Best-selling diet doctor, 72, dies from complications of fall on ice

NEW YORK -- Dr. Robert C. Atkins, whose best-selling low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet was dismissed as nutritional folly for years but was recently validated in some research, died Thursday, his spokesman said. He was 72.\nAtkins died at New York Weill-Cornell Medical Center, surrounded by his wife and close friends, said Richard Rothstein, his spokesman.\nAtkins had suffered a severe head injury April 8 after falling on an icy sidewalk while walking to work. He underwent surgery to remove a blood clot from his brain, Rothstein said.\nAtkins first advocated his unorthodox weight-loss plan -- which emphasizes meat, eggs and cheese and discourages bread, rice and fruit -- in his 1972 book, "Dr. Atkins' Diet Revolution."\nIts publication came at a time when the medical establishment was encouraging a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet. The following year, the American Medical Association dismissed Atkins' diet as nutritional folly and Congress summoned him to Capitol Hill to defend the plan.\nLabeling it "potentially dangerous," the AMA said the diet's scientific underpinning was "naive" and "biochemically incorrect." It scolded the book's publishers for promoting "bizarre concepts of nutrition and dieting."\nDespite this, his books sold 15 million copies, and millions of people tried the diet. Atkins' philosophy enjoyed a resurgence in the 1990s with "Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution," which sold more than 10 million copies worldwide and spent five years on The New York Times best-seller list. His most recent book, "Atkins for Life," has been on the Times' best-seller list since its release in January.\nIn an interview published this month in Business 2.0 magazine, Atkins said he was always able to deal with the criticism because of his unflagging belief in the diet.\n"I want to eradicate obesity and diabetes," Atkins said. "I believe God wants me to do that."\n"Why would I give up?" Atkins asked. "I'm on the verge of succeeding."\nBut criticism of the diet lingered, with many arguing that it could affect kidney function, raise cholesterol levels and deprive the dieter of important nutrients.\nAtkins said no study showed that people with normal kidney function developed problems because of a high-protein diet, and he never gave in to his detractors.\nDefending his plan at the American Dietetic Association's convention in 2000, Atkins quipped, "I'm very happy to be here. Not as happy as Daniel in the lion's den."\nThis year, his approach was vindicated in part by the very medical community that scorned him. In February, some half-dozen studies showed that people on the Atkins diet lost weight without compromising their health. The studies showed that Atkins dieters' cardiovascular risk factors and overall cholesterol profiles changed for the better.\nStill, many of the researchers were reluctant to recommend the Atkins diet, saying a large new study now under way could settle lingering questions of its long-term effects.\nOn the Atkins diet, up to two-thirds of calories may come from fat -- more than double the usual recommendation, and violating what medical professionals have long believed about healthy eating. Carbohydrates are the foundation of a good diet, most say. Eating calorie-dense fat is what makes people fat, they say, and eating saturated fat is dangerous.\nTo Atkins, the key dietary villain in obesity was carbohydrates. He argued they make susceptible people pump out too much insulin, which in turn encourages them to put on fat.\nFat in foods can be a dieter's friend, Atkins said, in part because it quenches appetite and stops carbohydrate craving.\nAtkins, a graduate of Cornell University's medical school, first tried a low-carbohydrate diet in 1963 after reading about one in the Journal of the American Medical Association. He said he lost weight so easily that he converted his fledgling Manhattan cardiology practice into an obesity clinic.\nBesides his work on nutrition, Atkins also argued that ozone gas can kill cancer cells and HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and claimed to have treated more than 1,000 patients with ozone therapy.\nThe ozone treatment is a common alternative therapy in Germany and some other nations but has not gained acceptance in the United States.\nIn 1999, Atkins established the Robert C. Atkins Foundation to finance diet research. It has sponsored research at Duke University, the University of Connecticut and Harvard.\nThe foundation ensures that Atkins' "legacy of hope and health will endure as a result of his personal financial commitment," said Paul Wolff, chairman and CEO of Atkins Nutritionals, which sells diet foods and supplements. According to Business 2.0, the company had more than $100 million in revenue last year.\nLast April, Atkins was hospitalized for cardiac arrest, which he said was related to an infection of the heart and was not related to the diet.\nBesides his wife, Veronica, Atkins is survived by his mother, Norma, of Palm Beach, Fla.