Report: Diet Doctor Atkins Was Obese

Yahoo/AP ^ | 2/10/2004 | AP

[ClintonBeGone]

NEW YORK - Dr. Robert Atkins, whose popular diet stresses protein-rich meat and cheese over carbohydrates, weighed 258 pounds at his death and had a history of heart disease, a newspaper reported Tuesday.

Atkins died last April at age 72 after being injured in a fall on an icy street.

Before his death, he had suffered a heart attack, congestive heart failure and hypertension, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing a report by the city medical examiner.

At 258 pounds, the 6-foot-tall Atkins would have qualified as obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (news - web sites)'s body-mass index calculator.

Diet is one potential factor in heart disease, but infections also can contribute to it.

Stuart Trager, chairman of the Atkins Physicians Council in New York, told the Journal that Atkins' heart disease stemmed from cardiomyopathy, a condition thought to result from a viral infection.

Atkins' weight was due to bloating associated with his condition, and he had been much slimmer during most of his life, Trager said.

The medical examiner's report was given to the Journal by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a group that advocates vegetarianism. The medical examiner's office told the Journal that the report had been sent to the group in error.

There was no immediate response Tuesday to a call seeking additional comment from the medical examiner's office.

The diet guru's widow, Veronica Atkins, was outraged that the report had been made public.

"I have been assured by my husband's physicians that my husband's health problems late in life were completely unrelated to his diet or any diet," she told the Journal.

Last month, Veronica Atkins demanded an apology from Mayor Michael Bloomberg after Bloomberg called her late husband "fat."

In April 2002, Atkins issued a statement saying he was recovering from cardiac arrest related to a heart infection he had suffered from "for a few years." He said it was "in no way related to diet."

[Outlaw76]

" But sometimes, it sounds like a cult."

LOL!

I think that's because many of us that it works for feel like we just woke up from a kind of drugged stuppor and sound like fanatics. --It's been that kind of change for me.

[Ladysmith]

(And most Registered Dieticians don't get it, because they are taught to follow the typical Food Pyramid, with pasta, bread, etc at the base of a diet.)

No doubt. I'm recovering from surgery right now (gall bladder was removed) and in the discharge papers is their diet recommendations which is the ol' Food Pyramid list of foods (read "6 to 11 servings from the grain/bread/cereal group.") Yeah, right, I don't think so!

I did get a laugh from the anesthesiologist as he looked over my records when prepping me for the surgery. "Atkins! Alright!!" LOL

[Darnright]

The last time I checked, medical records, except in the case of homicide or other crimes are private, aren't they? Among low-carb dieters it's common knowledge that Atkins had some heart problems, initially caused by a virus. Whoever leaked this ought to be horsewhipped.

"I know those on Atkins will refuse to look into this, but you really should be concerned about this. Obviously his wife would not want this out, but she is also milking profits from things related to his diet. Why would she ever reveal medical conditions that could be related to his diet?
I'm just asking freepers on this to investigate this carefully, especially in light of how irritated his wife is getting at the revelation of his medical condition prior to his death. I don't see how she would be so upset if this was NOT related in some way, at least partially, to his lifestyle and diet. This revelation means she stands to lose a lot of money if the diet was in fact not healthy long term."

[Sabatier]

It really allows you to concentrate without that constant Homer Simpson feeling of "MMMM...Donut!":)

[Sloth]

I don't see how she would be so upset if this was NOT related in some way, at least partially, to his lifestyle and diet.

Maybe she had some wacky, unfounded fear that the fanatics who hate her husband would try to use the information to discredit him. Naaaahh!

[Redleg Duke]

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine

And guess who bankrolls this "committee"? PETA

[America second to none]

WARNING! ATKINS DIET MAKES YOU OBESE.....IN THE LONG RUN.

[Choose Ye This Day]

How about fruits? Do you eat many, and if so, which ones?

I'm starting Atkins and I'm craving fruit.

[11th Earl of Mar]

I am no expert on Atkins.

But I do know that 20 grams of carbs per day will reduce a massive body-builder to a Pee Wee Herman faster than you can say 'Pip-Squeak'.

