Hier übrigends die offizielle Stellungnahme zum Gewich von Atkins zum Todeszeitpunkt:

February 2004: The Truth About Dr. Atkins’ Weight
By Stuart Trager, M.D.
At the time of his injury at the age of 72, after years of following the Atkins Nutritional ApproachTM, Dr. Atkins’ recorded height was 6 feet and his recorded weight was 195 pounds.

In today's Wall Street Journal a grossly distorted story on the health of Dr. Robert C. Atkins reported that he weighed 258 pounds at the time of his death, making him obese. In fact, the day after his fall, Dr. Atkins' weight was recorded as195 pounds, 63 pounds less than reported at his death! Based on the body mass index (BMI), a desirable range for people over the age of 65, is 24 to 29. At a height of 6 feet, Dr. Atkins’ BMI was 26.4, putting him squarely in the normal range for his age.

The Journal article was based on incomplete and inaccurate personal medical information that was released in violation of federal law. Furthermore, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), which, despite its name is a group of animal rights activists, illegally delivered these documents to the newspaper.


Dr. Atkins' weight was consistently and frequently documented in the years and months prior to his fall; as he was suffering from cardiomyopathy, his health was monitored closely. Despite this, he regularly played tennis, his favorite sport. His weight at his death was a result of water retention. During his coma, as he deteriorated and his major organs failed, fluid retention and bloating dramatically distorted his body.

Any implication that Dr. Atkins was obese prior to his accident shows a blatant disregard, or even worse, a twisting of medical facts surrounding this case to suit an agenda. One would also expect knowledgeable physicians to have a better understanding of the physiology of severe heart failure and the degree of fluid retention that occurred during this hospitalization for severe brain trauma. None of us would expect the physicians at PCRM to reveal any of this in light of their past and current motivation—but surely as medical professionals they understood that this weight gain was not due to obesity.