Will Truth About Dr. Atkins End Diet Charade? (by Neal Barnard)
 

Will truth about Dr. Atkins end diet charade?


By Neal D.Barnard


The Atkins diet phenomenon has spread like a virus across North America, Europe and elsewhere. With tens of millions of people following Dr. Robert Atkins' lead into low-carb, high-fat, high-cholesterol diets, recent revelations about the diet doctor's own health have been an important wake-up call. But where does that leave dieters? Angry? Betrayed? Most are simply confused.

From a public-health standpoint, the stakes are enormous. After eight weeks on the Atkins diet, a 16-year-old Missouri girl died of cardiac arrhythmia, as reported in the Southern Medical Journal. Jody Gorran of Delray Beach, Fla., went on the diet, only to find that his cholesterol level skyrocketed. He developed chest pain and needed urgent heart surgery.

Hundreds of other problems, both major and minor, have been reported. In 2001, the American Heart Association issued a warning that low-carbohydrate diets are likely to contribute to heart and kidney disease.

The diet's principal spokesman was Atkins himself, the controversial doctor whose 1972 book described how carbohydrate avoidance cured his own weight problem. As The Wall Street Journal explained, "Throughout his life, Dr. Atkins was the public face of the eating plan he espoused and often spoke publicly about his own eating habits and health."

Dr. Atkins discussed his medical history in media interviews, and after his death, the Atkins organization used details of his health condition as a key part of its marketing strategy. Atkins Nutritionals even posted details of Dr. Atkins' cardiac history on its Web site. It described his cardiomyopathy -- a diseased heart muscle that he attributed to a viral infection -- as well as a cardiac arrest that apparently occurred as a result. The Atkins site also described tests of Dr. Atkins' coronary arteries, saying he had an angiogram in April 2001 that showed normal coronary arteries.

In a statement on April 25, 2002, Dr. Atkins' personal physician said this about Dr. Atkins: "Clearly, his own nutritional protocols have left him, at the age of 71, with an extraordinarily healthy cardiovascular system." In other words, not only was Dr. Atkins in great health, but his diet could take the credit for it.

Why was the Atkins company providing so much personal detail about Dr. Atkins' medical status? Because health organizations have cautioned Atkins dieters that high-fat, high-cholesterol foods can block their arteries. Atkins and his company have tried to persuade consumers to set those concerns aside.

Recently, a Nebraska physician obtained a copy of some medical examiner's notes related to Dr. Atkins' death. These notes were not a hospital chart or an autopsy. The medical examiner simply weighed Atkins, inspected his external surfaces, and jotted down a few aspects of his history. However, some notes suggested that Dr. Atkins had heart problems beyond the viral cardiomyopathy to which he had admitted.

Then, on Feb. 10, Veronica Atkins confirmed that, in fact, her husband did have artery blockages. She said that Dr. Atkins "did have some progression of his coronary artery disease in the last three years of his life including some new blockage of a secondary artery that was remedied during this admission."

It is always a matter of concern when elements of an individual's medical history become a matter for public discussion. In this case, the Atkins company -- and Dr. Atkins himself -- made a major issue of his health and exploited his seemingly robust cardiac status to spread a dangerous health message.

If the new revelations about Dr. Atkins' cardiac problems end the charade that fatty, high-cholesterol foods can give us an "extraordinarily healthy cardiovascular system" -- and if that prevents further deaths and illnesses -- then public health may have been served at last.

Source: http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,...1979050,00.html

At least one point is correct.
It was a mistake to make the health of Dr. Atkins a public issue.

Check out the author. He is the Antiatkins - president of the Physicians Committee for [Irr]responsible Medicine - the people who obtained and released Atkins´ autopsy report to the media.

http://www.pcrm.org

quote:-
The Atkins diet phenomenon has spread like a virus across North America, Europe and elsewhere. With tens of millions of people following Dr. Robert Atkins' lead into low-carb.

So I ask, why are there not 10s of millions people dropping dead with heart attacks?????

I love 40 pounds eating 70% fat?
I have yet to hear a good explanation, except for Dr. Atkin's one.

It seems that nobody who criticizes Atkins diet these days is not related to PCRM. Here is the source of this article:

http://www.pcrm.org/news/AtkinsStatement.html

<<OUOTE>>
After eight weeks on the Atkins diet, a 16-year-old Missouri girl died of cardiac arrhythmia, as reported in the Southern Medical Journal. Jody Gorran of Delray Beach, Fla., went on the diet, only to find that his cholesterol level skyrocketed. He developed chest pain and needed urgent heart surgery.

Interesting... two data points out of "tens of millions" of people following Atkins! Makes you wonder what their state of health was *before* they decided they needed to lose weight on Atkins, and whose dietary advice brought them to that point. Food for thought...

Will the Truth about PCRM end their Charade as Responsible and even as Physicians?

will journalists ever wake up and stop using PCRM as a source for story material? By now there is no excuse for a competent journalist to not know at least the following:

1) not really a physicians group, only 5% are doctors.
2) tied to Peta, and an animals rights terrorist group (not sure of the name)
3) Extraordinarly selective use of data (one death here, one sick person there, Atkins heart condition, etc. etc.)
4) really a collection of extremist vegans/animal rights people.

Journalists very likely already know exactly what the PCRM is and what their agenda is. Many journalists probably support their agenda, rather than being the neutral news source that people rely on for unbiased coverage.

Low carb has exploded in their low-fat face, and all they can do at this point is write unresearched negative fluff pieces.

Someone keeled over and died while watching that new Mel Gibson movie!!!!

Surely that proves that the movie caused the death, not that over the course of the millions of people who watch movies someone will at sometime suffer a heart attack while watching.

Why do I doubt that it would be reported if someone had a heart attack while watching any other movie?

Anyway, it just made me think of all this. Especially someone who may have already had a history of heart arythmias dying of it while they happened to be on a diet.

How do we know when Neal Barnard is lying? when his lips are moving. he has one Hell of a nerve, to utter the word, "truth" when he himself has been censured by the AMA for lack of regard for the truth. He is a lying sack of s.... enough said.

I didn't even bother to read the article knowing it was Neal Barnard. I've learned to follow the habits of a few other forum posters by taking note of the author's name before wasting my time (since I'm usually highly aggravated by certain authors, Barnard being one of them).

I know Barnard is an aggravating lunatic, but still I feel like we have to engage him if we are to be honest and thorough in our commitment to the truth.

And yes, I mean to expose and engage him over and over until the vegan-induced B-12 deficiencies lay him low, however long that might take - and it shouldn't be that much longer.

Ignore him, and some poor soul will happen onto his bile, and the next thing you know...http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=169405

It is a long, painful, annoying slog sometimes, but people we love and respect may fall into the same trap - I myself did for way too many years. Now that the real truth is coming out, I'm not about to let those lying bastards like Barnard off the hook by ignoring them.

I really do agree, believe it or not, but Barnard and the likes tend to make my blood boil as of late and it's all I can do to calm myself afterwards.

Now that I think about it, it's only when the low-fat proselytizers are bashing low-carb that I feel that way. This means low-fat is bad for my health, right? ;)

Yeah, so do I...now. But I wouldn't have, if, after the first couple of articles were posted, everyone moved on and figured those of us who came along later knew about these lying, sneaky basturds. Thanks, gotbeer. I know my circulatory system is just fine because your articles keep me all stirred up! No clogged arteries there! :lol: Can't say the same for my blood pressure, though!