And would also make him extremely irritable. [Self experience talking here]

[TaxRelief]

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is a PETA subgroup.

[bvw]

The body, its organs, its cells, at each level are self-correcting, self-repairing, independent units. The ability to heal, to correct, only goes so far. Some trials, injuries, can produce a result, after the period of suffering, that is stronger and longer-lasting.

Others leave a more permanent injury, a scar, that without special treatment for some, and for others never remediable, except by G-d, that allow the unit -- the cell, the organ, the body -- to produce all the things one might expect in normal range while in normal conditions. Yet under stress -- such as when later sick with a virus -- that damage makes its effect known.

[SamAdams76]

You are welcome. One of the greatest pleasures of my weight loss campaign last year was being able to help inspire others to do the same.

For years, I lived with my excess weight and even joked in a self-deprecating way about it. I pretended, as many obese people tend to do, to be "happy" with myself just the way I was. I would also scoff at all the latest diet crazes out there, knowing that nearly all of the people pushing the latest diet was a charlatan and a fraud, making money off the obese by scamming them.

But I was not happy being obese. I did not like having to sit down in a chair to tie my shoes. I did not like huffing and puffing to just climb a flight of stairs and telling my sons that today was "not a good day" to play catch because I was just so damn tired and just wanted to sit in a chair all day. I did not like going to the "big and tall" shop to get overpriced clothing that never really fit right or looked good on you. I hated having my shirt come untucked everytime I bent over (or having my pants rip). I also hated the uncontrollable urge to "finish" every bag of chips or cookies I ever opened (or any kind of food, for that matter). I hated the back pain I got whenever I tried to do something strenous. I can go on and on with the various indignities that obese people just learn to live with.

Well the low-carb plan I went on changed all of that, hopefully forever. Doesn't have to be Atkins but Atkins has the right idea. Whatever low-carb path is chosen (combined with exercise) is likely to be successful for those who have struggled with obesity their whole lives.

[Sabatier]

As an aside, I knew a Vietnamese guy who after coming to America started eating McDonald's every day - which he loved - but he ballooned up in no time flat. He told me this with a great deal of pride. I guess if you've been starving all your life eating whatever you want, as much as you want is a sign of success!

[Lael]

Stuart Trager, chairman of the Atkins Physicians Council in New York, told the Journal that Atkins' heart disease stemmed from cardiomyopathy, a condition thought to result from a viral infection.

Just got back from our annual trip to the tax accountant...He has a mild case of heart enlargement, as did his father, and grandfather!!

Nothing to do with 'Atkins' Diet.

And apparently, these 'viral' infections are more common than one thinks!

To me, the question always is...using a specific diet, to get obesity under control, say in one's Twenties...is the remaining, say, fifty years of proper weight more likely to prolong life than 50 years of obesity without, say, the one year of 'Atkins' early on.

I don't know that answer.

[SBprone]

Man does not live by Porterhouse alone!

[TaxRelief]

Eat lots of dark greens (kale, mustard greens, turnup greens from your Freezer section of your local grocer) and fresh parsley, fresh kale, fresh romaine and the craving will go away. Eat the greens with your meat and in between.

[MaeWest]

By KATY MCLAUGHLIN and RON WINSLOW
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
www.wsj.com

A medical examiner's report on the death of diet guru Dr. Robert Atkins suggests that he had a history of heart attack, congestive heart failure and hypertension.

The document, a report of external examination from the chief medical examiner's office in New York, also says that at his death Dr. Atkins weighed 258 pounds. Dr. Atkins died in April last year at age 72 of a head injury from a fall on ice while walking to work. The report attributes the death to a "blunt impact injury of head." The report was sent to The Wall Street Journal by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a group that advocates a vegetarian diet and has long been critical of the Atkins approach.

The Atkins diet, which advocates strictly limiting the intake of carbohydrates, has transformed the way Americans eat. It has long been criticized by health groups that say it puts dieters at risk for heart disease because they often replace carbohydrates with fatty foods like meat and cheese. Throughout his life, Dr. Atkins followed his own diet advice, which is why his personal health has often been a subject of scrutiny by critics of the eating plan.

