On the rounds

Published on Monday 25 July 2005 01:55

THE DEBATE over the advantages of low carbohydrate diets - such as the Atkins Diet - and weight loss goes on.

The latest research suggests that such diets work because they force people to eat more protein, which consequently suppresses the appetite, not because of a lower carbohydrate intake, according to the findings which are published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

These results suggest that it's not necessary for people to cut back carbohydrates to lose weight, according to Dr. Arne Astrup of the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University in Copenhagen, who wrote an accompanying editorial.

The study gives further credence to those who claim that low carb diets work simply because people on them take fewer calories - and not because of which food group the calorie intake consumed is made up of.

• DRINKING A modest amount of alcohol with an evening meal may increase the risk of low blood sugar the following day in patients with type 1 diabetes, the latest research suggests.

"There is no evidence to suggest that individuals with type 1 diabetes adopt a different approach to their use of alcohol than the rest of the population," Dr Tristan Richardson and colleagues from Royal Bournemouth Hospital write.

However, in patients treated with insulin, alcohol has been implicated in up to one fifth of hospital visits for episodes of low blood sugar, also known as hypoglycemia, the study indicates. The findings are published in Diabetes Care.

• EATING your greens might help protect against one kind of stroke, US scientists suggest.

Leafy green vegetables are high in the B vitamin folate, which appears to lower the risk of hemorrhagic stroke - that is, strokes caused by bleeding in the brain.

"Folate metabolism has been implicated in stroke," Dr. Bethany Van Guelpen, of Umea University, Sweden, and her team write in the medical journal Stroke. "However, the possibility of a role for folate and vitamin B12.... remains to be explored."

Other good sources of folate include dried beans and fruit - one more reason to make sure we eat the government recommended five a day.