Atkins Widow Sees Campaign Against Late Diet Guru

Mon Feb 9,10:52 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The widow of diet guru Robert Atkins, who died last year after a fall, accused "unscrupulous individuals" on Monday of trying to use his history of heart disease to discredit his ideas about healthy eating.

Veronica Atkins issued a statement acknowledging that her husband had been diagnosed with a heart condition known as cardiomyopathy about three years before he died, and that he had had a cardiac arrest in April 2002.

But she said the condition was caused by a viral infection, and rejected any suggestion that he had died of a heart attack. "My husband's health problems late in life were completely unrelated to his diet or any diet," she said.

Dr. Atkins, who championed a low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet, died in April last year at age 72 after slipping on an icy sidewalk and hitting his head.

According to some estimates, about 10 million Americans follow the Atkins diet or some version of it.

His widow said she was speaking out because otherwise "unscrupulous individuals will continue to twist and pervert the truth in an attempt to destroy the reputation and great work of my late husband."

"These individuals have gone so far as to obtain my husband's personal and confidential medical information from the New York City Medical Examiner's office for distribution to news organizations in direct and knowing violation of federal law," she said.

"Obviously such people will have no trouble picking and choosing bits and pieces of fact and supposition to mislead the world."

Veronica Atkins did not say who she believed was responsible for accessing her husband's medical records.

"It has become clear to me that something as simple as the truth will be perverted and manipulated by dishonest individuals who will stop at nothing... to not only discredit my husband's work but profit from his death," she said.

She said her husband had "dedicated his life to solving one of medicine's greatest challenges -- the obesity epidemic"

Last month New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg sparked controversy when, during a lunch with Brooklyn firefighters, he described Atkins as "fat."

Veronica Atkins demanded an apology, and Bloomberg later offered to buy her a steak lunch to make amends.

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