US Teen Dies After Following High-Protein Diet

**rhiana** · 10-31-2002, 04:39 PM

This is really scarey. A lot of people at my work are jumping on this High Protein/Atkins thing, I'm glad I keep refusing to join. It has always seemed like an unhealthy thing to me. Even my doctor said to stay away from it. Really long article. Click the link to get the whole thing...
http://story.news.yahoo.com/newstmpl...een_protein_dc

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Missouri doctors describe the case of an apparently healthy 16-year-old girl who collapsed suddenly and died after spending one to two weeks on a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet.

Electrolyte imbalances due to the diet, and the resulting damage to her heart function, were likely responsible, the physicians who cared for her report in a recent issue of the Southern Medical Journal. The girl had no known illnesses or medical conditions.

The teen had low potassium and calcium levels when she arrived at the University of Missouri Health Sciences Center, most likely as a consequence of the diet, the doctors state in their report. This disrupted the normal electrical function of her heart, leading it to stop and causing her to collapse, they write.

Dietitians and proponents of the Atkins diet, one example of a low-carbohydrate/high-protein diet, say that other weight-loss measures including eating disorders like bulimia or the use of diuretics were far more likely to have contributed to the low electrolyte levels found in the teen's blood.

Dr. D. Paul Robinson, a co-author of the paper, said in an interview that while there might be other explanations for the teen's death, including an abnormal heart rhythm, interviews with her parents did not suggest that she had a history of bulimia or diuretic use. Robinson is an assistant professor of child health in the division of adolescent medicine at the University of Missouri, Columbia. .......click the link to get the rest of the article

SOURCE: Southern Medical Journal 2002;95:1047-1049.

click the link to get the rest of the article

**bamamomto4** · 10-31-2002, 05:55 PM

Oh Gosh how sad!!!!

Some ladies dh works with have done this diet.Maybe I should forward this article...

**captclearance** · 10-31-2002, 06:08 PM

This is very tragic......
It should be well known by now that fad diets are dangerous !!!
A well balenced diet is the key to weight loss and good health.

**dozymom** · 10-31-2002, 06:12 PM

It's exceptionally rare for any unbalanced diet over a one to two week period to cause that kind of trouble, even this one.

There are some heart arrythmia's that kill people including sudden death in apparently healthy teens every year.

If she had been on it a month or more, or had been doing something unusual with that diet such as following the liquid protein fast, I could see that being a problem but even in the early 70's with the liquid protein fasts, the problems took a while to show up.

This is a bit fast, and that doctor is drawing some awfully quick conclusions that may not actually be the facts.

I didn't like the Atkins response either. Their spokesperson should know that ordinary ER resuss efforts shouldn't cause weird readings.

I've seen an awful lot of medical nonsense over the years in the papers, stuff blown out of porportion by the media or a company promoting a drug or a new treatment coming up that the stock promoters want a good newsleak for.

As an RN I would want more info on the autopsy and I'd be looking for oddities in her calcium metabolism, her hearts electrical system, any strangeness in the family gene pool relating to heart disorders.

I'm also betting that the parents wouldn't know if their dd was bulimic or anorexic. Most don't and most parents think they have a really close relationship and their kids would talk.

But the truth is most kids don't discuss their weight issues, and they have a vested interest in staying in denial. So do the parents often times.

I wouldn't put any stock in the parents confident announcement that their dd had only been dieting a week or two at most.

What strikes me is the lack of other info in this story, not the conclusion that the dr rather quickly drew.

**rhiana** · 10-31-2002, 06:24 PM

Thanks for so much information dozymom! Even if the protien diet wasn't what killed her, I would never let my kid go on a fad diet. If her parents even knew. I have lost 30 lbs in the last year and I did it by changing my whole life style around. Adding good foods, eliminating bad ones and uping my activity and exercise level like 100%. And it was a whole lot more enjoyable then eating nothing but Cabbage soup or red meat! I'm not a medical person but I don't think any diet that allows you to eat only one type of food could be that healthy.

**dozymom** · 10-31-2002, 06:52 PM

Amen to that Rhiana!!!!

Fad diets aren't good, and they do a lot of harm in the long haul.

