Supporters of the Atkins diet are calling the results of a study comparing it to other weight-loss regimens "vindication."

The two-year study conducted at a nuclear research facility in Israel focused on the low-carb Atkins-style diet with a low-fat diet and a Mediterranean-style diet.

A report in The New England Journal of Medicine determined that the 322 participants all achieved weight loss and improved cholesterol. But it also found that a low-carb diet similar to the Atkins diet helped improve cholesterol levels more than the two competing diets. Some critics had predicted the opposite.

The study is remarkable not only because it lasted two years, much longer than most, but also because of the huge proportion of people who stuck with the diets -- 85 percent.