ATKINS VICTIMS SPEAK OUT

While the long-term effects of Atkins are still up in the air, some feel the diet has contributed to their serious health problems and to the deaths of loved ones. At a press conference calling on the CDC to investigate, PCRM reported two deaths. "One," said Dr. Neal Barnard, "is the 16-year-old girl who wanted to lose some weight and went on a popular low carb, high fat, high protein diet, collapsed in school and died suddenly. Autopsy showed a massive abnormality in the heart. Another case, a 41-year-old man, no prior history of heart disease, collapsed suddenly and the same thing, the autopsy showed a massive heart malfunction. A third case, a man happened to have a heart scan prior to going on the diet and he got a clean bill of health, but after about two years on this popular low-carb diet, developed chest pain, had stress test changes and angiogram that showed a massive blockage in the heart." The man's arteries had clogged and his cholesterol shot up in the time he was on Atkins. News coverage has duly noted that "many doctors and the American Heart Association have warned that the diet could be dangerous," but not that it's utterly condemned by the health profession in Britain and banned in British hospitals. On the upside, though, this version of the story (Reuters) remained on the front of Yahoo.com for at least two hours this afternoon.