Atkins diet program rapidly decreases atherogenic index of plasma in trained adapted overweight men.

Background: The Atkins diet program is a great example of the application of low carbohydrate diets for obesity, with the intention of weight loss and improvement in cardiovascular risk (CV risk). A good CV risk predictor is the atherogenic index of plasma (AIP) calculated as log (TG/HDL [mmol]), which is strongly affected by serum triglycerides, which in turn is associated with the carbohydrate intake. This study determined the effect of the initial phase of Atkins diet program, consisting in 20 g/day of carbohydrate intake with positive urinary ketones measure, in AIP of 12 adult overweight trained adapted men.