The world famous Atkins diet that emphasises the intake of low carb and high protein foodstuffs as a weight loss formula could be unsafe for some people according to a new study. A professor from the New York School of Medicine specialising in nutrition and diet recorded the case of a female patient who was suffering from obesity. The forty year old woman ended up with near fatal complications due to her Atkins diet and the professor and his colleagues published the report in The Lancet.

The female patient who had been using the Atkins diet and was also using the recommended supplements, had to be quickly taken to hospital with shortness of breath and was eventually realised to be suffering from a disease called ketoacidosis. This happens when very inflated levels of acids known as ketones start to appear in the bloodstream. The Ketones acids are a product of the liver which appear when the body is starving. Eating a a low carb diet like with the Atkins diet may cause the production of these ketone acids according to the report.

The woman had to be put in the ICU of the hospital and was said to have been in a dangerous condition until the problem was diagnosed and action was taken. The reports authors were suprised that no other cases of this condition had been reported with other people on the Atkins diet and were of the opinion that for some people the Atkins diet could be unsafe.

However another expert thought that maybe it wasn't the diet that had created the disease and that the ketoacidosis may have been a result of the patient had being very obese and then suddenly losing a lot of weight. Rapid weight loss should always be done under medical supervision as it could be bad for the human body to experience very quick changes in weight. The nutritionist Doctor Foster said that to use the diet as a scapegoat for this womans problem would be to ignore the harmful effects of rapid weight loss which is scientifically considered to be harmful to health.

Many doctors and nutritionist say that you should choose a healthy diet when you need to lose weight, and that a sensible program of good diet and regular exercise is the best way forward. Atkins is frowned upon by some health experts as they consider it to be as a quick-fix solution to what is an ongoing problem.

The other Atkins diet criticisms are that it goes against all the principles of knowledge regarding healthy eating and weight loss management, and that the rapid weight loss coupled with the need for supplements is harmful for the body and could cause other health complications.