I'm willing to bet that little gal has had a bout or two with anorexia in the past which may have weakened her heart muscle, or she may have been chronically bulimic, maintaining, not losing a lot of weight but throwing off her body electrolytes something fierce.

There are some good diets that do rely on higher amounts of protein which help balance blood sugar levels such as the Zone diet, and the Carbohydrate Addicts diet or the Woman Dr's Diet for Women which limit carbs, (they don't eliminate them by any means) and somewhat increase the protein portions. They work. But they have fruits, veggies, grains, good fats and are a basically well balanced diet.

Sometimes people refer to them as high protein or Atkins, but they are a much more balanced version of a high protein diet which pays attention to other needs for things like Potassium and Calcium. They are safe and they work well for some people who aren't able to lose any other way.

I'd hate to see anyone stop a diet like the Zone, or the other two I mentioned that are balanced if that is what is working for them because they are considered high protein.

But balance is the key and a diet that causes ketosis isn't healthy. You can have a balanced but higher protein diet that doesn't rely on ketosis for weight loss.

Those 3 I mentioned are basically a version of the old fashioned diabetic diets from about 30 years ago, relying on higher fats and proteins to stop blood sugar swings and promote a feeling of fulness and satiation.

If people can just remember moderation is the key to any diet and if they feel sicker on a diet, this is their body telling them it's not good for them, try something else.

I have a friend in kidney failure, who is suffering from too much potassium because his kidneys can't get rid of it fast enough anymore and his wife was feeding him raw carrot juice and juicing everything in sight.

He is also a diabetic and the sheer amount of fruit sugar he was consuming was hurting him too. She was horrified to find out that the raw fruits and veggies diet he was on (Malkmus Hallelujah diet which works well for a lot of people) was making him sicker.

Either end of the spectrum, people make themselves sick when they go off on tangents.

Here's to moderation in all things.

**mgory29379** · 10-31-2002, 09:37 PM

I am so appalled. I want to know why a sixteen year old would be dieting anyway unless she was severally obese. If that were the case she would've been on a docotr prescribed diet then and this probably would have happened. People have become so focused on outer appearances than what is on the inside that tragedies like this happen. It is a sad day for all of us to know that this girl died for no reason.

**Lori Biever-Launder** · 11-02-2002, 12:17 AM

I would rather be overweight and alive (I am overweight BTW). At least I am healthy. I walk twice a day for about 20-30 minutes each time and am active. Yes, I eat too much, but I don't do drugs; I drink a single drink or two a month. It's more important to LIVE as a vibrant, fully alive person rather than obsess with something so trivial. Off the soapbox now!

**COUNTRYBUMPKIN** · 11-02-2002, 07:26 PM

It is very important to get your minerals and vitamins every day. This is exactly why my family and I take the right kinds of supplements. Calcium and Magnesium is one of the most important ones to prevent a mycardioinfraction. It is next to impossible to get the right kinds of nutrients alone. The soils here are so depleted due to all of the chemicels being used now days. Even dr's are recommending that every human being take a good vitamin/mineral every day now. Also getting the right kind of calcium is important. Tablets are not that great! You need a liquid calcium/mag citrate with vitamin d added for proper absorbtion , or a good coral calcium capsule. Also this helps to balance your ph to avoid getting cancer and other awful diseases. Disease cannot survive in a alkaline body, but thrives in an acidic one.

This is a tragedy! I would say that the girl had a myocardioinfraction due to the fact that her body was very depleted in electroyds. minerals(mainly calcium,potassium and magnesium), selenium and all other 72 trace minerals. Parents need to pay closer attention to their teens diets.

Also you may think that you are getting enough calcium from dairy, but dairy contains lactic acid which turns the body acidic and nutrients have a hard time even acsorbing in an acid enviornment. Hope this all makes sense to you

A couple of great books to read are DEATH BY DIET and THE CALCIUM FACTOR BY ROBERT BAREFOOT. These are very informative books. Robert Barefoot is a well know scientist and really knows his stuff. Thousands of people have come to him dying and are now free of disease because of following his advice.

I would also like to add that childhood obesity is at an epidemic level now and the culprits I believe contributing to this is

1. fast food
2. processed foods
3. inactivity
4. too much pop!
5. emotional problems(contribute to eating too much)
Would anyone like to add anything else?