Spanish diet may offer healthy weight loss

A Spanish attempt to create a Mediterranean version of the Atkins’ diet has passed its first hurdle, researchers have reported.

A study of 31 overweight volunteers has led to researchers declaring the diet to be "safe and effective".

Atkins-style diets, formally known as ketogenic diets, reduce carbohydrates, such as sugar and starch, to a minimum.

The new Spanish diet adds the benefits of the so-called Mediterranean diet, which has been linked to improved heart health and a range of other benefits.

Volunteers ate a diet high in olive oil, salad and fish and with "moderate" amounts of red wine. They were allowed to eat as much as they could.

The findings have been published recently in the Nutrition Journal.

Volunteers who ate the diet lost on average 14 kg – two stone.

Researchers Joaquín Pérez-Guisado, Andrés Muñoz-Serrano and Ángeles Alonso-Moraga, from the University of Cordoba, Spain, write: "According to this study, the Spanish Ketogenic Mediterranean Diet is safe, an effective way of losing weight, promoting non-atherogenic lipid profiles, lowering blood pressure and improving fasting blood glucose levels.

Spanish Ketogenic Mediterranean diet: a healthy cardiovascular diet for weight loss – Nutrition Journal 2008, 7:30doi:10.1186/1475-2891-7-30