Defenders Attack Report on Atkins' Death

[mumon]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=97&ncid=751&e=6&u=/hsn/20040211/hl_hsn/defendersattackreportonatkinsdeath

By Amanda Gardner
HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Feb. 10 (HealthDayNews) -- The release of a medical examiner's report on the death of the creator of the Atkins diet has brought the great American diet debate to a boil again

The report showed that Dr. Robert Atkins had a history of heart attack, congestive heart failure and hypertension, and that he was obese when he died, according to details published Tuesday by the Wall Street Journal. ...
The Journal reported that Atkins, who stood 6 feet tall, weighed 258 pounds at the time of his death. The newspaper received its copy of the medical examiner's report from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.


But Dr. Stuart Trager, chairman of the Atkins Physicians Council, released a statement saying the story "grossly distorted and inaccurately reported information that Dr. Atkins was obese at the time of his death. In fact, up until the time he became comatose and lay in the hospital for two weeks, Dr. Atkins' average weight was actually 60 pounds less than reported in the Journal."


"The newspaper article was based on incomplete personal medical records that were illegally delivered to the newspaper in violation of federal law, coming from a known group of vegan and animal rights extremists," Trager added.

Yep. The WSJ is pro-fat people, pro-crappy diets for the working class.

Evidently folks connected with PETA fed them a line...

[Warpy]

1. More like anti PETA

PBS tonight said his records were published by a group of doctors who were alarmed at the diet he proposed, not the animal rights people the WSJ is so fond of bashing.

Folks if you want to go low carb, go sugar busters or south beach. Atkins is the worst of the bunch.

[Paulie]

3. SugarBusters! Rocks!

I've lost 100lbs (from 350!), cholesterol at 195. :) I really like my whole grain pasta and brown rice that is allowed on SugarBusters!

Dinner tonight was fried boneless/skinless chicken thighs in canola/olive oil (sprinkled with some stone ground whole wheat flour), with sauteed green beans in butter and garlic. Appetizer was guacamole on whole grain crackers (playing with my new piping bag tips!!!) :D

SugarBusters! is about controling blood sugar levels, so it's a lower but quality carb diet, not no carb.

[MattBaggins]

7. Wow I've been on the Atkins diet for almost 2 years

I had no idea it was a no carb diet.....

Read about the diet before you make things up about it please.

[Paulie]

8. It's No carb - Carb minus Fiber :p

Most people don't get past phase 1 in the book, let alone the diet, so please, don't tell me to do my research.

:P :P :P ;) ;) ;)

[mumon]

9. and you know that f "most people don't get..." rom???

While I don't want to seem that partisan (there's many ways, I think to lose weight,) there's alot of religious debates that take place in this area.

I personally have known several people for whom Atkins has worked- long term.

It is working for myself.



If you want to do your version of whatever, fine.

[demdave]

4. PETA and PCRM are two hands of the same body.

PCRM (Physicians Committe for Responsible Medicine)get 55% of their budget from FSAP (Foundation to Support Animal Protection. The Foundation to Support Animal Protection board consists of PETA cofounder and president Ingrid Newkirk PCRM founder and president Neal Barnard, MD, and Nadine Edles. The sole function of FASP, according to IRS Form 990 is to 'Provide support to various charitable, educational and scientific organizations specified in the Corporation's Certificate of Incorporation,' identified as PETA, and four PETA subsidiaries, plus PCRM and the Washington (DC) Humane Society, which was granted $5,000 in 1999 but nothing since. In fiscal 2001 FSAP apparently continued as in past years to pay the mortgage on the PETA headquarters and lease the site to PETA; did mailings in the names of the beneficiaries; and granted $160,000 to PCRM, 55% of the total PCRM budget. In their 2001 IRS Form 990 PCRM states on line 80 a and 80 b that they are related, through common membership, governing bodies, trustees, officers, etc., to FSAP.

Hardly anti-PETA.

[The Stranger]

13. Physicians' groups can't support PETA? Or be supported by PETA?

And use their expertise as physicians to show, perhaps, one of the reasons why they do not advocate eating mostly meat?

More importantly, you don't think the meat industry backs the low carb diet "revolution"?

[supernova]

15. Well, I wouldn't

want to see any physician associated with this fiasco. It's unethical behavior I don't approve of. edit: Long story short: I'm an expert and dealing with doctors, both as a patient and as coworkers.

Are there physicians that promote other eating styles? Of course, but I wouldn't want to be a patient of anyone who would choose to engage this debate in such a sensationalist, unprofessional, and unscientific manner.

edit: I visited the PCRM website yesterday. It's littered with the mantra of the Atkins plan as "high protein". Atkins is not high protein; it is low carb. Big Difference. The basis for their rationale is wrong. Makes me wonder what else they are wrong about.

[demdave]

17. Perhaps you should try to follow the threads a little better,

I was responding to the assertion that this was an anti-PETA group putting out this info. But since you want to play, this group of "doctors" has also been chastised by the AMA for coming out vehemently against medical experiments on animals. This is not even remotely associated with a human diet. Their agenda is clear. They are nothing but a shadow group of PETA.

As for the meat industry backing the low carb revolution, SO WHAT?? If it reduces the prices I pay at the grocer, I am all for it. Let the price of Wonder bread go though the roof, as long as I can get chicken breasts for $1.99/lb..

