According to a study at Duke University, the Atkins diet may be good for cholesterol:
After six months, participants on the Atkins diet had lost 31 pounds, had an 11 percent increase in HDL, the good cholesterol, and a 49 percent drop in tryglycerides. Step 1 dieters lost 20 pounds, showed no change in HDL, and their tryglycerides fell 22 percent. […]
I’m not on Atkins (my eating habits are most similar to The Zone), but this news was a bit surprising to me (a pleasant surprise, I suppose).
Update: Here’s another article on the Atkins diet study. This one focuses more on the teeth-gnashing that the study evoked from regular dietitians, while also noting that the study was financed in part by the Atkins Foundation.