The low-carb craze that's sweeping the nation has no sign of letting up -- and two new studies bolster the idea that cutting carbs is a good way to cut pounds.

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Beverly Mahaffey has been following a low-carb diet for almost two years, and she's lost 27 pounds.

"I wanted to get down to a size five. That was my goal. I got down to a size four," she said.

Mahaffey feels great, and her good cholesterol is up 20 points. Her success is echoed in new studies comparing low-carb plans to conventional, low-fat diets.

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The studies, published in Tuesday's issue of Annals of Internal Medicine, compared low-carbohydrate diets with low-fat diets. They found that people on the low-carb diets had improved triglyceride levels and slightly improved HDL, or "good," cholesterol levels. LDL, or "bad," cholesterol levels did not change significantly.

One study, conducted by researchers at Duke University, followed 120 overweight people for six months. They found that participants on the low-carb diet lost an average of 26 pounds, compared to an average of 14 pounds lost by those on the low-fat diet.

In this study, which was funded by an unrestricted grant from the Robert C. Atkins Foundation, the low-carb dieters also received vitamins and other nutritional supplements.

"This diet can be quite powerful," said lead researcher Dr. Will Yancy. "The weight loss surprised me, to be honest with you. We also found cholesterol levels seemed to improve more on a low-carb diet compared to a low-fat diet."

In the second study, researchers at Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Philadelphia followed 132 obese adults for 12 months. Half the group limited carbohydrate intake to less than 30 grams per day; the other restricted caloric intake by 500 calories, with 30 percent of calories from fat.

While the low-carb dieters had lost more weight at the six-month mark, by 12 months both groups had lost about the same amount of weight -- 11 to 19 pounds for the low-carb group and 7 to 19 pounds for the low-fat group.

The 12-month study is the longest comparative study of the two types of diets. In addition to the cholesterol and triglyceride benefits of low-carb diets, researchers said people with diabetes who were on the diet had better control of blood sugar.

"Americans are overweight because we're eating too much food and ingesting too many calories," said Dr. Linda Stern, lead author of the study. "I think a low-carbohydrate diet is a good choice because much of our overeating has to do with consumption of too many carbohydrates."

But Stern said more research is needed to find out if low-carb diets are safe and effective in the long term.

Yancy agreed, saying he doesn't recommend an Atkins-style diet for people trying to lose weight for the first time. He cautioned that the diet could present certain health risks, such as elevations in LDL cholesterol levels, bone loss, or kidney stones.

But the studies support what some Americans have already found: low-carb diets can really take off the pounds.

"We can no longer dismiss very-low-carbohydrate diets," said Dr. Walter Willett, of the Harvard School of Public Health, in an editorial accompanying the two articles.

Willett said overweight people should work with their doctors to experiment with different diets. Then they should stick to one that works for them.

"Patients should focus on finding ways to eat that they can maintain indefinitely rather than seeking diets that promote rapid weight loss," Willet said.

Annals of Internal Medicine