Mayor Bloomberg was right; Atkins WAS fat . . .

[Deb in IA]

Report: Diet Doctor Atkins Was Obese
Report: Diet Doctor Atkins Was Obese, Suffered Heart Disease, Medical Examiner Report Says

The Associated Press

NEW YORK Feb. 10 — 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'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."

 

[Mari annie]

If you need/want to loose weight, the only way is to go to a registered nutrionist or Dr. and the pounds come off when the lifestyle is changed!!

been there, done that...going back for another candy apple!!LOL!

 

[Dan Murphy]

http://atkins.com/about/recentnews/wsjresponse.html

 

[mckryan]

For every report, there will be a report stating the opposite. Moderation and exercise are the keys to a healthy lifestyle.

BTW - why is it that so many dieticians are overweight? I've had interacations with quite a few, and only a couple have been a normal weight. I find it hard to take nutrition advice from someone that can't follow it themselves.

 

[TerriP]

Gosh, where to begin...

PCRM, a group that advocates vegetarianism and is funded by PETA, "received" a copy of Dr Atkins' medical records from the Medical Examiner's Office (anyone else notice that this is illegal?) and now claims he was obese and that led to his death?

His own doctor said he did NOT have a heart attack...he had cardiomyopathy and that is what caused the damage to his heart. He was, in his life, very honest about the fact that there was damage to his heart, and what caused it. Where is that in the story?

Hmmmmm, seems to me (and I'm NO doctor) that someone who fell and hit is head would be on steroids to reduce the swelling in his brain. Anyone see what steriod use did to Jerry Lewis? I can see how that would cause weight gain.

As for the BMI......

Oh heck, just forget it. It's the first of the year, people around the world are trying to lose weight and are finding success with the low carb approach. PETA needs to do something to sell some papers and get some press. I don't know why I even let it bother me. I guess it's just that this man's soul can't even rest in peace...they are STILL attacking him. Now his widow is left to try to defend him from these activists. And the media just eats it up (no pun intended ).

 

[floridafam]

If it's true, it doesn't surprise me.

I have a history of heart disease and colon cancer in my family and I don't see how Atkins would benefit me in any way. It would probably make things worse.

I did get a chance to see a litttle debate between a gentleman saying Atkins was great for preventing heart disease and Dr. Dean Ornish. It was very interesting.

 

[disykat]

Regardless of feelings about the diet, it does seem slanderous to call someone "obese" if their weight was due to edema caused by illness. That kind of weight gain has little to do with diet. (the feelings of someone who once gained 10 pounds in two days from IV fluids!)

 

[kimber79]

When my grandma was in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit, we were talking to the nurse about how much grandma gained overnight (she was retaining fluid so badly). Something was said about Atkins........the nurse then said "we like that diet because it gives us lots of patients".

I know you can lose some good weight with this diet, but I don't believe in this diet ~ never have never will. I just can't see where eating all that fatty stuff can be good for you. Generally, on this diet you will lose weight..........but when you get to your goal and quit you gain all your weight plus back.

 

[minniepumpernickel]

I'm not suprised. I think everyone will eventually fall off of the "Atkins" bandwagon. Wasn't it a fad, like years ago? I read somewhere that the diet had been around even long before Atkins resucitated it.

Do some research, people!