Stuart Trager, chairman of the Atkins Physicians Council in New York, says Dr. Atkins's medical records show that the diet guru's heart problems were related to a condition called cardiomyopathy, a disease of the heart muscle that probably resulted from a virus. His heart problems for the most part weren't from the kind of cardiovascular disease that could be related to his eating habits, he said.

"He had no record of having a heart attack," Dr. Trager said. "My understanding is that he had no reported true evidence of classical angina," a reference to chest pain that is often a symptom of arterial blockages. "He did have a history of irregular heart beats."


Dr. Trager attributed some of Dr. Atkins's weight to his being severely bloated with fluid, a common occurrence in people with his particular condition. A weak heart is unable to clear fluids efficiently. Throughout his life, the diet doctor's weight was "significantly less," said Dr. Trager. The report says that Dr. Atkins was six-feet tall. His weight upon death qualified him as obese, based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's body-mass index calculator.

The New York City medical examiner's office says the report was sent to the advocacy group "in error" and that "they should never have received it because they weren't treating physicians." Atkins Nutritionals, the company that markets Atkins food and information products, said its lawyers are investigating how the document was obtained.

An autopsy wasn't performed on Dr. Atkins because the family objected to it, a spokeswoman in the medical examiner's office said. Instead, the examiners office conducted an external examination based on information obtained from the hospital.

Handwritten comments in the medical-examiner report say that Dr. Atkins had a history of "MI," meaning myocardial infarction, the medical term for heart attack, as well as "CHF" (congestive heart failure) and "HTN" (hypertension). Dr. Trager says that medical history on examiners reports is often written by less experienced doctors who may not know a patient's detailed history.

Veronica Atkins, the doctor's widow, expressed outrage that her husband's "personal medical history" was made public. "I have been assured by my husband's physicians that my husband's health problems late in life were completely unrelated to his diet or any diet."

Heart attacks are generally caused by the accumulation of fats in the coronary arteries -- a condition called atherosclerosis that is often related to diet. Heart attacks, in turn, often result in a compromised heart muscle that leads to heart failure. But heart failure can have other causes, including viruses and infections not resulting from blocked arteries.

Dr. Trager says that the latter explanation accounts for essentially all of Dr. Atkins's heart problems.

Eric Topol, chairman of cardiology at the Cleveland Clinic, says severe heart failure much more frequently results from heart attacks caused by clogged arteries than from viruses or infections. But he says there isn't enough information in the medical examiner's report on Dr. Atkins to determine the root cause of his heart trouble.

Dr. Atkins medical history has been publicized in the past. In 2002, he suffered a sudden cardiac arrest and was revived. His organization disclosed details about his bout with cardiomyopathy, a disease of the heart muscle that sometimes develops from mysterious causes. Dr. Trager suggested the "MI" entry on the medical examiner's report may have referred to that episode.

Indeed, in the last years of his life, Dr. Atkins had a very weak heart. His so-called ejection fraction, a measure of the heart's pumping capacity, was "15 to 20," Dr. Trager said. Anything below 40 is considered heart failure; a reading of 15 is characteristic of some patients waiting for heart transplants.

[Outlaw76]

Induction can be rough...

You can find a ton of information and many usefull tools at the Atkins site

Pay close attention to the allowed foods. Don't stray far for the first couple of weeks.

[Pukin Dog]

You are wrong.

Elite Bodybuilders follow a diet that is actually more extreme than Atkins. They eliminate ALL carbs for the last 2-3 months before a show, and use their workouts to maintain their muscle. One or two days before a contest, they introduce carbs to swell their muscles out with glycogin before there is time for it be converted into fat. This is why many bodybuilders look better a week after a show than when they competed. Their diets usually consist of nothing but skinned chicken, tuna, and LOTS of eggs. There are a minicule amount of carbs in these foods, but not even the 20 or so grams you would have during Atkins induction.

I've never been overweight, but I have used the diet to control heriditary high blood pressure and cholesterol.

[TaxRelief]

Perhaps we should all send letters to our local ME's warning them about this new scam. I wonder if there is a Medical Examiner's Journal?