventing heart disease, stroke, and cancer. There is also potential loss of bone, and the potential for people with liver and kidney problems to have trouble with the high amounts of protein in these diets."

Volumetrics author Barbara Rolls, PhD, who holds the Guthrie Chair in Nutrition at Penn State University, offers this: "No one has shown, in any studies, that anything magical is going on with Atkins other than calorie restriction. The diet is very prescriptive, very restrictive, and limits half of the foods we normally eat," she says. "In the end it's not fat, it's not protein, it's not carbs, it's calories. You can lose weight on anything that helps you to eat less, but that doesn't mean it's good for you."

Source: The Atkins Diet: What It Is

When people start consuming too much protein (over 2.0 g/kg/d), the extra protein can become a stressful stimulus for the kidney. This is even more of a concern as we get older and our organs are less efficient and effective.

Very high levels of dietary protein have also been correlated with increased urinary calcium excretion. The loss of calcium through urine could potentially be harmful for bone turnover, with the added risk of osteoporosis.

Liver disease certainly poses a problem as far as how protein and amino acids are handled in the body. The liver is the main organ for breaking down amino acids, so when it is impaired, amino acids levels can build up and become toxic. This is particularly worrisome in the case of the so-called aromatic amino acids, such as tryptophan and phenylalanine, which are processed by the liver.

Source: Nutrition: How Much Protein Do You Need?

(look up "protein toxicity")

Atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease:

Prospective randomised trial in 1062 infants of di...[Lancet. 1995] - PubMed Result
Ann Intern Med -- Sign In Page
Effects of dietary saturated, monounsaturated and ...[Atherosclerosis. 2003] - PubMed Result
NEJM -- Dietary Fat Intake and the Risk of Coronary Heart Disease in Women

A 2003 meta-analysis published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition concluded that diets high in saturated fat negatively affected cholesterol profiles — predictors of a heart attack and other cardiovascular diseases

Source: http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/doc...sup0001-02.pdf

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