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."

[11th Earl of Mar]

Your non-response will tell any reader that none of the elite bodybuilders eliminate all carbs before a contest.

[Mother of the Bride]

So, Dr. Atkins had been eating this way for about 30 years and he develops congestive heart failure later in life. Not a good sign!

[Moleman]

Hi Sam, congratulations on your success with this diet. I have started a similar diet/lifestyle change and have so far only one issue.
BEER
In the past I was in the unforyunate habit of coming home from work grabbing a beer or two, and so on where I would have six or more beers. BIG carb and sugar load ergo the beer belly. Any suggestions for those who want to cut carbs and have anocasional after dinner/before bedtime drink??

[looscnnn]

"Yeah, shut the hell up you lucky son-of-a-.... ;)"

Sure. You say that now, but I bet you were one of the those that picked on kids like me when you were young.

[moonhawk]

Is that true of all stouts?

How about porters?

Breathlessly waiting....

[traumer]

BS !!!

it's just the latest media spin

[traumer]

I believe it's the Orange Juice Assoc. behind this 'report'

[traumer]

Yeah, I see it now:

"report........ by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a group that advocates vegetarianism "

The Grain Lobby (?)

[PJ-Comix]

Where do I get some "un-fresh" vitamin C?

From a pill.

[Mother of the Bride]

The discussion of 'Atkins' is usually all about weight loss and not health. A long-term eating plan needs to contain all the elements of nutrition to feed the cells properly, keeping the immune system strong. Obviously, his immune system was compromised which led to the viral infection. I know sick, skinny people.

[bvw]

True.

Salt, hydrogeneated oils, simple starches -- all too much in abundance in our American diet. And fruit, nuts and good oils too deficient. The Atkins type diets cure one aspect only, and are risky.

[SamAdams76]

Well I have good news for you. You probably do not have to cut out beer. I drank beer on a nearly daily basis during my weight loss last year. Certainly you will need to cut back on it. I drank beer close to your level before my lifestyle change. Now I only have two or three beers a night. You might want to focus on quality of the beer over quantity. Drink the good stuff. Avoid the watered down "light" beers as it is hard to be satisfied with those and it is easier to drink more than you should. Personally, I think the low-carb beers are awful. I bought a case of that Michelob Ultra last summer and it was close to the worst beer I ever drank in my life.

Two or three glasses of good, quality beer satisfies my beer cravings. I've been partial lately to Pilsner Urquell (from Czech Republic), which goes down real smooth and has a great aftertaste. I also like the darker beers such as Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout especially. Guiness is good too. So is Sam Adams Winter Lager. As another poster already noted, these dark beers are surprisingly low in carbs. I think around 10-15 grams a bottle. Guiness might have even less.

If you can get yourself out to walk briskly at least an hour a day, you'll burn those carbs off and won't have to worry about a beer belly. My beer belly is completely gone. But I do walk at least one hour a day, every single day. It's a part of my life now.

Good luck with your program!

[Aquinasfan]

Atkins was obese.

Therefore his diet doesn't work.

Give me a break.

[Aquinasfan]

PS _ Note to beer drinkers: Guinness stout is naturally low in carbs and tastes way better than watery low-carb beer:)

Thanks for making my day. That's my favorite beer, and my 94-year-old grandma's too!

[all_mighty_dollar]

"report........ by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a group that advocates vegetarianism "

The Grain Lobby (?)

good question.......

Rush is saying they are a phony medical front group for PETA.

Is their stealing of the medical records a felony, I wonder?

If so, and if this is New York, will the state AG investigate how Atkins medical records are so carelessly made public?

Is PETA deliberately trying to 'wreck' the meat industry, I assume, and indirectly the USA economy?

Isn't this Elliot Spitzer territory? I'm from Kali so I'm not familiar, but it seems like he should be checking this with the same enthusiasm he's demonstrating against Wall Street. It would seem that the possible outright fraud and felony misrepresentations by PETA could cost our economy as much, or even more, than say Martha's paltry 250K scam.

[Outlaw76]

Have you and your wife thought of having a child yet?

I know that sounds odd, but I gained weight with my wife pound for pound during her two pregnancies.

I weighed about 160 when we concieved my son, and 185 when my baby girl was in the oven.

I was feeling ok at 200 when my daughter was born, then a few years later I quit smoking...

My peak weight was roughly 250. I'm working my way back down now and have lost 25~30lbs in the last five weeks.

[tracer]

A number of things could happen, and real-deal MDs reading this can support or modify my reply as appropriate.

Such a patient likely would be given anti-platelet medications (aspirin, warfarin, etc.); ACE inhibitors; beta blockers; angiotenisn receptor blockers; diuretics (might've helped Atkins with his edema and thereby lessened the load on is heart); etc.

Coronary bypass surgery; angioplasty (with or without a stent); cardiac pacemakers; and other measures might also be employed.

Graduated exercise and perhaps outright cario rehab might be in order as well. Exercise is important in that it can strengthen the heart muscle, thereby improving pumping efficiency, perfusion of the brain, pulmonary capacity/function, and musclar condtioning and strength, again, to reduce the demand placed on the heart.

Exercise also can promote the development of collateral vessels throughout the heart and in particular around and supplying areas of the heart which are ischemic (poorly perufed wih oxygenated blood. "Collaterals," unbeknowns to many of us, may be the only thing keeping many of us alive albeit on a tightrope.

After all is said and done, however, the priority is to know what you and your physician(s) are dealing with.

You could be healthy as a horse, or a heart attack waiting to happen, or, more scary, you may have already suffered a silent infarct (an episode wherein a narrowed vessel has been blocked by a clot or plaque fragment or simply was unable to provide a specific segment of the heart muscle with enough oxygen, the result being scarring or related damage to it.

There are so many options available today for all but the worst of cases. But in any event, preventive measures (including diagnosis) not only will give you peace of mind or an opportunity to be treated and adapt -- it may well save your life or prevent serious disability down the road.

Again, good luck, and make sure that you get the straight skinny and advice from a "real" professional. The fact that you have some concerns is reason enough to hit the ground running (so to speak) on this........

[looscnnn]

I have three; a set of twins and a single. We will be trying for a girl at some point, wife is getting baby fever. No really gains in weight during her pregnancies.

[dangus]

Most starch-heavy foods (Pasta, cereals, etc.) are pre-packaged and very heavily processed. The markups are enormous (1/2 cent of cereal packeaged in a box goes for $3.50), leaving the companies vast amounts of money to spend purchasing advertisements. Even poultry is heavily processed, branded and advertised (Purdue, Tyson's, etc.).

Red meat, the bane of news reports, on the other hand, is not processed much. With litle brand-naming, even when corporations do control the meat (and they often do), their products are interchangeable, and therefore not advertised. The few Beef and Pork ads you see produced by industry boards.

They may be very familiar, but when you compare Beef ads ("Beef: It's what's for dinner") with the ads generated for breakfast cereal (Post, General Mills, Kelloggs, etc. combined), the amount for advertising revenue generated by meat sales is minimal. Yet meat provides the same amount of American's diet as breakfast cereal, pasta, pre-packaged hot cereals (Rice-a-roni, etc.) and side dishes (Hamburger Helper, Stope Top, etc.) combined.

O, and don't count fast food as among your red meat advocates... they get much, much more profits from a chiecken sandwhich than a hamburger!

[dangus]

Sorry cupcakes, but someone committed a felony by leaking his health data to the vegans. She may also have financial motivation to further her outrage, but that alone is outrage enough. I suppose you wouldn't mind having the liberals pour over your health records looking for some reason to invalidate your life's work?