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Atkins diet shrinks brain

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Atkins diet - World News - Marie Claire Rex Features

Controversial high-protein diets like Atkins shrink the brain, according to a new study. They could also cause Alzheimer's disease, it is claimed.

Tests on mice fed an Atkins-style diet found they ended up with brains five per cent lighter than those on other diets. The areas of the brain responsible for memory were also less developed.

Scientists suspect the high-protein low-carbohydrate diets leave brains more vulnerable to Alzheimer's.

At the height of Atkins-mania in 2003 and 2004, around three million Brits were following the diet.

It urges people to fill up on meat, eggs and cheese - and to shun carbohydrate-rich items like bread, rice and pasta. Hollywood actress Jennifer Aniston, 40, championed the plan, which was also used for a short period by X Factor judge Cheryl Cole, 26.

But the diet was slammed by doctors who warned it left people eating too much fat, putting them at risk of heart disease and kidney problems. Scientists say the new study suggests that the ravages of dementia ‘might be slowed or avoided through healthy eating.'

Alzheimer's researcher Professor Sam Gandy, from New York's Mount Sinai School of Medicine, said more research is needed to see if the diet really does trigger the disease. But he added: ‘The most unexpected result of our study was the loss of overall brain mass.'

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