P.S How the meat industry feels about my diet is more important than how doctors do????? Your agenda is clear also.

[The Stranger]

19. Don't worry about my following the threads.

(T)his group of "doctors" has also been chastised by the AMA for coming out vehemently against medical experiments on animals. This is not even remotely associated with a human diet. Their agenda is clear.

Again, if they are Physicians and also believe in some of the same things PETA does, what is the problem? Are they not entitled to do this? If they are affiliated with PETA, is there something wrong with Physicians who affiliate themselves with PETA? This diatribe seems to assume that there is something wrong, outlandish or underhanded about believing in what PETA does and associating with PETA . . . .

They are nothing but a shadow group of PETA.

. . . then it brandishes it like there is some "smoking gun" here. Yet you are lecturing me about "agendas?"

As for the meat industry backing the low carb revolution, SO WHAT??

The meat industry is backing (or promoting or creating) the low carb "revolution" in order to make money off of you. The meat industry is neither qualified nor concerned, nor has any interest whatsoever in your health. The profit motive is the most prevalent "agenda" of all.

P.S How the meat industry feels about my diet is more important than how doctors do????? Your agenda is clear also.

This postscript actually made me laugh. You don't think a trained physician is more qualified with regard to your diet than an industry whose whole purpose is to sell products as cheaply as possible, regardless of what they do to a person's health?

[Malva Zebrina]

2. I do not know why people are doing this to

Dr. Atkins. This is really very disturbing and seems to be some sort of a political attack.

I do think there are food industries interested in villifying this diet, especially the sugar industry.

[FDRrocks]

5. I'm equally as sure there are food industries interested

in promoting this diet.

[mumon]

10. True; but there's definitely some folks who are working against it.

The sales of potatoes, over-sweetened cereals, chips, pasta, breads, etc. are down.

It's part of the propaganda effort associated with food.

Don't believe me?

Go to the "American Dietetic Associations" web page. (via Google.)

Poke around there, and you'll find, yep, the "Corporate Sponsorship" page.

Whenever you see a "dietitian" quoted, remember that.

[fearnobush]

6. Remember the silent scream of the broccoli.

I lost 30 lbs on Atkin's. Today, my diet is based on carb consumption below 100 grams. Almost no processed sugar and never any white bread. Jeb Bush is losing 3 to 5% of his Florida Orange Juice sales. They are real pissed at low carbers. No wonder the media wants low carbers put out on an island somewhere.

[FlaGranny]

11. People should eat the orange instead of drinking the juice.

When you drink a glass of juice, you are getting the sugar from at least three oranges, sometimes more. When you eat the orange, you don't usually eat three or four of them. Also, when you eat the orange you are getting the orange's fiber.

[flamingpie2500]

12. From USA Today:

>>Stuart Trager, a surgeon and consultant for the Atkins companies, said Atkins' weight ballooned in the hospital because of fluid retention from organ failure.>>

When will the rest of the news stories recant their claims?
Cnn is still reporting the original story.



http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2004-02-10-atkins_x.htm

[supernova]

14. AGAIN? *Sigh*

Dr. Atkins admitted sometime last year that he had

cardiomyopathy

as a result of a viral infection several years ago, NOT his eating habits.

Do any of you know what cardiomyopathy is? No, of course you don't. You just want to blame him for his "evil diet." Get over yourselves.

Cardiomoypathy is a complex disease of thickening and eventual deterioration of the heart muscle. It can strike the young as well as the old. It can surprise well-trained athletes. You're very lucky if you get to associate it with a cause like a viral infection or heredity. Most of the time the reason for the disease is unknown.

Over time the heart loses its pumping effectiveness. That almost always results in congestive heart failure (including significant weight gain through water retention), arrythmia (the heart's pumping rythmn gets off track), profound fatigue. None of you with healthy hearts knows what this means. edit: You can live with it for years, or you can deteriorate pretty quickly to the point of needing a transplant.

That's just a skimpy summary. There are whole medical textbooks devoted to the disease.

Lastly, let's not forget that he died as a result of complications from his fall last winter. We don't really know how much his cardiomyopathy contributed to those complications, or if at all.

Dr. Atkins' wife ought to sue PCRM for slander and breech of confidentiality. They shouldn't have had access to Dr. Atkins' records in the first place. Ask yourself why would anyone want to make his records public? It seems others are out to make a buck off Dr. Atkins.

edit: I'll add this challenge. If you can conclusively prove that Dr. Atkins' cardiomyopathy was a result of his diet, then you are a better cardiologist than the entire cardiology staff at Johns Hopkins and Duke Medical Center combined.

[Scout]

16. What is wrong with this eating plan? NOTHING

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=355795


post 89

[Kathy in Cambridge]

18. The Atkins Doet is the Diabetic Diet

If it's done wrong, it is dangerous, like most diets. If vegetarians don't eat right, their diet is dangerous too. When I was a vegetarian, I had to take a ton of vitamins but wound up anemic anyway.

The basis of the Atkins diet is to avoid white flour, white sugar, potatoes and other high-glycemic foods that have been linked to a myriad of diseases. The Ongoing Weight Loss Program stresses vegetables, whole grains and proteins. Mr. RR's cholesterol dropped 60 points on Atkins.

Dr. Atkins heart problems were genetic-not related to what he ate. There is scientific basis that his diet works, especially for insulin-sensitive individuals. Let the guy rest in peace.