[Sca-cooks] OT Atkins diet, etc

[Avraham haRofeh]

> I would also like to see any documentation on people harmed by the Atkins
> plan. I've never found any. This diet has been around for thirty years
plus
> and I have found no documentable evidence of anyone suing Dr. Atkins or in
> fact even saying that they had been in any wise harmed by the diet. Add
this
> to the fact that Dr. Atkins, after thirty years of being scorned by the
> Medical Establishment, has recently been asked to speak to Medical School
> Students. This I saw on a television news report.
>
> My Wife has been doing a much stricter regimen of Atkins than I have for
two
> years and it is with the blessings of her Doctor. She has had no problems
> whatsoever with her kidneys, her blood pressure readings, and her last EKG
> were great. You are talking to someone who used the same arguments you
just
> did when my Wife started this. Please let me know what I missed.

The major concern with Atkins, at least in the early forms I remember
reading in the 80's, was the very high level of protein he recommended - far
more than your body needs, or can safely process. Furthermore, for Joe
Average, even very high levels of protein are PROBABLY safe. The problem
comes in with patients who have subclinical borderline kidney function -
overloading them with nitrogenous waste may shunt them into overt renal
failure. It is difficult at best to predict which patients may fall into
this category; it is impossible if the patients are putting themselves on
the Atkins diet without consulting a physician and having an appropriate
physical first. Your wife is fortunate in not having underlying problems.

Dr. Atkins got lucky. He stumbled on something that worked, although he did
not understand why at first. As other research has gone on around him, he
has subtly shifted his "explanations" to match the research being done. I
have little respect for Dr Atkins; I consider him an opportunist.

Avraham

****************************************
Avraham haRofeh of Northpass
     (mka Randy Goldberg MD)
OBTag: "Bother," said Pooh, as he scrambled his partition table.