It’s a never-ending battle when it comes to diet studies. A new study reveals that people on the Atkins diet are nearly twice as likely to gain weight as others.

Those eating under the Atkins regime were also at greater risk of dying during the course of the research compared to those who ate “a more balanced diet,” Daily Mail reports.

A Spanish study was conducted on the long-term effects of using the Atkins diet lifestyle to achieve and maintain weight loss. According to their research, the high-protein diet shows no real proof that it helps people to lose weight.

Spanish scientists say there’s evidence that health issues are at stake by using the Atkins diet. This study was conducted at the Rovira i Virgili University in Reus. They documented the health of men and women at high risk of heart disease for almost five years, the report explains. Focus was especially on how much protein the subjects consumed. The analysis revealed that the men and women who ate predominately protein with small amounts of carbohydrates were twice as likely to gain over 10 percent of their body weight — and 59 percent more likely to DIE during the study. The European Congress on Obesity “heard this group had a 66 percent greater chance of dying.”

Some of the deadly cons for those on Atkins showed kidney damage, blood fat levels, and how the body processes sugar were attributed to the lifestyle.

Scientists concluded: “Higher dietary protein intake is associated with long-term increased risk of body weight gain and overall death in a Mediterranean population at high cardiovascular risk.”

“At the moment, no evidence supports the use of high-protein diets as a strategy to lose weight long-term. However, there is some evidence, including our study, showing the negative effect of a high-protein diet on other clinical outcomes.”

As the report adds, Dr.Helena Gibson-Moore of the British Nutrition Foundation agrees that in the short-term weight loss is successful, but the chance to sustain that way of living over long-term is significantly “weaker.” This is due in part to high protein diets just being harder to adhere to.

Health Day offered a little more on who the men and women in this Atkins diet study were. There were 7,000 people respectively over the age of 55 studied while eating on a high-protein diet. They were also at greater risk of heart disease and all had either type 2 diabetes — or three or more additional risk factors which included smoking, high blood pressure, poor cholesterol levels, overweight or obesity, or a family history of premature heart disease. The study was for five years in all and analyzed their high-protein intake.

The Atkins diet has had a mixed bag of good and bad outcomes in various research.

[Image via Commons Wikimedia]