June 12/Denver/PRNewswire -- Atkins Nutritionals Inc. announced that a recently released epidemiology study published in Nutrition Journal has come to the mistaken conclusion that a low-carbohydrate diet, like the Atkins Diet, is to blame for rising cholesterol levels between 1986 and 2010 in a Swedish population. However, based on the study abstract, this population actually consumed a high-fat, high-carbohydrate diet, which is very different from the Atkins Diet.
Based on the Swedish study of food frequency questionnaires, during 2010 the population consumed a diet with carbohydrates making up 45.9% of calories and 39.9% of calories from fat. In contrast, with Atkins, in the early weight loss phases, only 10% of calories come from healthy carbohydrates, and the remaining calories come from a variety of protein choices, as well as healthy fats such as olive oil and avocado. Foods associated with the high fat intake in this Swedish study were "fats used for spreading on bread and cooking, dairy products, oil for salad dressing or cooking, various types of meats, and sausages, as main dishes or on sandwiches, pizza, deep fried potato chips, French fries, including corn chips and popcorn."